Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance Review – Trial of Effort

Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance is the latest DLC for Paradox Interactive‘s long-running grand strategy game series. In this new expansion, a long-requested update by the fanbase is finally being added. Content for South America! In Trial Of Allegiance, we see Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay all getting new focus trees. All be it with varying sizes and scope. And for the first time in quite a while, this update does not feature any new gameplay mechanics outside of these new focus trees.

I suppose that you’ve probably seen my score for this one so I don’t need to do the whole “Does Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance live up to the hype?” bit that I’d usually do towards the end of the intro to these reviews. I will be frank with you dear reader. It doesn’t. It isn’t a terrible expansion by any stretch of the imagination. However, with that said this is one of the weakest pieces of DLC I have reviewed at KeenGamer for reasons I shall now get into.

Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance is available to buy on Steam and Paradox’s website.

Story – Uneventful

Being an expansion pack for a grand strategy game Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance doesn’t have a storyline in the traditional sense. This is a retelling of historical events (or telling of alternate historical events in some cases). So there isn’t a narrative here quite as is the case in other titles. However, you aren’t left to forge your own story and headcanon. As has been the case with previous Hearts Of Iron IV DLC I have reviewed there is a collection of events that will pop up now and again to help add extra context to some of the events happening in your nation and the wider world. Trial Of Allegiance, as one would expect, adds a host of events to the nations that are getting expanded. But I don’t feel it adds enough.

Whilst well written, it feels like there are fewer events in Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance.

The previous DLCs that I have covered were fantastic due to how well they gave you the historical context of what you were doing. Both from blurbs for focuses and from events. And whilst we do get some of that it feels like there aren’t as many events as in prior releases. I know there has been this running gag in the HOIV community about South America being a place where nothing happened during World War II. But from people I know who are more familiar with the history of that region that simply isn’t the case. And in a DLC centred around that region, the absence of that history is odd to me. Even when you go down alternate history paths there aren’t as many events popping up as you’d expect. What writing we do get is solid but it frankly doesn’t feel like it is enough.

Gameplay – More War!!

I feel that before we get too far into talking about the gameplay of Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance in this review we need to address the elephant in the room here. Unlike previous DLC there is no major gameplay addition to the core gameplay loop. As mentioned previously, all that you are getting in this expansion pack is a handful of new focus trees and that is it. I will share my feelings on this later on. But for now, I shall say it feels weird that this is all we are getting here. 

Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance does add more impassable terrain though, so, neat?

In this expansion pack, we see Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay all getting unique/semi-unique focus trees which cover your typical fist full of political paths ranging from the historical to the wilder and more alternate history-focused. Many of the Focus Trees share paths. Which regrettably does take some of the shine away. And when you consider that, it does make the updated trees feel smaller. And some nation’s trees feel so small they almost feel like an afterthought. Something that was added in to pad the final numbers out rather than give something that is a compelling interest to players old and new.

Democracy in Action

As a whole I feel that Brazil has the best focus tree in the entirety of Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance and has been great fun to play for this review. With a great amount of gameplay for each political path. And even offering alternate paths within those paths. Brazil’s democratic path is unique as it isn’t just a “Sitting in the corner of the room and doing nothing” simulator that similar paths are. It gives you a chance for conquest and puppetting. You can also build up a faction, then annex the members of that faction and get cores on their land! Well, providing they aren’t communist or fascist of course. But that can soon be dealt with.

It might take a while but you can do this with almost no war!

Seriously, all it takes is a little time to improve relations, get them to join, then later annex them for 100 pp each and get cores of them. This extends out into Central America and the Caribbean. Alternatively, you can take the Monarchist path and take the Empire of Brazil to new heights, by doing all of that and getting the chance to bully Portugal into giving you their colonies. Or force them to become your puppet. Goodness, that is pretty much the thrust of most of their paths. However, the communist and fascist paths are a little more “active” and require more war or influencing to stage coups and rebellions to bring them into your sphere of influence.

Cry Freedom!

Chile has access to two of the wilder trees in the list, with its two non-aligned being probably the more eccentric alternate history paths that Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance has. One allows you to liberate the various indigenous groups of the Americas, and either grant them (and yourself) a powerful buff or gain cores on them. This means that yes, you can core, North, Central, and South America. Granted getting there can be difficult but not impossible. The other allows you to crown a French man as your king (there is a tenuous historical claim here) and turn you into an imperial powerhouse.

Strike at the right moment and you could take Mexico and the USA in no time.

