I've never played any of the Hearts of Iron games before this one, so I cannot speak on any of those. I cannot tell you how this game compares to the previous titles, nor what changes it has made. I cannot give you my 'hot take' on whether this game is more or less better than HoI 3.

However, as a newcomer into the series, I find this game to be absolutely brilliant. Foregoing the tutorial, I found the game to be intuitive enough for me to be capable of learning the mechanics on my own, without outside assistant of any variety. Even moving troops navally, the most obscure mechanic, was eventually discovered by me, and lead to my (almost) success against the Chinese in an abandoned Japanese campaign.

There are some issues with the game that I've noticed so far, such as the majority of countries not having their own, unique National Focus trees. I imagine that, as time goes on, those will be added. Another odd quirk of the game is the garrison function - instead of allowing me to defend my provinces as I wish, I must select an entire state, which then assigns my troops across the state seemingly at random. This has actually lead to entire tactical blunders that I was unable to defend against properly. Hopefully this issue can be resolved with them simply allowing me to 'garrison' troops wherever I please in my territory, so that I may make a line on my coastal provinces.

I could go more in-depth with this game, however, I won't. Get this game, or look up a playthrough on Youtube. It's an absolutely brilliant title, and Paradox deserves kudos for it.

I've never played any of the Hearts of Iron games before this one, so I cannot speak on any of those. I cannot tell you how this game compares to the previous titles, nor what changes it has made. I cannot give you my 'hot take' on whether this game is more or less better than HoI 3. However, as a newcomer into the series, I find this game to be absolutely brilliant. Foregoing the tutorial, I found the game to be intuitive enough for me to be capable of learning the mechanics on my own, without outside assistant of any variety. Even moving troops navally, the most obscure mechanic, was eventually discovered by me, and lead to my (almost) success against the Chinese in an abandoned Japanese campaign. There are some issues with the game that I've noticed so far, such as the majority of countries not having their own, unique National Focus trees. I imagine that, as time goes on, those will be added. Another odd quirk of the game is the garrison function - instead of allowing me to defend my provinces as I wish, I must select an entire state, which then assigns my troops across the state seemingly at random. This has actually lead to entire tactical blunders that I was unable to defend against properly. Hopefully this issue can be resolved with them simply allowing me to 'garrison' troops wherever I please in my territory, so that I may make a line on my coastal provinces. I could go more in-depth with this game, however, I won't. Get this game, or look up a playthrough on Youtube. It's an absolutely brilliant title, and Paradox deserves kudos for it.