The BEST HOI4 DLC? By Blood Alone Review (Spaghetti Certified)

By Blood Alone is HERE, and oh boy do we have a great expansion to feast upon today!

By Blood Alone expands the nations of Italy, Ethiopia and Switzerland, but definitely focuses more on the former, as it is the largest faction in this DLC. However, all of these factions come with completely new government mechanics, events and decisions, all making for a much deeper and more flavorful experience than before.

In addition, By Blood Alone adds some much-needed improvements and inclusions to the base game for every faction, like enhanced peace conferences and unit medals, both of which I absolutely love.

I even forgot to talk about the extremely cool in-game achievements which function independently from Steam achievements, and I truly commend this addition!

So is By Blood Alone worth it? Let's find out!

If you enjoyed the video, I hope you'll leave a like, and if you have any ideas or opinions of your own, make sure to let me know in the comment section :)

#bybloodalone
#hoi4
#hoibybloodalone
#hoi4dlc
#heartsofiron
#heartsofiron4
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#heartsofiron4expansion
#hoi4italy
#ethiopia

[BigmanDogs]

I really hope the Nordic countries get a mini expansion. The only country I can't imagine plausible alt-history paths for is Denmark. But I guess they could have a meme north sea empire path.

[arthurg.calixto]

I hope we get a south american DLC next. Brazil had quite the involvement in WW2 and is a favorite among players, its sad that its basically reduced to the playground of alternate Portugal paths, which barely did anything in most of the conflicts of the time..

[redmatador]

I just want to see one thing: a massive cold war expansion. (and yes I know there are mods but I want the real thing haha)

[printscreenenjoyer]

Yes Switzerland, a country famous for its participation in history, and Ethiopia, a country that survives a month into the games timeline both get focus trees.

[michaeljohnson]

I hope they do a Southeast Asian DLC. Thailand needs a focus tree for one. Ever heard of a movie called “The Bridge on the River Kwai”? Lol. Thailand invaded and annexed part of Burma during WW2. It give the Allies more to deal with since the British Raj would have a bigger threat with a focus tree Thailand. Also could flesh out Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam to set up for early Cold War shenanigans. I know ppl say South America, South America … but I feel Southeast Asia gives more opportunities.

[gunnergoz]

I'm at the age where concentrating on an intense game like this is exhausting, so much so that I can't dive in very often any more - something I regret very much. But seeing videos like this inspires me to keep at it and hope that I can stick out an entire game once again, as I did when I was young and tireless. Thanks for the video!

[Googoogagaism]

I want a Scandinavian update and a revamp of older focus trees such as the German and Japanese ones

[HistoryTeacherSteve]

Great video :) I love the commonwealth nations, but they *require* an update, the trees are ancient

[Smartoes]

Man, the new focuse trees are harder than bulgarias focuse tree 💀

[claudej]

Great video, thanks! I'm wondering how does the Ai handle these added layers of granularity.

[plaguedoctor]

ive got a question: i played italy a few weeks ago, im pretty sure bba was already out, and i already had the ethiopian war logistics and some of the massive focus tree even though i didnt buy bba? whys that?

[followthelucario]

Honestly, I wish all these new mechanics would get implemented for countries that have already been visited, or even integrated into default game mechanics. For example, the Balance of Power could very well be used to model Mexico's secularism vs catholicism struggle, or even in the generic "ideology on the rise" events and decisions.

[redtob]

In my opinion man the guns was the best it brought hoi into a new era

[rightsideup]

More love for South East Asian countries would be nice. While they didn't play an active part in the war, there are a ton of interesting developments and events as the major powers are starting to decolonise during the war.

[malopracing]

I want a nordic DLC with rework for Germany

[palaghiaandrei]

I don’t really like this dlc that much. I liked La Resistance (because of the spanish and portugese focus treez) and NSB better. For me the italian focus tree is disappointing (the LVN mod did the italian focus tree much better imo), swizzerland is unnecessary and rather boring (also I encountered a generic leader on one of the paths and that is unacceptable), there should have been a focus tree for Austria as well, plane designer was needed but I find it as something new I gotta do as if spies, cyphers, making tanks, guns, artillery, micro managing, keeping track of research, focuses, decisions and buildings was not enough. The only fun part, the only thing I enjoy from this dlc is playing as Ethiopia, which I never imagined I would say, but even that is short lived since after you defeat the italians there is nothing to do but wait around and set up rebellions. The power struggle mechanic is interesting and I hope they put it to good use and add it to other countries like Germany where it would be fun to have in fighting within the higher ranks of the party. I also believe Romania could benefit from it since there was an actual power struggle between the Iron Guard and marshall Antonescu which ended with a full on rebellion and fighting between the iron guard and the army. I am also looking forward to all the mods that are gonna pop up. The new peace deal is interesting and I love the new additions like navy stealing but the AI is just creating bordergore and ruining it all for me. I don’t really understand why everyone is loving this dlc so much since for me it is such a let down. Maybe I am just used to playing mods too much since I only play vanilla for like 1 week after a dlc comes out and then only when doing achievements runs.

[scotvince]

I'd really love to play that balance of power mechanic with more countries.

[TalonAshlar]

The Scandinavian DLC should have international arms trading. Bofors and landsverk L-60 for the win

[Nirn]

Спасибо, что так медленно и четко разговариваешь, я практически все понял. Хороший обзор

[romanwagner]

Some focus trees in this game are so big I can’t follow them anymore.