You can play colossal WW2 strategy game Hearts of Iron 4 for free this weekend, and it's cheap to keep if you love it

Got nothing better to do this weekend than try your hand at leading a nation to victory in World War II in one of the best strategy games ever made? On the back of a new DLC entry for the nearly decade-old grand strategy giant Hearts of Iron 4, you're welcome to try out the base WW2 game for free for the next few days. And given it'll likely take you that long to figure out the menus, the sooner you start, the quicker you can fail.

Steam being Steam, the latest Hearts of Iron 4 free weekend doesn't mean forfeiting your country when the clock strikes midnight on Sunday. Though that would ensure you get to bed for a reasonable snooze before the start of another long, gruelling, agonizing, and likely boring week of work, timezone tomfoolery means you actually have until sometime on Monday to seize victory for whichever make-believe continental conquest you bat for. Given it'll take anyone but the most battle-hardened veteran to figure out the menus by then - I'm speaking from experience here, General - the timing honestly couldn't be better.

Paradox Interactive's efforts to bring in more armchair generals is likely linked to the release of Hearts of Iron 4: No Compromise, No Surrender, the latest paid expansion pack for the game that's surely next in line for a sequel now that Europa Universalis 4 has, 12 years after its debut, finally given way to the recent release of Europa Universalis 5.

Now, while you won't get to experience the new add-on by wading into the complimentary waters of the Hearts of Iron 4 free Steam weekend, it doesn't hurt to know what it adds to the grand strategy experience: namely, "new paths in history for Japan, China, and the Philippines."

Hearts of Iron 4: No Compromise, No Surrender focuses on the battles of the Pacific, giving you "greater depth of control over factions" and the ability to "forge new military doctrines." Being a game all about rewriting history, this add-on lets you figure out strategies that could have seen Japan dominate Western forces in the battles of the Pacific, rally the republic into keeping the idea of Nationalist China alive and well, or manage to establish a truly independent age for the islands comprising the Philippines. As for how well it's going down with fans, it's focus trees galore, basically. And that has players feeling that it's a tad overpriced.

Depending on whether you've kept up with Paradox Interactive's recent releases, the response to this one might not be all that surprising. It's currently 'mixed,' with just 43% of user reviews giving it the thumbs up.

Between calls of it feeling "like a reskinnned DLC" and disappointment that it doesn't include Malaysia and Siam to make it "a $30 Asian-theatre content DLC," there are a couple of folks saying it's a decent deal if you've bought into the Expansion Pass which, for around $50, gets you a total of five DLCs-two of which are out now, and three that lead into June next year. And yes, that does seem more enticing than a flat $30 fee for a single expansion some believe adds "less than Götterdämmerung," but we also understand that not everyone wants to chuck money at the idea of something that might only disappoint them when it actually releases 12 months later.

If you do decide to stick to these particular grand strategy guns, you have until December 4 to score 70% off Hearts of Iron 4. Hop on now and that's around 14 days (or just as long as I assume it takes to complete a playthrough), to make up your mind. And if a particular expansion wets your war-waging whistle, there's almost 10 years worth of content to nab at up to 50% off as well. An updated 'Complete Beginners Guide' just dropped on the Hearts of Iron 4 YouTube channel, too. They know what they're doing.