Very fun in History class.

Hearts of Iron IV is one of the best grand strategy games of all time. It takes an incredible amount of effort to make a World War II strategy game where you can spend hundreds of hours on a single game and somehow still think, "I could have done that better." You can play as almost any country in the world, rewrite history, create completely ridiculous alliances, and turn nations that historically had no chance into global superpowers.

Personally, I love playing Germany and spending the first few years preparing for a war that I absolutely did not start according to the history books. You can invade Poland in 1939, conquer France, launch Operation Barbarossa and eventually fight the entire world—or you can do something completely stupid like restoring the Holy Roman Empire and watching the entire diplomatic map turn into a disaster.

The game has an incredible amount of freedom. You can play a major power like Germany, the Soviet Union, the United States or the United Kingdom, or choose a tiny country and slowly turn it into a global superpower. You can follow history, completely ignore it, or create a timeline so cursed that even the game probably regrets allowing you to do it.

The political system and focus trees are some of the best parts of the game. You can turn countries communist, fascist, democratic or stay neutral, depending on the path you choose. You can restore monarchies, create new factions, annex countries, release puppets and generally ruin international politics for everyone involved.

The military system is also incredibly detailed. Infantry, tanks, artillery, aircraft and navy all have their own roles, while division templates, equipment production, logistics and supply can completely change the outcome of a war. You can have the best army in the world and still lose because you forgot to bring enough trucks.

The naval system, however, is an entirely different experience. You can spend years building a massive fleet, assign it to the English Channel, and discover that apparently you have 0% naval supremacy because 14 British destroyers and a submarine are somewhere nearby.

Air power is equally important. Building thousands of fighters sounds great until you realize the enemy has built 7,000 more.

And then there is supply.

You can have 200 divisions ready to conquer the Soviet Union, but the moment they cross the border your entire army collectively decides that food, ammunition and fuel are optional.

The game becomes even better with friends. Nothing is more fun than coordinating a massive multiplayer war, only for your friend to invade a country without telling anyone and accidentally start World War III.

The focus trees, national spirits, historical events and alternate-history paths give the game an enormous amount of replayability. Every campaign can turn into something completely different. Germany can conquer Europe, Italy can actually become useful, Greece can somehow become a superpower, and Luxembourg can probably survive long enough to make you question the laws of physics.

Closing remarks, Hearts of Iron IV is a game that looks complicated at first and somehow becomes even more complicated after you understand it. It has an absurd learning curve, questionable AI, occasionally questionable mechanics, and enough DLC to make you reconsider your financial decisions.

But once you understand it, the game becomes incredibly fun.

You may not know much about economics, logistics, naval warfare or international diplomacy, but you definitely know that France isn't going to enjoy 14 Panzer divisions appearing on their border.

WARNING: The game is a masterpiece, but the DLC situation is a different war entirely. Without DLC, I'd give it a 6/10. With the right DLC and mods, 10/10.

Would invade Poland again.