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Game Information

Game Title: Company of Heroes 3

Platforms:

• PC (Feb 23, 2023)

Trailer:

• Company of Heroes 3 // Official Announce Trailer

Developer: Relic Entertainment

Publisher: SEGA

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Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 81 average - 88% recommended - 18 reviews

Critic Reviews

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CGMagazine - Ridge Harripersad - 9 / 10

Coming back after over a ten-year hiatus, Company of Heroes 3 revitalized the World War II strategy genre with an enormous arsenal of playstyle focuses and choices.

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Cultured Vultures - Jimmy Donnellan - 8 / 10

Company of Heroes 3 doesn't nail absolutely everything and sometimes gets in its own way, but there's no denying just how good it is when firing on all cylinders.

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Eurogamer - Chris Tapsell - Recommended

Navigating a tonal minefield with just enough confidence, Company of Heroes 3 is a big, refined, and beautifully textured addition to an already brilliant series.

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GameWatcher - Bogdan Robert - 8 / 10

Aware of its past yet looking towards the future, Company of Heroes 3 offers something for everyone. The dynamic map of Italy is a great experience, although it's slightly marred by passive AI, abilities that don't always work, small UI issues, and a gameplay loop that doesn't encourage the use of all available tools.

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GamingTrend - Ron Burke - 90 / 100

With fresh factions, two campaigns, significantly more options, and a refreshed skirmish mode, Company of Heroes 3 exceeds the impossibly-high bar set by its predecessor by a shockingly wide margin. It's a masterpiece.

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God is a Geek - Mick Fraser - 8.5 / 10

It's hardly an original setting or concept, but Company of Heroes 3 makes up for it with sheer charm and playability.

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IGN - Jon Bolding - 6 / 10

Company of Heroes 3's single-player campaigns remix the series' signature WW2 combat, but they wrap it up in a boring, buggy strategic map and a mismatched story.

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IGN Italy - Stefano Castagnola - Italian - 9 / 10

A very convincing return for one of Relic's more iconic series, that keeps the best features of the previous games while also bringing fresh new ideas that change the way players can play and enjoy Company of Heroes. Will it be the best strategy game of 2023? Only time will tell.

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IGN Spain - David Oña - Spanish - 8 / 10

Company of Heroes 3 lives up to the reputation of both its development studio and the franchise. An ambitious RTS that is not satisfied with following the line established by its predecessors and that arrives loaded with substantial novelties. A candy for fans of the genre and a must for fans of the saga.

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PC Gamer - Fraser Brown - 82 / 100

Company of Heroes 3 is a spectacular RTS that manages to shine even when the main campaign doesn't.

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PCGamesN - Ian Boudreau - 7 / 10

The classic RTS battles carry the third entry in this once-essential series, returning more or less untouched, but alongside a bloated and unfinished campaign mode that feels at odds with the core ideas of Company of Heroes.

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Polygon - Mike Mahardy - Unscored

I’m a sucker for studios that don’t play things safe. IO Interactive kept toying with the Hitman formula until the very end, Supergiant reinvents itself with every new release, and there’s not a genre that Thunderful won’t touch. With Company of Heroes 3, Relic could have easily taken the safe route — or, to put it in Sid Meier-speak, ignored the “completely new” and “improved” pillars of sequel design in favor of something familiar. Instead, it looked outward, recognized what made the best modern strategy games tick, and adopted those factors into its own formula. Company of Heroes 3 is a great sequel, yes. But it’s also just an excellent game.

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PowerUp! - Leo Stevenson - 8 / 10

If you're a fan of the series or the genre, this one is a no-brainer.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Katharine Castle - Unscored

After ten years away, Company Of Heroes 3 returns with two stonkingly good single-player campaigns and a bevy of multiplayer options. Its enormous Italian operation could have more tension in the way you conquer the map, but its RTS battles remain as compelling as ever, and the sheer breadth and variety on offer here will please new and veteran players alike.

