The strategy game “Hearts of Iron 4” (Steam) simulates World War II. On November 14, a new DLC “Götterdämmerung” was released, focusing on Germany. The strategy expert Stephan “Steinwallen” Bliemel is usually responsible for discussing and supporting such games in Germany. With Götterdämmerung, he draws the line.
What kind of DLC is this? The DLC “Götterdämmerung” puts Germany and its role in World War II in the foreground. Here, the focus trees, basically the research trees, are being revised.
Moreover, it allows Germany to pursue alternative historical paths to fascism, such as towards a monarchy or a restored democracy.
But Paradox is also expanding the “fascist-militaristic path” that Germany historically followed.
The DLC faced critical eyes at its presentation
This is how the DLC was discussed at the presentation. The DLC “Götterdämmerung” was already presented in October 2024, and the English-speaking PC Gamer reportedly sighed heavily.
It’s about Nazis, but at no point does anyone say Nazis, and there are no swastikas to be seen anywhere, but related symbols are everywhere.
However, the DLC has now actually been released on Steam, and the game does go very far in its presentation.
“The player can protect their favorite Nazi”
What bothers Steinwallen? The well-known German strategy expert Steinwallen expresses his concerns. The DLC crosses the boundaries of good taste, which is why he will not treat and accompany the DLC in the usual manner but will only present what he finds problematic about the DLC “Götterdämmerung”.
Paradox has expanded the “Historical Research Tree” of Germany with a mechanic that simulates the domestic politics of Nazi Germany, as Steinwallen explains.
Thus, one can unlock prominent Nazi figures like Göring, Himmler, and Goebbels through the game mechanic “Inner Circle”.
Steinwallen states:
The player can protect their favorite Nazis and make them Reichsleiters to give them the opportunity to push their own focuses forward.
Steinwallen then reads the description of Himmler in the game and criticizes that it completely overlooks the central role Himmler played in the Holocaust.
What has changed? Steinwallen explains that Nazis were already present in Hearts of Iron before the expansion, but they were shown without portraits and had little impact on the game. The new DLC has now made the Nazis a part of the game. There is no option to deactivate the portraits.
This is his consequence: Steinwallen says the military-strategic simulation of World War II has always been challenging because the aggressive war of the Germans was also a war of annihilation.
With the DLC, however, Steinwallen reaches his personal limit: he can no longer casually explain new game mechanics without having images of extermination camps or piles of corpses in his mind’s eye.
Despite having invested a lot of time in the DLC, engaging intensively with the gameplay and studying the developer diaries, he will not give any further attention to the DLC on his channel.
He criticizes no one who buys the game, but as a content creator, he cannot accompany the game as an entertainment product.
He has disabled monetization on his now only video about the DLC on YouTube and will not report further on the DLC. How he will proceed with Hearts of Iron 4, he does not yet know.
Has his protest had an effect? Steinwallen’s video is currently the most discussed post in the reddit for Hearts of Iron (568 comments) and also in the reddit for developer Paradox. The video will definitely reach Paradox. A reaction from the developers is still pending.
