Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game

This is like Hearts of Iron II and then it is not. Many things have been changed and / or profoundly enhanced. If you liked the original HOI2, you'll love this one. Especially with the ever popular "Kaiserreich" Mod, that let's you play an incredible "What if the German Reich won WW1" scenario. My favorite of the whole HOI-series - and I've played them all!

This is by far the best and most fun Paradox Game ever made. You can choose from the launcher menu all languages, so it's not english only like GOG states here. Then you can choose which version you will play: Without Mods: Then you have basically a HoI 2 Complete which you can play all up to 1920*1080 DH Light: Then you have the interface & map of the original HoI 2 with almost all enhancements from Darkest Hour activated. DH Full: Then you have new interface & map from Darkest Hour with all enhancements activated. Not to mention the countless mods which can be easily choosen in the launcher too when installed. Conclusion: This package is simply amazing and an absolute steal for that price. Now go ahead and rewrite history.

If you're a desktop general, you won't find a better version of this classic. Darkest Hour is essentially an updated mod to Hearts of Iron II, with expanded tech trees, a longer scenario option, and tweaked economies and ai for a more challenging game. The 1914 scenario is a nice bonus with its own challenges, however you cannot play a long-haul game of say, 1914 through 1963 direct. Another nice bonus is that for fans of the original Hearts of Iron II, there is the "Darkest Hour Light" setting, which is the original Hearts of Iron II, but updated with fixes (like the speed issue.) The DH Light mod also includes the HOI 2 "Doomsday" and "Armageddon" standalone scenarios. There is also a wonderful modding community, with plenty of mods that are easily implemented into the game. The only drawback to the game is a steep learning curve. The manual is huge, but is definitely required reading for the new player. As a new player to HOI 2 when it was first released, it took me a couple of games that I lost before getting used to the massive economic structure that has to be carefully balanced in order to be successful. But once you get it down, the replayability of this gem is huge.

I usually compare the costs of a game to what drinks would cost me at a party or a bar etc. If I spent 10 bucks would I rather spend it on a fun evening or on a particular game? HoI: The Darkest Hour is definately worth every penny! I ordered it when it was first released and aside from the fact that it came with A LOT of bugs, I really already enjoyed the game. To this day many players consider this game the best of the HoI series. It is very micro management heavy and if you never played a HoI game before you will definately spend a couple of hours on figuring out what the hell you are supposed to do. The graphics are dated as well, but this is one of those games that does not really rely on graphics. There are minor things however that could be annoying: For instance: It's easy to get lost on deploying your troops, a heat map for troop concentration would have been nice, for some nations there are way too many unnecessary commanders to choose from, when on the other hand for others there are not any commanders at all and the end game is usually very boring due to a lack of challenge. Playing Germany I actually never finished game after beating the soviet union. But until then, I guarantee you will have A LOT of fun!