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SECTOR.sk - Branislav Kohút - Slovak - 8 / 10

Company of Heroes 3 can confidently stand alongside its predecessors in the series. It's a fun real-time strategy game, although not as revolutionary or distinctive as its older siblings. The gameplay is almost the same as it was in the previous games.

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Saving Content - Scott Ellison II - 4 / 5

If you like the idea of grand armies and large battle maps, but found Total War: Warhammer III not to your liking, then the less intimidating Company of Heroes 3 might be up your alley instead. Relic has really branched out with this one, and while Company of Heroes 3 takes some creative liberties in the World War II stories it tells, they have an energy and heart in place of historical accuracy. Relic adding tactical pausing to Company of Heroes 3 isn’t blasphemous, it’s brilliant; Relic adding a dynamic campaign is not foolish, it is fantastic. There’s so much to love here, Company of Heroes 3 never stops giving for those who wanted more, and is a total victory for the real-time strategy genre.

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Shacknews - Josh Broadwell - 8 / 10

Company of Heroes 3 is a splendid and rewarding RTS game. Tense battles, brilliant map design, and streamlined unit management make it easily one of the best in the genre, with the Italian campaign acting as an exciting blueprint for the series’ future. If Relic wants to use Company of Heroes to tell serious and significant stories, though, the team needs to commit to actually doing that beyond just giving them a surface treatment.

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Tom's Hardware Italia - Giacomo Todeschini - Italian - 9 / 10

Company of Heroes 3 is a triumph, the worthy sequel to one of the most appreciated sagas of real-time strategists, as well as a great gift to the community. Disruptive gameplay, enriched for the occasion by many appreciated new features and improvements of sorts, blends together with a spectacle on the visual level, giving us back warlike confrontations as never seen before. In short, Relic has definitely hit the mark and raised the qualitative bar once again.

 

[phant0m]

Nice! Glad to see this is good, I haven’t played a good RTS in years at this point.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Are they going to sell more than half of the factions as DLC again? Or have they learned their lesson?

I loved the first game, but never could get into the sequel because it felt like a scam.

 

[A.Romero]

Are they going to sell more than half of the factions as DLC again? Or have they learned their lesson?

I loved the first game, but never could get into the sequel because it felt like a scam.

Personally never missed them. The base games felt pretty complete.

I'm really curious about this one, I'm a fan since the first one (And the warhammer ones before) but I think I'll wait. I have enough to play at the moment and they will probably improve it over time.

 

[DenchDeckard]

OK, I'll play this. Loved the originals.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Personally never missed them. The base games felt pretty complete.

I'm really curious about this one, I'm a fan since the first one (And the warhammer ones before) but I think I'll wait. I have enough to play at the moment and they will probably improve it over time.

Yeah I probably should dive in and at least play the campaign. I bet it's very good, I just have to overcome the fomo related to the other factions.

 

[Jamesb0ndjr]

Welcome back Company of Heroes! I just hope it runs on Steam Deck in some reasonable degree because the multiplayer tech test was rough. I sold my PC a couple years ago. Steam Deck, you’re my only hope!

 

[AJUMP23]

Looks like it is going to be a lot of fun. I have it pre-ordered.

I enjoy RTS and this is a top tier franchise.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

"I’m a sucker for studios that don’t play things safe. IO Interactive kept toying with the Hitman formula until the very end."

Words mean nothing.

 

[Bragr]

It's so frustrating to see big PC franchises getting so little attention. The original is one of the best strategy games ever made, and this looks like a solid entry.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

I’ll be grabbing this later down the line. Glad to hear it’s good.

 

[Metnut]

Never heard of this game but Dan Carlin plugged it on his latest Hardcore History so I’ll maybe check it out.

 

[STARSBarry]

It appears that the fears that the story focusing on the civilian cost of the Africa campaign rather than the soldiers that you actually fight the battles with would suck and feel weird is true.