Alternatively, you can build yourself up to join the Allies, or try and take territory from Argentina. Well, provided you didn’t take it from them ahead of time Beyond this in your initial few months, you are trying to prevent (or stage) a coup. With the result of that setting the course for your playthrough. For better of for worse. The civil war that you can find yourself in at the start of this has a nice balanced challenge to it. And doesn’t feel quite as easy as Paragauy’s. Granted most of this is due to the unique shape that Chile has as a nation. This means you need to think a little more strategically about how you move. However, all of this sets up an interesting selection of paths which are fun enough for what they are.

Liberate the Masses

As a whole entity, I feel that Argentina has the second-best set of Focus Trees in the DLC. It rides a decent line between giving you enough historical and wilder ahistorical paths without getting too wacky. Their communist tree has the potential of being stupidly overpowered if you take the right path. With one path giving you annex war goals against pretty much every South American nation, there is. Couple this with a focus they have which gives you cores on the land you capture for 75 PP each. This can give you an astounding leg-up in the early game, and access to a wealth of manpower and resources that you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

A quick and early war with Brazil can really set you up well on this path.

And of course, you can get “You know who” as a leader of your nation if and when Germany capitulates. Granted in a historical game that won’t be for some time. But at least you can get the achievement related to it if you are particularly patient. However I will say that if you have any plans to dominate South America I’d advise capitulating Brazil as early as possible, as they are scripted to join the Allies in 1941, and if you can take them down quickly that will remove one major block to your future efforts.

Jungle Bungle

The focus tree for Paraguay feels like a slightly more interesting version of the one for Uruguay. And this is mostly due to the circumstances that come with the early game. Early on you will get a decision which will either send you into a civil war, or down a more stable (if less interesting) political path. The “Stable” path will give you more buffs to the state of the nation. Whereas the civil war route will grant you a collection of buffs that will make future wars a little easier. As whole it doesn’t offer much variety when it comes to the kinds of governments you can play as.

Paraguay’s trees can make it decently powerful.

You have the usual suspects, but there isn’t much to build from there. You could go communist if you went down the “stable” path, but you don’t get any special buffs for doing that. Similar to the other government types available to you. This means most of them feel like flavour which might well hinder any plans you have for expansion and conquest. Not the worst updated nation. But honestly, that is only by having an interesting event at the start that you need to deal with.

A Dead End

Uruguay’s focus tree feels like the runt of the litter. And is easily the weakest and least interesting. So forgive me if I don’t go into great and excessive detail at this point in this review of Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance. You get three paths. One non-aligned, one democratic, and one fascist. They are very short trees that feel like they lack flavour or impact. Sure, if you want to play as a nation that can nominally buff one side in the second world war they are fine. And like the other nations in this DLC they get the chance to take over the whole continent. However, they lack the industry or buffs to really help with that.

I only did this to make my Uraguay play in Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance more interesting.

Maybe there is some top-secret path I have yet to discover. But to a more casual player, they will just find it dull. As I said earlier Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance is probably the weakest DLC I have reviewed here at KeenGamer. And not just in terms of HOIV DLC either. Don’t get me wrong, it is perfectly fine. The new trees are mostly solid but inconsistent in quality. And with that in mind, it is hard to justify the entry cost. If ever there was a game I’ve reviewed that deserved the “Wait till it is on sale” mark it was this one. This is providing that Paradox don’t pull a Creative Assembly and do a free update to this in the not-too-distant future.

Graphics & Audio – Good & Fine

Given there are no major alterations to the Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance there isn’t much to talk about in this review. The new focus tree icons are decent. Though lacks the flare of the icons from the previous DLC. It is all well made, however there isn’t much to write home about. When the game launched there was this rather baffling issue where suffice it to say, one of the leader portraits for one of Brazil’s leaders is spectacularly wrong. This has since been updated, with it being a quick fix in the grand scheme of things.

However, the fact that a game series where historical accuracy is as important as it is to HOIV could muck this up, fix or not, is poor. And doesn’t reflect well on the development of this release. And may reflect why some nation’s focus trees feel rather undercooked. Beyond this, there is as expected new music and new voices for the units of each of the updated nations. Which is always a fine addition to the game. And as one has come to expect from Paradox’s games the production value is great. However as great as the soundtrack is, like I said in the previous DLC’s review I can’t say that I would ever listen to it outside of the game.

Hearts Of Iron IV: Trial Of Allegiance was reviewed on PC.