Game Dev Deescalates Hearts of Iron IV DLC Controversy Amidst ‘Overwhelmingly Negative’ Steam Reviews

Game developer ‘Lily’ from Paradox Development Studio left a hidden message within the code of the new DLC, Hearts of Iron IV: Graveyard of Empires – a paid update title that received ‘Overwhelmingly Negative’ Steam reviews. Redditors were quick to respond to the message, resulting in Lily’s message becoming a platform for discussion regarding the unfinished state of the new Hearts of Iron IV DLC release. 

In the code, Lily stated, “dear content designer or modder who stumbled across this. This is genuinely the worst code I have written in my entire life. Do not read this, do not try to understand it, do not try to fix it. You will have an aneurysm.” 

Another developer, ‘Cranium Muppet,’ stepped into the conversation in an attempt to deescalate the situation:

“I am not at this time able to communicate why or how this happened, because I literally haven’t processed or reflected on all the parts of it yet, but I just wanted to say that I understand the anger. It feels like absolute wank for us as well,” they shared. 

“All I ask is that you don’t direct that towards individual employees. She is not in any trouble and did as best as she could given the circumstances she was in.”

The majority of the Steam reviews criticize the immense amount of bugs that plague Hearts of Iron IV: Graveyard of Empires, which costs $14.99. These bugs supposedly completely hinder the gameplay experience, with some labeling the paid content as “borderline completely unplayable.”