Hearts of Iron 2 Demo

World War II has spawned countless documentaries, movies and even video games, the latter of which aim to give you the change to play your part in the outcome of the greatest war the world has ever seen. Unfortunately, most of the time, the events follow history and the end result is already known from the start, which kind of ruins any chance for immersion.

Hearts of Iron 2, on the other hand, gives you the choice of playing with both of the factions and achieving very different results than the ones we know about from the history books. Thus, if you are so inclined, you can take on Hitler's side and help Germany win the war, by defeating the Allies in key battles and avoiding the D-Day disaster, or repel the invasion before it reaches your shores.

Alternatively, you can also play out the war as it already happened, choosing to stick with the Allies and beat the nazis all over again in the same famous battles that defined the final outcome of the conflict. As such, you can choose from a wide variety of pre-made scenarios built into the game, which provide you with the exact positioning of the troops and their equivalent strength in numbers at the date of the respective battles.

Since Hearts of Iron is, after all, a wargame series, it features a wide selection of tactical options that can be used to push the enemy into submission. Hence, depending on the type of troops you have at your disposal, you can attack and occupy territories on the map of Europe, all of which can give you certain advantages when the time comes and you intend to deliver the final blow.

There are also a wide variety of resources that can be captured on the war map, all of which are vital if you want to buy new units or research new technologies, in order to gain the upper hand on your enemy. Regarding this, there is an entire section dedicated to technology, where you can find information about your secret weapons, naval doctrines and your industrial advancements.

The greatest feat delivered with Hearts of Iron 2 is the vast amount of tactical options that are put at your disposal, because, thanks to them, you can replay the same scenarios over and over again, with very different results, depending on the strategies used in the process. The fact that you can pause the game at any point and adjust your approach can come in handy as well, in case you need to rethink some of your decisions.