Community29 Jun 2026End of an EraFor those who don't know me, my name is Colin and I have been working on Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45 in some capacity for 15 years, first starting as a junior programmer back in 2011 (when I was still going to university in my early 20s) to eventually project lead, developing many features, right up until releasing the game's first truly major expansion (Italy) last year in 2025. Back in 2009,…
We're back with another fix and balance pass to a whole load of maps! Check the notes below to see what's changed. Map Changes Chambois · Removed US halftracks. · Rebuilt map with different build settings to fix a BSP bug. · Increased cull distance of street pavers. Cheneux · Made M36 Jackson reinforcements unlimited with increased respawn timer (180 > 240 seconds). · Made Tiger 2B reinforcemen…
We've got a very special announcement today! After 20 years, the infamous RO1 prone invincibility glitch has finally been fixed in DH! For those not in the know, this was a glitch that allowed players to become completely invincible while prone through a series of movements that were easy to do even by accident. Although it was relatively rare, it was very disruptive when it happened, leaving p…
Gameplay Changes · Restricted constructions are no longer displayed on the command wheel. · The voting threshold for surrender votes to pass has been increased from 60% to 66.6% (2/3rds majority). Bug Fixes · Speculative fix for intermittent server disconnection caused by Steam authentication failures applied to official servers. · Added missing construction classes for British 6 Pounder Gun an…
We're back today with a small patch of map updates and the addition of Simplified Chinese localization! Bug Fixes · Fixed bug where neutral constructions (e.g. sandbags) could be refunded to nearby enemy supply caches when deconstructed. Gameplay · SRCM blast radius reduced from 12m to 10m. Vehicles Marder 3M · Added traverse and optics hitpoints. · Fixed positioning and sizing of ammunition hi…
This update (v12.1.3) sees the addition of a Japanese translation of the game! There are also some map fixes and balance changes sprinkled in as well. Japanese Translation At long last, we can finally say that Japan(ese) is confirmed! The translation was a major effort by community member mineship2 , who did the majority of the translations, with legacy translations sourced from a partial RO1 t…
We're back with another big one! Here's the tl;dr! · San Celeste , a brand new Italian map! · Counter-Battery mechanics to spice up artillery gameplay. · A new Mortar Pit construction to protect your mortars. · Complete 🇫🇷 French game localization. · New death status on the scoreboard. Read on below for more details and pretty pictures! San Celeste A new Italy map has hit the shores! This is…
Haunted maps are now in rotation and a new haunted map joins the ranks! The zombies also get new creepy animations that look great! Haunted Moonbase Survival You've seen Iron Sky right? No? Oh, uh, well. I mean, look at the name of the map . What more do you need to know? You're on the moon! There's low gravity! Zombies are on the loose! Sci-fi weapons are plentiful! You know what to do! See yo…
Out of nowhere, a brand new eastern front map, Yaryshivka Advance ! Set in August 1943, this is a map depicting a clash between the German 6th Army and the Soviet 44th Army during the Donbas Strategic Offensive . Keen-eyed readers may recognize the name of this map from somewhere before; this was the name of an armored map released some time ago that hasn't really seen much action since its rel…
Hetzer Remake Continuing the trend of boosting existing content up to a higher standard of quality, the long suffering Hetzer has been completely remade, along with new skin variants such as the Berlin variant seen below. In addition, the machine-gunner's third-person animation is fully animated. This is a first of it's kind, and the tech will set the stage for stationary machine-guns hopefully…
We're back again! This time with the first batch of anti-tank gun remakes, the addition of full German localization and some minor tweaking! AT Gun Remakes Continuing on our journey to upgrade ancient content to a modern standard, we're releasing our first batch of anti-tank gun remakes. The following guns have been completely remade with new models, animations and skin variants: · PaK 38 5,0cm…
As promised, the content train keeps chugging along! This time, we're *finally* replacing one of the oldest and most outdated pieces of kit in the game, the trusty Opel Blitz ! With the addition of the new model, we've also added many additional different skin variants. Have a look below! This is another step in our long quest to upgrade the quality of all the content in the game to a higher st…
We have been overwhelmed by the positive response to the Italy Expansion! The release trailer has garnered tens of thousands of views, and on release day we hit the highest player counts in over a decade! To all our new players, welcome to the family! And to all our veteran players, please help our new recruits feel at home. We're striking while the iron is hot, and as promised, we are coming i…
At long last and after much anticipation, we are proud to announce the release of the Italy Expansion for Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45! This expansion adds the Italian faction to the game, as well as a bevy of new vehicles, weapons, and maps. This has been a huge undertaking for our team, and speaking as the team lead, I'm very proud of everything that we've accomplished. We know that all the c…
We are proud to finally announce that the release of the Italy update will be July 11th 2025 , the same day that Operation Husky , the Allied invasion of Sicily, began in earnest. For those not in the know, the Italy update will include: · Brand new faction (Kingdom of Italy) · 9 new vehicles · 9 new weapons · 5 new mortars · 5 new maps · Lots more! It's been a long-running joke that we wildly…
