The sunset of the Storm Knights

In Paradox Interactive’s plan to overhaul Hearts of Iron IV, they have released a trailer for the game’s latest expansion titled Götterdämmerung – Twilight of the Gods:

This Expansion is an overhaul for the game HoI4 starting from November 14, 2024, designing expansion content such as weapon projects, focus trees and rework quite a lot of things. And the most important thing why Götterdämmerung? So what is it? You didn’t come here for the gameplay, skip here.

Game title Hearts of Iron IV

An RTS game that simulates WW2 history is relatively difficult for most players and has lived very well for 8 years relying on mods even though multiplayer only allows p2p. After 8 years of development, the game has achieved, I consider it very complete because the indexes no longer overlap in meaning (the indexes are not simply adding/multiplying modifiers to the fighting force to determine the fighting force). or the greater the total number of forces is the winner). To fully play and understand this game requires no less than 3000 hours and dozens of hours truly immersed in the game’s wiki. The following is an overview of the game that I can summarize so that people who have never heard of the game can best feel and visualize the historical gameplay format according to the dev’s script (need basic knowledge of the game). WW2 history).

Even though it is a world map, the game is mainly designed for the WW2 simulation History game style for multiplayer, making the factions balanced. All of the above difficulties and tools are included in relatively interesting gameplay, avoiding duplication of meanings of actions and indicators. The most important thing in this game is the Focus tree – which will help the game process develop according to a predetermined scenario, which can affect other countries, solve difficulties, and enhance the strength of each country. . Each focus is calculated in X weeks to make game design as well as time selection and calculation in the game more reasonable. There are also intelligence systems, two types of international markets (equipment side and resource side), industrial construction and naval and air force design. Dev develops very well when every department has a clear role and meaning – why don’t I use the word important to keep it short? – because the meaning of each department is very separate that players can hardly ignore, not simply one color like other games – which makes Paradox’s game series very attractive to theorycraft players.

Basic explanation of Historical gameplay without mods (Vanilla)

Look, those who have played Hoi4 are thinking what am I missing? That’s right, the alternate history, but I won’t focus on it because that’s something for you to explore, I’m emphasizing what this Paradox overhaul is for. Still expanding the Alternate History branches like any other DLC, but most importantly, the trailer emphasized the Nuclear Bomb – the Heisenberg device – which will be reworked by the game after many years to look very similar to its name. Its history is more – Wunderwaffe – magic weapon. In addition, the game will create events so that gameplay can carry out projects and get closer to the appeal of reality.

I would like to introduce the mod that Paradox Interactive directly invested in to bring the game to the esport level: Steam Workshop::Commanders: The Competitive HOI4 Mod

Brief summary: Realistically fight on maps that are compact compared to the world map, the two sides start equally and will choose for themselves a faction from the two Axis – Allies factions that are suitable to fight on maps that suit their needs. historical battles and fictional historical battles. The tournament’s YouTube channel is ongoing at the time of writing: TMW eSports – YouTube.

Götterdämmerung

Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) is an opera written by Richard Wagner – a German composer in the late 19th century. The opera consists of 4 plays:

And the final play Götterdämmerung is the title of the update for the game Hearts of Iron IV – Twilight of the Gods. Let’s start by analyzing the game trailer and this is a branch of fantasy history.

The trailer begins with a speech by a field marshal or a high-ranking member of the German Empire, praising the work of soldiers and loyal members of the empire in uniting the European continent. The next cut scene shows the fall of London (Bigben clock tower) being attacked by parachute troops – fallschirmjäger, followed by a scene where the German army seems to have counterattacked the D-Day landings of the Allies. ally and recapture Paris. In the Paris scene we see the Panzer VIII Maus tank or maybe even a super battleship known as a land cruiser (Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte) – entering Paris, the setting up of secret weapons A more epic way will also be available in the game’s expansion – recreating the top secret super projects both sides have carried out. The next scene takes us back to the scene of a speech at the Volkshalle – Albert Speer’s megacity project if the Germans win, the leader affirms the collapse of powerful empires such as Britain, France, the Soviet Union, …and the Axis faction is preparing to destroy the ultimate enemy – the United States. The bitterness that Germany endured from the Versailles Peace Treaty was returned to the enemy with terror, and a series of V-2 supersonic missiles were being stockpiled in warehouses. In the final scene, the Heisenberg device – an atomic bomb – is dropped from a plane onto the Washington White House, the final blow to the United States. The dialogue lines are decisive, extremely poetic, rich in German character and convey very strong emotions regardless of whether they are good or bad :), a cinematic style trailer with a very high artistic level, along with the called Twilight of the Gods, has extremely effectively advertised the scenario of the expansion pack that the developer is about to release.

