Hearts of Iron IV — Steam Gift

Hearts of Iron IV: grand strategy about World War II

Hearts of Iron IV isn't about a single heroic landing or one tank duel. It's about a whole nation on the brink of a world war: factories that either retool for war in time or don't; scientists whose priorities you set; politics that can swing a country in any direction. Released on 6 June 2016 by Paradox Development Studio, it's still one of the deepest strategy games about 1936–1945. Here you get it as a Steam gift — our bot delivers the game straight to your library.

What you actually do in the game

You pick any country on the map — from Germany, the USSR, the USA and Britain down to the smallest states — and start either in 1936 (a long runway to build your economy and politics) or in 1939 (war almost at the door). From there it's on you: the national focus tree sets your country's strategic forks, research unlocks technology, industry builds factories and shipyards, and diplomacy weaves alliances and pretexts for war.

You build the army yourself, too. Divisions are designed from templates: how much infantry, artillery, armor, and which support — engineers, recon, maintenance companies. On the front you don't micro every unit; you draw offensive arrows and your generals execute the plan, factoring in supply, weather and terrain. Logistics is a game of its own here: an army without fuel and supplies bogs down no matter how good it looks on paper.

Standard or General Edition — which to pick

There are two editions in this listing, and the difference is simple:

• Standard is the base game itself. A full World War II, all the core mechanics, any country on the map. A great entry point if you're new to the series.
• General Edition is the base game plus five expansions that used to be sold separately: Together for Victory (deeper focus trees for Britain's dominions), Death or Dishonor (Eastern and Central European nations), Waking the Tiger (China, Japan and a reworked commander system), La Résistance (espionage, agents, the underground and resistance) and Battle for the Bosporus (Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey around the Black and Aegean seas).

The base game is already included in General Edition — it's a complete package, not an upgrade that needs a separately purchased game. Want more nations with unique focus trees and the espionage layer right away? Go General Edition. Just want to taste the foundation? Standard.

How the expansions change the game

Expansions in Hearts of Iron IV aren't cosmetic — they're new layers of strategy. La Résistance, for instance, adds agents, intelligence, behind-the-lines operations and resistance in occupied territory — a whole second dimension of war beyond the front. Waking the Tiger rewrites the general system and gives China and Japan rich alternate-history paths. The country packs (Death or Dishonor, Battle for the Bosporus, Together for Victory) turn "minor" powers from extras into nations with their own political drama and forks. That's exactly why General Edition feels noticeably richer than the base version.

How gift delivery works

This is a Steam Gift, not a key. You provide your Steam friend invite link and your account region, place the order — then our bot adds itself as your friend and sends the gift. You don't need to accept the friend request: the bot does everything itself and leaves your friends list once delivery is done. The whole thing usually takes a couple of minutes, but we don't promise hard timings — it varies.

Two conditions matter, without which Steam won't let you accept the gift: your account region must match the gift region, and you must not already own this game (edition). That's why each edition in this listing has variants for different regions — choose the one matching your Steam region. Steam Guard isn't required, and you don't need to own the game in advance — quite the opposite, it must not be there yet.

What you can play it on

Hearts of Iron IV released on Windows, macOS and Linux, so the gift works on all three. It also runs on Steam Deck — the strategy pauses at any moment, so playing on the go is comfortable. The game supports multiplayer: gather a lobby with friends and replay World War II together or against each other.

If you love Paradox grand strategy

Hearts of Iron IV is part of Paradox's wider grand-strategy family. If the scale and system depth hook you, look toward Europa Universalis IV for the age of exploration, Crusader Kings III for medieval dynasties and intrigue, or Stellaris — the same deep-systems philosophy, but in space. They share a DNA: your decisions stack up and shape the fate of an entire nation.

The short version of the purchase

You get Hearts of Iron IV as a Steam gift in the chosen edition and region. You provide the invite link and region, place the order — the bot sends the game to your library. No codes to enter, no Steam Guard needed, no friend request to accept. The key things are a matching region and a library that doesn't already have this edition.

🎁 Key & gift

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