The Game Census
Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game cover art

Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game

Martin Ivanov · Paradox Interactive · 2011-04-08

SteamGOG

Strategy

Modes: Single player, Multiplayer · Perspectives: Bird view / Isometric

Releases: Apr 09, 2011 (Linux), Apr 08, 2011 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Developed by a team of experienced modders from the Paradox forum, Darkest Hour is a stand-alone Hearts of Iron game. The game features a mixture of short and in-depth campaigns set across the darkest chapters of the 20th century. Play from the outbreak of the Great War up until the onset of the Cold War.

Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game is a Strategy game released in 2011, priced at $9.99, with a Very Positive sentiment based on 90% of 2101 reviews and an owner estimate of 200,000 .. 500,000.

69
playing now
90%
positive of 2.1k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
200,000–500,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
88/100
IGDB user rating (15 ratings)
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Unsupported
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Unsupported
$9.99
steam price (US)

69 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 13:00 UTC (census sample)

Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game is a 2011 grand strategy video game developed by Martin Ivanov and published by Paradox Interactive. It is the first installment in the Hearts of Iron series to not be developed by Paradox Development Studio, instead being developed by a team of independent developers led by Ivanov; Paradox let them use their in-house Europa Engine.

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 69 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 55 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~7/week).
  • · Review velocity up 38% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 10% of 14,082 Strategy games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-30

Estimated sales: 84k–168k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 2,101 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Fanatical$1.94-81%
GOG$1.99-80%
Steam$1.99-80%
GOG$1.99-80%

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $1.61 at Nuuvem (2014-10-28) · bundled 4×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $9.99 · on sale 79 of 120 observed days · $0.33 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
343420182026Week of 2018-01-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2018-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2018-03-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 2 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

133502026-09-14 22:00 — 74 players2026-09-16 07:00 — 51 players2026-09-17 14:00 — 96 players2026-09-18 22:00 — 100 players2026-09-20 05:00 — 61 players2026-09-21 13:00 — 91 players2026-09-22 20:00 — 109 players2026-09-24 04:00 — 60 players2026-09-25 11:00 — 74 players2026-09-26 19:00 — 132 players2026-09-28 02:00 — 51 players2026-09-29 10:00 — 83 players2026-09-30 17:00 — 92 players2026-10-02 01:00 — 61 players2026-10-03 08:00 — 76 players2026-10-04 17:00 — 103 players2026-10-06 00:00 — 64 players2026-10-07 08:00 — 60 players2026-10-08 15:00 — 96 players2026-10-09 23:00 — 86 players2026-10-11 06:00 — 74 players2026-10-12 14:00 — 84 players2026-10-13 21:00 — 92 players2026-10-14 13:00 — 69 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
23438Jul 2012Aug 2026Jul 2012 — avg 51 · peak 99Dec 2012 — avg 57 · peak 117May 2013 — avg 50 · peak 97Oct 2013 — avg 44 · peak 96Mar 2014 — avg 106 · peak 197Aug 2014 — avg 126 · peak 223Jan 2015 — avg 161 · peak 288Jun 2015 — avg 165 · peak 276Nov 2015 — avg 203 · peak 381Apr 2016 — avg 195 · peak 350Sep 2016 — avg 148 · peak 281Feb 2017 — avg 154 · peak 269Jul 2017 — avg 147 · peak 244Dec 2017 — avg 134 · peak 228May 2018 — avg 131 · peak 256Oct 2018 — avg 122 · peak 228Mar 2019 — avg 130 · peak 222Aug 2019 — avg 126 · peak 225Jan 2020 — avg 119 · peak 222Jun 2020 — avg 119 · peak 197Nov 2020 — avg 110 · peak 210Apr 2021 — avg 110 · peak 201Sep 2021 — avg 95 · peak 167Feb 2022 — avg 105 · peak 192Jul 2022 — avg 89 · peak 163Dec 2022 — avg 89 · peak 155May 2023 — avg 101 · peak 194Oct 2023 — avg 98 · peak 174Mar 2024 — avg 98 · peak 173Aug 2024 — avg 93 · peak 175Jan 2025 — avg 90 · peak 162Jun 2025 — avg 88 · peak 173Nov 2025 — avg 82 · peak 150Apr 2026 — avg 90 · peak 162Aug 2026 — avg 90 · peak 164
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$10.69$1.692015-01-012026-10-142015-01-01 — best price $1.972015-04-26 — best price $9.912015-06-11 — best price $1.992015-12-18 — best price $2.392016-04-25 — best price $2.492017-01-03 — best price $8.992017-08-18 — best price $9.232018-04-27 — best price $9.992018-09-28 — best price $4.162019-01-05 — best price $9.992019-04-30 — best price $9.992019-09-23 — best price $9.992019-12-13 — best price $2.502020-02-10 — best price $2.492020-04-24 — best price $9.192020-07-21 — best price $9.992020-09-08 — best price $2.492020-10-21 — best price $9.992021-01-07 — best price $9.992021-04-22 — best price $2.492021-08-20 — best price $9.992021-12-07 — best price $9.992022-05-05 — best price $2.202022-09-06 — best price $9.992023-01-10 — best price $8.992023-06-11 — best price $2.492023-09-01 — best price $8.702024-03-20 — best price $2.492024-08-07 — best price $7.492024-11-30 — best price $2.002025-08-11 — best price $1.992026-02-12 — best price $1.992026-07-29 — best price $8.702026-09-04 — best price $1.992026-10-04 — best price $1.992026-10-14 — best price $1.94
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

109302026-06-02 — 45 pageviews2026-06-06 — 64 pageviews2026-06-10 — 57 pageviews2026-06-14 — 85 pageviews2026-06-18 — 39 pageviews2026-06-22 — 60 pageviews2026-06-26 — 45 pageviews2026-06-30 — 40 pageviews2026-07-04 — 40 pageviews2026-07-08 — 41 pageviews2026-07-12 — 60 pageviews2026-07-16 — 51 pageviews2026-07-20 — 53 pageviews2026-07-24 — 37 pageviews2026-07-28 — 44 pageviews2026-08-01 — 41 pageviews2026-08-05 — 30 pageviews2026-08-09 — 45 pageviews2026-08-13 — 55 pageviews2026-08-17 — 58 pageviews2026-08-21 — 48 pageviews2026-08-25 — 44 pageviews2026-08-29 — 45 pageviews2026-09-02 — 48 pageviews2026-09-06 — 62 pageviews2026-09-10 — 38 pageviews2026-09-14 — 38 pageviews2026-09-18 — 42 pageviews2026-09-22 — 37 pageviews2026-09-26 — 52 pageviews2026-09-30 — 41 pageviews2026-10-04 — 41 pageviews2026-10-08 — 30 pageviews2026-10-12 — 34 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Details

WindowsSingle-playerMulti-playerFamily Sharing

7 supported languages: English, German, Spanish - Spain, French, Italian, Polish, Russian

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

RTSWarSandboxWargameCold WarMilitaryModdableStrategyHistoricalSimulation

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Real Warfare 1242Blitzkrieg 3Order of Battle: World War IIBANNERMENSteel Division 2Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Wikipedia ↗