As a history buff and a fan of emergent narratives, I am capable of enjoying Hearts of Iron IV despite its flaws. The player takes control of a nation in the late 1930's, with the goal of either staying or changing the course of World War II. It usually does an excellent job simulating the war, and has great replay value.

However, I cannot overstate how poorly the game simulates peace deals after large wars. The AI is unforgivably bad at making peace, to the point that a plausible peace deal can only be achieved by the player cheating (with mods or console commands; I have used both) to create one manually. This breaks my immersion, wastes my time, and almost ruins the game for me.

The game is still good overall. I like it. But I simply cannot give it a glowing recommendation.