COMPANY OF HEROES 3

RELEASE 2022 | DEV Relic Entertainment | PUB Sega | LINK community.companyofheroes.com

Heading into Companyof

Heroes3’ s multiplayer pre-alpha, I’ve got a plan. “I’ll start with a comp stomp,” I tell Relic, hoping to nab myself an easy victory in an AI skirmish. I spend most of this first match fighting with the AI over a single capture point in a village square that rapidly becomes unrecognisable as the ground is turned into craters.

I’m playing as the USF Airborne battlegroup, one of two currently available for the US faction, and one of four in the build I’m playing. While the singleplayer campaign lets you build your forces out of whatever companies and detachments you want, even creating hybrids with US, UK, and Commonwealth units, the multiplayer battlegroups are preset fighting forces with broad roles that favour different playstyles.

The Airborne battlegroup is, naturally, all about planes, whether they’re dropping off paratroopers and guns, or going on bombing and strafing runs. I’ve already unlocked the paratrooper ability, and this helps me to speed up reinforcements after losing everyone in an earlier scuffle. The plane gets blown to smithereens, the wreckage falling right next to my base, but all the troops make it out in time. Sadly, they get taken out by some armoured vehicles. While I try to recover, my enemy takes more territory, fattens up its economy and starts bringing in tanks. I’m screwed.

For the second battle, I switch sides and take command of the German Breakthrough battlegroup. It’s my turn to scare everyone with some big tanks. I’ve got a developer helping me out this time, and we’re facing another dev and their AI companion. My confidence is bolstered by a strong start, the source of which is an unarmed recon bike that’s able to capture territory, unlike most vehicles. With plenty of resources, I’m able to put together a strong force and then get into it in the centre of the map, where we’re all fighting over a victory point.

We have the high ground, giving us a handy bonus, and despite the intensity of the fight we manage to hold the enemy back, their bodies and wrecked vehicles littering the bridge below us. Expecting another attack, I heal up via my ally’s medical truck, and then secure the area by turning a building into a forward outpost where I’m able to recruit more troops.

TIGER, TIGER…

Keeping troops alive and killing rewards you with veterancy, which works a bit differently in CompanyofHeroes3, with each faction getting distinct advantages. For the US forces, you get two veterancy specialisation options per unit, but with the Germans it depends on what Field Marshal you select. They get three of them, each conferring unique upgrades, abilities, and veterancy bonuses.

The enemy outsmarts us and manages to get behind us in the north while pushing into our southern territories as well. My veteran infantry units have been wiped out by incendiary strikes, but we’ve set plenty of Americans on fire as well. I’ve also unlocked the big guns, finally. The Tiger rolls onto the battlefield, and everyone scatters. A few soldiers get some shots off, but the rockets hit the tank’s side armour, and it shrugs it off. The enemy reinforcements dwindle, and a big group of them gets trapped between the Tiger and my ally. It’s over, and I’ve erased the shame of my first battle.

THE ENEMY OUTSMARTS US AND MANAGES TO GET BEHIND US IN THE NORTH WHILE PUSHING INTO OUR SOUTHERN TERRITORIES