We’re going to be waiting longer than usual for the next Hearts of Iron 4 expansion, although that doesn’t mean developer Paradox is leaving its grandiose WW2 game high and dry in the meantime. The reception to recent HoI4 DLC such as No Compromise, No Surrender and Thunder at our Gates has been decidedly downbeat, with both sitting at ‘Mostly Negative’ reviews on Steam. As it looks towards the future, Paradox is taking extra time for its next major project to ensure it’s up to standard, but is also cooking up a few smaller inclusions, such as a Romania DLC and quality-of-life update.
It’s been three months since the release of Thunder at our Gates marked the conclusion of Hearts of Iron 4 Expansion Pass 2. The next DLC is a smaller offering that’s focused on Romania, and is expected to launch fairly soon. “Typically we would start to talk about what is next for HoI around this time,” Paradox writes, “but we looked at where we are and have made the decision that we want to take extra time to really get it to a great quality.”
That doesn’t mean communication is going dark; quite the reverse. In the meantime, Paradox promises to continue running its smaller, more community-driven ‘Dev Corners’ to discuss what’s currently being worked on and look for player feedback. It then aims to kick off more fully fledged ‘Dev Diaries’ “earlier than previous years, most likely after Romania releases.”
The studio also notes that balance changes made as part of the game’s summer open beta will be incorporated into the upcoming Hearts of Iron 4 patch 1.19.3, which is planned to release on Thursday September 17. This update “wraps up active post-release Thunder at our Gates work,” and also includes a new secret path for Australia, along with additional late-game content for both Siam and Indonesia.
Paradox then reveals that it’s been working on a quality-of-life update “focused on reducing clicking, but also mental overhead when playing the game.” Hearts of Iron 4 is now more than a decade old, and while a lot of its fundamentals still hold up, Paradox (and strategy games at large) have come a long way in the past ten years. It says we can expect to see the results of this work in a livestream “in the near future,” and that it will be released in a patch “before the next Expansion Pass comes out.”
In closing, the developer adds that it is continuing to investigate hacking and griefing issues in the Hearts of Iron 4 multiplayer community. “We are not sure if we can solve all of the issues,” Paradox admits, “but we will certainly try to improve it from where it is today.”