Join us this weekend for the annual Halloween celebration! While our development team is busy polishing the upcoming Sicily release, back on the mainland the dead have risen once again and it's up to you to pound them back into the ground... or join the horde yourself. This weekend Haunted maps are returning back to the roster featuring a few touch ups, a new melee weapon, and a new character w…
After a short absence, we're back with a new update. This time a smaller one, but featuring a new armored map, a reworked infantry map and fixes for some long outstanding bugs. Maps Armored Yaryshivka Yaryshivka is a new armored map set in Ukraine at the end of the Donets Offensive of spring 1943. The wide open steppes of eastern Ukraine make ideal hunting grounds for the Tiger tanks of the Pan…
Happy Spring everyone! We're back with another toy for you to play with, along with some map updates! Fallschirmjägergewehr 42 (ZF42) Select Fallscirmjägergewehr sniper troops will now have access to the ZF42 scope attachment for the FG42. Needless to say, a fully automatic scoped rifle on a bipod will be a force to be reckoned with. This can be found as a sniper option for Fallscirmjägergewehr…
v11.6.9 Patch Notes Bug Fixes · Fixed a bug where players movement would be hobbled after going from prone to standing when holding the ZB-30. · Fixed missing sleeve textures for some Soviet Rifleman roles. Gameplay · Fire and Move signals have had a number of changes to address exploits and usability: · The signal transparency is now smoothly modulated based on timing & the viewing angle. · Th…
Hello there! We're back with another small patch that introduces a number of bug fixes and level tweaks. If you ever noticed your turret sometimes rotating on its own when entering a tank, this old Red Orchestra bug is finally gone! But before we dive into the changelog, there's something we need to address. Frequent Disconnects Issue During the past week you might've experienced frequent disco…
Welcome back! This update is small, but tightly packed with a number of notable bug fixes, including the fixing of a 15(!) year old bug that has eluded us...until now! Bug Fixes · Fixed a long-standing Red Orchestra bug (15+ years?) where projectiles would not spawn correctly when hipfiring while leaning in multiplayer mode. · Fixed a bug where muting player's voice commands would not work. · F…
v11.6.0 The hits just keep coming ! We're back with another brand new map and 2 major weapon overhauls. Without further interruption, here is the change log! Weapon Overhauls Winchester 1897 The Winchester shotgun has had a major facelift, with a new upgraded texture and completely new first and third person animations from our newest member of the development team, Enfield! The Winchester star…
We’re back again at long last with a new batch of weapons for you to get your mitts on! The team has been hard at work putting together the upcoming Italian update for the last several months. We are still aiming for a late 2023 release date, though realistically we may have to delay the release somewhat to make sure the release is as stable and polished as we would like. A reminder also that o…
Hello again! We are back with another patch that adds a number of quality of life changes and fixes a long-standing bug around machine-gun deployment! As usual, many map tweaks and fixes as well! Quality of Life · Players will now resupply & reload players that are shouldering AT weapons with a single keypress. · A message will be displayed to the team when a vehicle pool has been activated or…
Gameplay Grenades · The amount of grenades that players spawn with has been increased from 1 to 2. Developer Note This reverses a long-standing change made years ago that was intended to reduce grenade spam. However, the change was largely ahistoric, as most troops were issues with 2 or more grenades, depending on the unit. We will evaluate how this shifts the nature of firefights, and may issu…
This update brings a number of quality of life changes to the squad system that have been requested by the community (and devs!) for a while. We've also snuck in some map fixes and some tweaks to the vehicles. Squad System · The squad panels in the UI are now colored differently depending on whether or not you are a part of the squad. · While in a squad, you can now join another squad directly…
As you have probably heard, Sicily will be coming to Darkest Hour in 2023 ! This means a brand new Italian faction 🇮🇹 , new maps , weapons , vehicles and more! We have put together a little teaser to get everyone HYPE! This will be the largest update to DH in years, and our team is hard at work to bring everything together. We look forward to hitting the shores of Sicily with you later this y…
Bug Fixes · Fixed an oversight where German machine-gunners would not have gloves on in first person. · Fixed a visual bug where a floating bullet could be seen after picking up a DP-27 off the ground. · Fixed an exploit where artillery could be spotted beyond the fog distance and on the ceiling of the world. Gameplay · Canceling a long-range artillery strike that hasn't yet started will no lon…
Bug Fixes · Fixed a long-standing RO bug where the player's eye-height could de-sync after rapidly transitioning from standing to crouching and then to prone. · Fixed a bug where the max vehicle counter would not be dynamically updated, resulting in strange behavior on the vehicle selection UI. · Fixed a bug where Vehicle Pools would not be automatically destroyed if a recently spawned vehicle…
Announcements are the developer’s own posts to the game’s Steam news feed: updates and their patch notes, in-game events, releases and sales. The important ones are marked on the players chart.