Panzer Corps 2

Some of you guys review bombing this game as a Nazi propaganda tool need to chill the hell out.
Similar to PC1 and the predecessor titles Panzer General I & II, the campaigns in PC2 don't mention Nazism, display any swatiskas, reference Hitler by name, or align your activities as the player to anything directly related to the holocaust or atrocities committed by the Germans in WW2.
The purpose of the game is to offer a WW2 experience from a German perspective with emphasis on their military campaigns, NOT their politics. Part of the equation required to make that experience somewhat authentic is to humanize the real people who served in the Wermacht and this is the extent of what's done - albeit with a mix of real and fictitious cast.
Humanizing people who were on the wrong side of history doesn't extend them allowances for despicably immoral acts, got it?
Reading some of the reviews on this game would give the impression the campaign has you running death camps or ordering forces to participate in Kristallnacht - when nothing of the sort happens. Probably the most edgy thing is in the 1943-44 campaign where you have a bonus objective to avenge a fallen Panzer Corps by hunting down the Soviet armor group that massacred them.
Speaking of - why do I never see comment warriors review bombing games that let you play as Soviets? It's like the purges, pogroms, and holodomor were never a thing... my twice great-grandfather left St. Petersburg just before communism came along, so I can offer plenty of thoughts here.
I'm not a German apologist, closet Nazi, or out to dishonor the sacrifices made by anyone's grandparent or relative in the most deadly conflict in history. I'm just a history major who isn't afraid to unpack contentious topics because defeating bad ideology requires understanding it, but dog-whistling Nazism or injecting a slanted view on history isn't this game's goal (especially when the devs sneaked pride flags into a WW2 setting).
I'm also not afraid to leave comments open on this review - unlike most people posting review bombs. Go ahead and call me names. I learned a lot from playing this game and if you enjoy turn-based WW2 strategy with a lot of historical depth, it's worth buying.

I held off buying this game because it was listed as incompatible on the Steam deck which is a deal breaker for me. I saw a video of someone playing it on the deck though, so I decided to give it a try. It actually works perfectly and flawlessly on the Steam deck straight away with zero adjustments whatsoever, so this game should absolutely be listed as playable now. The game doesn’t show controller icons like A or B button, but it took all of two minutes if that to figure out which steam deck button did what I needed, super simple really.
With that out of the way, I absolutely love everything about this game! I played the original Panzer Corps and this game so far has been everything I had hoped for in a sequel and more. Panzer Corps 2 is bigger, better, and more immersive for me in every way than the original Panzer Corps, and I’m sure I will sink many more hours into it before moving on to the DLC. The strategic depth of the gameplay, and variety of options available in setting up each campaign exactly how you like are phenomenal.
If, like me, you held off on Panzer Corps 2 because of the supposed deck incompatibility, it runs flawlessly and looks amazing on the deck! What a treat to be able to play this strategy gem on the couch or on the go. I would whole heartedly recommend this game to any and every strategy gaming fan.

Panzer Corps 2 is an excellent strategy game built on the legacy of the classic Panzer General.
It’s perfect for sinking hours into, with a superb campaign that guides your units through different eras of WWII. Units carry over from one campaign to the next, retaining their skills, and heroes can be attached to them for even greater impact.
The campaign DLCs are highly recommended for the full experience, with the last two (Axis Operations 1945 and 1946) even offering an alternative history path where the war doesn’t end in 1945 but continues into 1946 with different outcomes.
A must-play for fans of the genre and anyone who enjoys turn-based hex strategy games.

PC2 is a huge step up from PC1.

Firstly, PC1 is a good game and I enjoyed it, but it’s outdated now, especially the UI. Anyone gaming above 1080p will find the interface almost unreadable, and the game only offers two zoom levels. Since the original UI isn’t scalable, that alone is a deal-breaker for many players. PC2, on the other hand, has continuous zoom and a fully scalable UI.

The new mechanics are also much better. There’s no more farming prestige at the end of missions, and no selling SE units. You now have to balance finishing a mission quickly for bonus prestige, usually at the cost of more losses, versus playing it slow and conservative. Airplanes behave more realistically and are far easier to manage thanks to automatically returning to base at the end of each mission. Encirclement is implemented very well, and the basic supply system adds meaningful depth.

Upgrading is vastly improved. Mountain map coming up? Upgrade to Gebirgsjäger. Need bridging units next mission? Switch to Brückenpioniere. Upgrading and downgrading is seamless and flexible.

Heroes and commander traits add several layers of optional complexity. I enjoy figuring out which heroes pair best with which units, and then using them effectively in the field. If that's not your thing, turn them off or don't use them.

When everything finally clicks, when you start moving your units as a coordinated group with artillery and AA support, and you consistently deny the AI good shots, PC2 becomes incredibly fun. The longer base-campaign missions (Middle East, Persia, Caucasus, Moscow), where you deploy separate army groups with distinct objectives and then converge for a decisive blow, have been some of the most enjoyable strategy experiences I’ve had in a long time.

I cannot recommend this game more if you are a WWII game fan. The DLC for the main game (Axis Operations) adds a huge value to the playing experience. The game has enough challenge to keep you coming back for more. If you put enough randomization into the campaign, no two play throughs will be the same. Get the base game and AO and you have hundreds or more hours of playing time available to you.

An absolute monster of a turn based wargame. It's not hardcore, and as a result you get a lot of beautiful mechanics. Everything from deciding the makeup of your core force which you carry though the game to the heroes you can mix and match on your units to create very interesting builds.

One of my favorite parts of the system is the set of choices offered at the beginning of the campaign in order to create your general. You can effectively decide which mechanics are active and as a result influence all of the decisions you make about army composition and tactics used.

The huge breadth of unit options where everything has a very distinct role makes for very complex rock paper scissors mechanics that mean you have to think about your moves and how to tackle various objectives.

This is one of my favorite games of all time, simply due to the breadth of tactical and strategic decisions to made in the campaign.

Now for the cons. The story is incredibly cringe, to the point that I think you really have to put up a Weharaboo forcefield in order to survive the experience. Divert your eyes and click like mad or embrace the suck. The choice is yours.

Like its predecessor, this game resembles a classic wargame from the 90s, with its core rules and presentation carefully reworked. This is what you get, and you should know that before buying.
Yeah, it's a good game. Yeah, Panzer Corps is a better game. The reason is simply that Panzer General is a bit of a better game than Panzer General II.
Panzer Corps 2 is a lot fancier as Panzer Corps in it's presentation, and for me it's not really an improvement but confusing at times and actually a bit distracting. Above that It needs way more resources and you won't get it to run, say, on your Steam Deck.
But still it's a very good wargame and well worth your time and money providing an awful lot of maps, historical and semi-historical campaigns spanning all of World War II.