Going into the issue of art, Götterdämmerung is the conclusion of Der Ring des Nibelungen written by Richard Wagner – a work inspired by Norse and German mythology and the German epic poem Nibelung. The work ends as a tragedy for Valhalla – the hall of the gods – is swallowed up in flames and not a single god survives. Europe is also because of the struggle for the ring between gods and humans, lies and greed leading to the final tragedy in the fire – which embraces everything. The sun comes out with a melody to describe salvation after the three Rhine goddesses get the ring back and the dwarf Alberich returns to the dwarf kingdom of Nibelheim where he rules. Apart from the final act to serve the article, I couldn’t watch the entire work to be able to evaluate in detail the dignity of each character’s actions, but perhaps the message is still that those who cannot escape greed and hatred will will be burned by the fire even if it is a god and return peace to the world like a cycle of reincarnation.

Valhalla in flames, in an 1894 depiction by Max Brückner, one of the original set designers

Richard Wagner wrote this entire play over 26 years and he put his whole heart and soul into refining the text and melody – without outsourcing even though at one point he was beaten by a creditor. Tracing the origin, Götterdämmerung means the end of the world when the gods confront the devil (all die) in Norse mythology. The game will have many great osts from the epic musical The Ring of the Nibelung, especially the music that everyone has probably heard at least once. Ride of the Valkyries in the second play Die Walküre will be remastered.

Götzen-Dämmerung

Friedrich Nietzsche and Richard Wagner were two friends who shared the same heroism, but later Nietzsche attacked Wagner because he thought Wagner was fake and wrote the work Götzen-Dämmerung as a play on the final title of the play The Ring. Nibelung people. Götzen means idol or false god – someone who is mistakenly understood to be a god. Nietzsche is not like a normal book writer, his works are relatively chaotic and are often edited by later generations, the first person to edit was his sister. Therefore, this article will not delve into Nietzsche’s philosophy but will only revolve around the topic of the two characters opposing each other to find out the meaning surrounding the upcoming expansion title.

Wagner inspired Nietzsche to write books, but Nietzsche later called Wagner fake because of the cult of Christianity from Wagner in his plays and ignored the shortcomings of religion. However, no matter what, Nietzsche always had Wagner as his confidant, both of them were the idols of one person… hehe, someone who follows heroism and escapes the fate of a camel and becomes a lion, only to fail and die. killed himself with a Walther shot to the head. Back to the main topic, for Wagner, Twilight belongs to the gods, but for Nietzsche, Twilight is the truth. When idols go too far, something blinds people from the idol’s shortcomings. The work is not intended to criticize Wagner alone, but to criticize the shortcomings of both German philosophy and similar philosophies. The simplicity of the work, when revolving around the issue of Gott, is just a variation of the name with inspiration from Wagner, attacking blind idolatry, and in Wagner’s work, gods are not perfect, they are also greedy, jealous, and destructive. dead. Wagner’s ideas were much more open than the original meaning in the final battle of Norse mythology.

I could ramble a bit, but the main character in Hearts of Iron IV – the one who gives you Weekly War Support Casualties +0.1% and political power +25% – idolizes both of them. Both of them greatly influenced his outlook on life, his heroism as well as his artistic ideology. Hopefully this small section gives you a more comprehensive view of Götterdämmerung.

Schluss

Hearts of Iron IV has been confirmed by Paradox Interactive as the final version and will also be heavily invested in. From what we have seen above, it is clear that Paradox will dedicate itself to building the HoI4 community and also turning the game into an esport. The trailer uses AI but invests a lot of brainpower, not just throwing out a few prompts so the AI ​​can create it. Fans are also looking forward to the content that will be introduced in this expansion. This could be the hit to bring HOI4 to perfection, of course Paradox – please support more multiplayer players, more hackers etc. But I still consider this a very fair game, hackers will distort data due to the game’s p2p mode and desync so players can guess. Hackers are only destructive, they cannot destroy the gaming experience by silently buffing dirty things. Bugs are many but within the player’s control (reset lobby and play again), so the experience can only be stopped at an uncomfortable level and still maintain the relative fairness of the game. The game will be extremely desirable under the hands of Paradox. Those who like games that redraw maps, fictional history, and difficult challenges should try this game, Paradox Interactive will not disappoint you. .