hearts-of-iron posts

Paradox Interactive's latest old fashioned strategy game now has a release date. The publisher announced that Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game will be released on March 29 via various download sites.

The game itself was developed by a team of mod makers from Paradox's own forum community who wanted to do something different with the Europa Engine that is the basis of the WWII strategy game Hearts of Iron II. The end result is this upcoming stand alone game that has a number of different campaigns from the start of the Great War to the beginnings of the unofficial Cold War. The game also has a redesigned map, better dipomacy features and an AI system that's "now able to react to hundreds of different situations simultaneously."

Hearts of Iron II may be five years old at this point, but it's still going strong thanks to Paradox's continued support. Earlier this year, players got the stand-alone game Arsenal of Democracy - developed by the community - that made a plethora of great changes and improvements. Now there's an expansion pack - developed by Irshappa - that takes the game even further. If you aren't really interested in Hearts of Iron, this expansion won't change your mind, but for those that love the crazy simulation of war, there's plenty of new features to be happy about in Iron Cross. 4000 new provinces to fight over, new countries, new units, new technologies, and new events all greatly expand upon whichever version of Hearts of Iron II you decide to play with. The expansion is compatible with both Arsenal of Democracy and the original game.

Paradox Interactive has been very supportive of mod and mod teams for its various games in the past. Today the publisher announced that two projects created by mod developers of their WWII strategy game Hearts of Iron II will be released by Paradox as full commercial games.

One project is called Darkest Hour, a stand alone game that has a number of short missions set during the first half of the 20th century. It also has a new AI system. The other game is titled Iron Cross and is actually an expansion pack to Hearts of Iron II which adds over 6,000 new events and over 4,000 new provinces in a title that spans between 1933 and 1964. Both titles will be released via digital download in the fourth quarter of 2010 or the first quarter of 2011.

Although the first trailer for Hearts of Iron III doesn't reveal much actual gameplay footage, it provides a glimpse of what the graphics will look like and lists its features. World War II strategists should be looking forward to this one. Hearts of Iron III is scheduled to release sometime in Q3 2008.

Download the Hearts of Iron 3 HD Trailer (61 MB)