Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny

Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny is the eighth major expansion to Hearts of Iron IV, a strategy game from 2016. It was created by Paradox Development Studio, the same team as the base game.

Plot

Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny is set in Northern Europe during World War II, letting players rewrite the region's history. The expansion focuses on four countries - Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden - facing the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. It's up to us whether they'll try to maintain neutrality through skillful diplomacy, fiercely resist their powerful neighbors or ally with one of them.

Mechanics

Each country focused on in Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny has individual strengths and weaknesses, which can be used during warfare or diplomacy. Finns are excellent in fighting in difficult terrain, Swedes are excellent weapon designers and manufacturers, Norwegians focus on strong industry, while Danes are skilled diplomats who have managed to create a welfare state.

The expansion lets us decide how we'll use each country's strengths. Though there's nothing stopping the player from siding with one of the growing dictatorships, a better course of action may be to focus on internal development and prepare to repel their eventual aggression or focus on diplomacy to maintain neutrality. Along the way we must face internal enemies and other threats that can destroy the country from within. These include protests by Swedish trade unions that can paralyze our industry or coups by Norwegian fascists.

The expansion introduces new national focus trees, alternate histories for some countries, lets us adjust the actions of weapon manufacturers (whom we can assign various specializations and upgrade in specific ways) and a new international market (by exporting and trading weapons we can technically stay neutral while still fueling the war). The developers have also introduced various changes and improvements in designing and organizing military squads.

Game modes

Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny supports singleplayer and multiplayer for up to 32 players.

Technical aspects

Arms Against Tyranny is not a standalone expansion and thus requires the base version of Hearts of Iron IV. The expansion doesn't change the graphics or audio much, though it does introduce some new unit visuals and ten new tracks.