If history teaches us one thing, it’s this: it’s always a great idea to invade Central Asia. It just can’t go wrong. Honestly, if this games journalism thing doesn’t work out, I’m thinking I might head over there with the lads and establish some kind of thousand-year imperium. That or back to SEO writing.
Ah, wait, I’m learning from the title of Paradox’s upcoming DLC for Hearts of Iron 4 that I’m mistaken. Graveyard of Empires is the next country pack for the studio’s WW2 sim, announced last year, and offering all-new ways for your imperial ambitions to crash into the rocks of a region that’s got a habit of putting paid to that sort of thing. It’s now got a release date: it’s arriving March 4, for $15 (£12.79).
The DLC brings new content for Iran, India, Iraq, and Afghanistan, with stuff to make each of them feel a bit more unique in the course of play. Iran sounds like it’ll be mostly torn between fending off the Soviet Union on one side and Britain on the other, with “a significant new focus tree” that will give you a chance to “resist the imperial incursions that have historically weakened” the country. You can also revive the Achaemenid Empire, if you reckon that what WW2 was really missing was even more seismic political upheaval.
India, meanwhile, isn’t yet free of the British yoke during HOI4’s timespan. The subcontinent’s new focus tree will revolve around the Indian independence movement, offering all sorts of alternate histories for you to pursue as you liberate the country. That includes reviving the East India Company, which seems a bit of a sidegrade to me.
Iraq is also tethered to Britain as a client state, which means its part of the DLC also sounds like it revolves around, well, trying to get rid of the British (sorry everyone). “Try to chart your own path,” reads the blurb, “embracing the calls for pan-Arab nationalism and siding with the axis against the allies.” You’ll also have to navigate the various ethnic and religious tensions that make Iraqi society so brittle and, hey, maybe do something with those oil fields, huh?
Finally, there’s Afghanistan, which is actually the place people call the graveyard of empires. Funnily enough, it kind of sounds like Afghanistan is having a relatively gentle go of WW2 in HOI4: “Isolated from the wider war, [it] offers many alternate paths.” That means you can either “continue the historical path of neutrality and isolation” (so, you know, just kind of hang out for 20ish years, I guess) or try to build a new industrial superpower in the foothills. I’d go for that one, personally, in this war game.