WW2 strategy game Hearts of Iron 4 is giving factions a fundamental rework

Hearts of Iron 4 has just celebrated its ninth birthday, and the WW2 grand strategy game remains the most popular of its type on Steam, reaching highs of more than 50,000 active players on a near-daily basis. Yet developer Paradox clearly still has ideas for how to keep building on its core; 2024's Götterdämmerung expansion delivered big changes to central players in the conflict such as Germany, Austria, and Hungary. Now, in a new developer blog, the studio explains that it plans to overhaul the way HoI 4 factions work.

"Not much has happened to factions since release, so we figured it was time to take a look at them," Hearts of Iron 4 design manager 'Wrongwraith' writes. While more countries can create factions in the grand strategy game today than was possible at launch, they're all quite similar. "You don't feel any difference playing as the Axis as opposed to the Allies, the Comintern, or the Chinese United Front, for example. The goal here is to change that. To make factions feel more unique, and immersive at the same time."

Wrongwraith stresses that this work is in the "very early stages," and so there aren't many examples of finalized UI or artwork, although they do provide some basic mockups. The core concepts at play here are considering faction manifests, goals, rules, initiatives, and influence. To begin with, each faction will have a manifest that determines its central focus, whether that's conquering new lands, halting the spread of fascism, or something else.

Your progress towards this manifest is monitored by a fulfillment percentage, and hitting certain fulfillment milestones will provide you with bonuses. Additionally, every faction will have short-term and long-term strategic goals; smaller objectives such as taking over specific territories, controlling resources, or recruiting more countries to the alliance. These will help round out your intended direction, and while you aren't forced to follow them you'll be rewarded for doing so.

Factions will also be defined by rules. These might determine which nations can join a faction, or which members are allowed to declare war on its behalf and when. Perhaps only those from the same continent as the leader are allowed in, and with the conditions that they aren't currently at war and don't have any fascist ideals. Similarly, other rules could make a country eligible to be kicked from the ranks, or conversely, to take over its leadership.

There will also be scope for the leader to adjust these rules as the game progresses. Faction initiatives are gained from completing certain goals, and spent to make changes to the faction by adding, modifying, or removing rules, providing you're eligible for the privilege. Paradox notes that these will be handed out sparingly, ensuring that things aren't constantly being chopped and changed, and that "you won't be spammed with decisions to make, "which is something we want to avoid."

Initiatives can alternatively be used in other ways. Some of the examples given are adding or expanding the sharing of research or military doctrines between member nations, building joint research sites, or introducing a supreme commander for the group.

The final aspect in play is influence. This marks how much power each member of the faction holds, and is earned through war participation, industrial might, events, and contributions. The latter of these is earned by delivering something to other faction members, or the group as a whole. The more influence you have, the more rewards you'll get from completing goals, and the more war score you'll earn from successful peace conferences where you're on the winning side.

Of course, if you're considering making a move to become the new leader of your current faction, you'll need to accumulate enough influence to do so. Rounding out the overhaul, Wrongwraith says Paradox is looking to add a way to tell your faction allies where you'd like them to focus their efforts. "It shouldn't mean they abandon everything else, but rather just increase their attention there."

If successful, the rework could dramatically change the interplay between allied nations in Hearts of Iron 4 for the better, but we'll have to wait a while to see how the systems evolve before it makes it to the final game.

For now, take a look through the best WW2 games we recommend playing in 2025, alongside more of the best strategy games on PC.

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