Military RTS games have established their place in gaming, and one of the more well-known series is Company of Heroes. Over the years, the developer Relic Entertainment has worked on the various installments to the series published by Sega. The last release in the series was Company of Heroes 2 from eight years ago.
Well, fans of the Company of Heroes series can get excited as Relic and Sega announced the release of Company of Heroes 3. The game will be coming to PC in late 2022, so players won't be getting it anytime this year. However, the developer also released a cinematic trailer along with other details about the upcoming sequel.
The trailer itself is a well-animated video showing some of the RTS elements of Company of Heroes brought to life with realistic visuals. It highlights the ground combat with troops and armored vehicles, and other game features that will appear in the sequel.
The trailer displayed the general direction for the game as it heads to the Mediterranean theater this time around. For the upcoming World War 2 game, the single-player campaign will have a major focus on the location of Italy, where players lead the Allied invasion of Italy. The developer also shared some details about the upcoming game along with the announcement trailer, revealing that players can experience a "glimpse" of the campaign via a free Pre-Alpha Preview that starts today and runs for three weeks.
According to the post, Company of Heroes 3 will retain familiar elements from the past strategy games and implement some new ideas. The game will have more dynamic, non-linear maps allowing for more distinguished gameplay opportunities. The single-player campaign will also be introducing a new game mechanic called the "Tactical Pause" system. It will allow players to freeze the battle during combat, bring up orders for all of their units, then have the battle resume afterward.
The developers will add another feature called "Breaching," which will allow players to command an infantry unit to break into occupied structures and eliminate or kick out enemy units stationed inside. This was shown in the trailer when some troops kick in the door to an occupied building and take out an enemy sniper. There's also the new destruction system enabling buildings like churches and villas to crumble and fall when damaged enough with realistic physics and sounds. While players wait for Company of Heroes 3's release, Relic Entertainment will be sharing design documents, concepts, visuals, insights, and more as development for the game continues.
Company of Heroes 3 is announced to release in late 2022 for PC.
Source: Company of Heroes, IGN