GamingPickz
Game vs game · side by side

ENDLESS Space 2 vs Hearts of Iron IV

ENDLESS Space 2 is an open-world RPG game from AMPLITUDE Studios (2017) while Hearts of Iron IV is an open-world sandbox game from Paradox Development Studio (2016).

Quick answer: Hearts of Iron IV rates higher, 8.4 to 7.4 on the GamingPickz Score, and ENDLESS Space 2 is the cheaper at $7.99.

ENDLESS Space 2

2017 · AMPLITUDE Studios

7.4GamingPickz Score

$7.99

Steam: Very Positive

Hearts of Iron IV

2016 · Paradox Development Studio

8.4GamingPickz Score

$49.99

Steam: Very Positive

What each one is

ENDLESS Space 2 is filed under Open-World and RPG. In contrast, Hearts of Iron IV under Open-World and Sandbox.

ENDLESS Space 2

ENDLESS Space™ 2 is a Strategic Space Opera, featuring the compelling “just one more turn” gameplay, set in the mysterious ENDLESS Universe™. As the leader of your civilization, will you impose your vision and build the greatest stellar empire?

Description from its Steam store page

Hearts of Iron IV

Victory is at your fingertips! Your ability to lead your nation is your supreme weapon, the strategy game Hearts of Iron IV lets you take command of any nation in World War II; the most engaging conflict in world history.

Description from its Steam store page

Story, characters and reception

ENDLESS Space 2

No Wikipedia detail on file.

Hearts of Iron IV
Reception

Reception Hearts of Iron IV was a commercial success. It sold more than 200,000 units within two weeks of its launch, which made it the fastest-selling historically themed Paradox title by that time, ahead of Crusader Kings II and Europa Universalis IV . The game's sales surpassed 500,000 units in February 2017, and 1 million units in May 2018. (Wikipedia)

At a glance

ENDLESS Space 2Hearts of Iron IV
GamingPickz Score7.4/108.4/10
Steam ratingVery Positive (83%, 23,056)Very Positive (90%, 375,658)
Critic aggregate80/10083/100
Price$7.99$49.99
Install size8 GB2 GB
Steam Deckplayableplayable
Released20172016
DeveloperAMPLITUDE StudiosParadox Development Studio

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

ENDLESS Space 2 vs Hearts of Iron IV, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    ENDLESS Space 2Open-world RPG game
    Hearts of Iron IVOpen-world sandbox game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    ENDLESS Space 2Strategy, Space, Sci-fi
    Hearts of Iron IVStrategy, World War II, Grand Strategy

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    ENDLESS Space 2Score 7.4 · 83% on Steam · 80 critic
    Hearts of Iron IVScore 8.4 · 90% on Steam · 83 critic

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    ENDLESS Space 223,056 reviews · 21 add-ons · 8 GB
    Hearts of Iron IV375,658 reviews · 24 add-ons · 2 GB

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    ENDLESS Space 2$7.99
    Hearts of Iron IV$49.99

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    ENDLESS Space 2Playable
    Hearts of Iron IVPlayable

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

Across the rounds a number can settle, it is level at 1 each. Which one is "better" is the part no figure decides, so we leave it to what you want from the two.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

ENDLESS Space 2 and Hearts of Iron IV on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100PlayersPopularity

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • PC

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

See the whole grid

How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The higher-rated of the two: Hearts of Iron IV (GamingPickz Score 8.4)
  • The cheaper right now: ENDLESS Space 2 ($7.99)
  • Lighter on storage: Hearts of Iron IV (2 GB)
  • The safer bet by weight of reviews: Hearts of Iron IV (375,658 reviews)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

StrategyMultiplayerGrand StrategySingleplayerActionOpen WorldWarCo-op

Where they differ

ENDLESS Space 2 is also

SpaceSci-fi4XTurn-Based StrategyTurn-BasedGreat Soundtrack

Hearts of Iron IV is also

World War IIHistoricalMilitaryAlternate HistorySimulationTactical

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, ENDLESS Space 2 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Hearts of Iron IV is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.

System requirements, side by side

ENDLESS Space 2Hearts of Iron IV
Minimum GPUNvidia® GeForce™ GTX 470 (1.28GB)
Minimum CPUIntel® Core™ i5 750
Minimum RAM4 GB
Install size8 GB2 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: ENDLESS Space 2 · Hearts of Iron IV.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for ENDLESS Space 2 and 0 for Hearts of Iron IV. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are ENDLESS Space 2 and Hearts of Iron IV in scope?

ENDLESS Space 2 has drawn 23,056 Steam reviews, ships 21 add-ons and installs in 8 GB. Hearts of Iron IV has drawn 375,658 Steam reviews, ships 24 add-ons and installs in 2 GB.

Is ENDLESS Space 2 or Hearts of Iron IV better?

By the GamingPickz Score, Hearts of Iron IV rates higher (8.4 to 7.4). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, ENDLESS Space 2 or Hearts of Iron IV?

ENDLESS Space 2 is cheaper right now at $7.99, against $49.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.

Should I get ENDLESS Space 2 or Hearts of Iron IV?

Hearts of Iron IV rates higher, 8.4 to 7.4 on the GamingPickz Score, and ENDLESS Space 2 is the cheaper at $7.99. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

More on each