Europa Universalis 4 is already seven-and-a-half years old, without any announced sequel on the docket. There were eight years between Crusader Kings (2004) and CK2 (2012), and then another eight before Crusader Kings 3 arrived in 2020. Additionally, if the historical examples of older Paradox siblings are anything to go by, the game has at least two years left before a sequel would likely be announced.
The latest Hearts of Iron 4 DLC and game update combo is fast approaching – with news flowing forth from Paradox HQ that it will rework large parts of the Eastern Front, and update Poland’s focus trees – but we still don’t have a DLC/update release date, and we shouldn’t expect solid sequel news until a good month or two after that at least. There were eight year gaps between Crusader Kings 1, 2 and 3 While hardcore players still have a laundry list of expansions and reworks they’d like, the question has begun to be asked: how many of those new goodies can be expected for this game – and how many will have to wait for the – presumably inevitable – Hearts of Iron 5? Originally released in 2016, the base game turns five this coming June. Like learning to perfect the mechanisms of war? It offers every possible land, sea and air war on earth.īest of all, like all Paradox grand strategy titles, it has lived a long, busy life, accumulating whole ranks of cracking DLC expansions, as well as a vast, flourishing modding scene that has expanded HoI4’s horizons many-fold, with countless fantastic, transformative mods.Īnd yet – by mainstream game standards at least – Hearts of Iron 4 is getting old. Its malleable toybox of alternate WW2 histories, powered by a phenomenally addictive set of crunchy, complex systems, manages simultaneously to be many things to many people. Hearts of Iron IV is one of Wargamer’s favourite PC grand strategy beasts.