SHOCK & AWE
COMPANY OF HEROES 3 is coming to wake up the RTS genre.
This Italian airbase has turned into Hell. The seared, metal carcass of a plane dominates one of the airstrips, surrounded by craters and puddles of blood. The hangars are now just skeletons, and next to them screaming men dance as they burn. There’s so much shouting, with soldiers yelling orders and warnings as they move between fleeting cover. Then, a rocketpropelled grenade, and the soldiers are gone. And through it all I have this inappropriately goofy grin on my face because, finally, I’m playing Company of Heroes 3.
The scene, my first fight in the campaign, is the Company of Heroes I remember, but with the intensity dialled way up. There’s more destruction and noise and chaos, and the busyness of the battlefield speaks to the long list of new tools and units that have been flung into the meat grinder.
Among the headline attractions jockeying for position are a pair of large, dynamic campaigns set in
Italy and North Africa; the ability to control the ground, air, and naval forces of both the US and UK, in tandem; an entirely optional tactical pause system, just for singleplayer; and the promise of a huge pile of customization that will be like catnip for loadout tinkerers. It has the immense scale of a Total War game, complemented by Relic’s experience with designing more bespoke, linear strategy games.
TEAM UP
It’s the largest and most ambitious game Relic has put together, and it’s been in the works for a while. Along with a scale that evokes Total War, the team’s been inspired by another fellow Sega developer, Amplitude, borrowing its focus on the community. “They’re amazing at working with players,” says executive producer David Littman. “We’re taking the same technology that they use, Games2Gether, and we’ve been using that with a private community council. So we’ve had a 70-player council for over three years now. And they’ve been playing the game for three years.” These players are one of the reasons why Company of Heroes 3 is set in Italy and North Africa—it was initially going to be in the Pacific theatre—so Relic’s been getting feedback from the people who play Company of Heroes the most right from the beginning.
In this early build, the campaign begins in medias res, following the arrival of US and UK forces in Italy. There’s already been some fighting, and I’m given one of three different approaches to select, determining what forces I get to control at the start. I have to begin in Naples, but eventually there will be other choices for starting locations. I want all the toys, naturally, so I go for the option that lets me command a mix of US and UK forces. I’ve got one big goal:
Take the indomitable Monte Cassino, opening up a way to Rome. First, though, lots of dramatic battles.
While Relic has dabbled in dynamic campaigns before, it played second fiddle to the RTS action—not so in Company of Heroes 3. Both layers share the spotlight and are fundamentally interconnected. What you can do in the RTS layer can be
THE LARGEST AND MOST AMBITIOUS GAME RELIC HAS PUT TOGETHER
replicated in the turn-based campaign, whether it’s bombarding the enemy with artillery strikes or plonking down some sneaky mines to scupper troop movement.
This ‘holistic loop’ is one of the main pillars of Company of Heroes 3 and makes this undeniably complex game feel significantly more intuitive. There’s a level of consistency and permanence that even Total War hasn’t achieved, and while Littman apologetically explains that the connection between the campaign and missions “simply isn’t there yet”, I think he’s being humble. Sure, there are still gaps, and some features not working quite like I expected, but broadly this is already a game where the relationships between the systems are very strong and very apparent.