But honestly I'm in for the multiplayer, one of favorites to play online. Although I always did prefer the first entry over the second.

 

[Boneless]

I feel they are being pretty generous with the scores. I really like the multiplayer of COH1 and COH2 and had high hopes for this but hardly anything has changed. Some of the graphics looks worse than COH2.

 

[Lukaku's First Touch]

I saw some gameplay preview earlier this month and the game looked horrible and infested with bugs. Hope that is all fixed based on the scores.

 

[STARSBarry]

I feel they are being pretty generous with the scores. I really like the multiplayer of COH1 and COH2 and had high hopes for this but hardly anything has changed. Some of the graphics looks worse than COH2.

It really feels weird, but at the same times it's been so long since we got a decent strategy game.

But yes reviews talking about how the Italian campaign is broken, half baked and lacks polish while also saying the African campaign is boring, pointless, disjointed and turning around and saying 9/10 is just weird...

Since I will be focusing on Skirmish and Multiplayer I just need to know the core gameplay is solid, which fortunately it looks like it is.

Huge plus is there are 4 factions at launch instead of the usual 2... but I hope to god the shitty p2w commander system of 2 is left far behind.

 

[Dr.D00p]

This is the one genre of game, the RTS, that I have simply never been able to get my head around after about the 4th or 5th move...

It all just turns into a blur of seemingly random events, that results in me resorting to random clicking of the mouse.

I think you have to have a brain wired in a certain way to fully play these games.

 

[TwinB242]

i had some real issues with both the italian and Africa campaign demos I tried. Im hoping they have polished things up and the game works better. The performance in particular on my PC was just completely unacceptable.

 

[Senua]

Glad to see such positive reviews, I wasn't too hopeful tbh. Definitely gonna purchase as the original remains one of my favourite RTS games

 

[A.Romero]

This is the one genre of game, the RTS, that I have simply never been able to get my head around after about the 4th or 5th move...

It all just turns into a blur of seemingly random events, that results in me resorting to random clicking of the mouse.

I think you have to have a brain wired in a certain way to fully play these games.

Well, if you aim to play at a high level a lot of focus on timing and sequence of actions is part of it. However, you don't need any of that to enjoy the game.

I have never watch a how to play video or read a guide and still have fun. Have 0 clue about competitive level.

 

[Corian33]

Very happy to see positive reviews. I played the open beta and it seemed a bit messy then. I loved the previous games for single player, but really want to try to get into the multiplayer this time.

 

[Solarstrike]

Been on the fence on this one. I've played COH2 quite a bit and just wondering, is COH 3 worth buying? Is there regular updates?

 

[Boneless]

Been on the fence on this one. I've played COH2 quite a bit and just wondering, is COH 3 worth buying? Is there regular updates?

I feel this game was dead on arrival.

 

[Corian33]

It’s okay. The campaign is fine but definitely feels less polished than CoH2. Like a good mod rather than a brand new sequel. No idea on multiplayer at this point but I’m guessing CoH2 has way more players.

The most telling thing to me about the whole experience was how the main menu feels like it belongs in a mobile game. All the buttons are huge like they were meant for a touch screen and the art feels like placeholders that they decided were “good enough.”

Get it on sale for the single player if you want that. It’s totally playable and fun, but you aren’t missing anything if you skip it. This could have just been an expansion for CoH2.

 

[phant0m]

I feel this game was dead on arrival.

RTS is just a dead fucking genre sadly.

 

[Corian33]

RTS is just a dead fucking genre sadly.

I think chasing competitive multiplayer RTS as the primary focus is a dead end. You have to cater to a tiny group of players while the masses feel inadequate.

There’s still some room out there for other approaches. AoE 2 is plenty popular with its newest version. There’s definitely a space for new AA single player campaigns. Starship Troopers: Terran Command being a good example with 6000+ positive reviews on Steam. I would love to see a Supreme Commander 3 taking advantage of current tech.

I’m holding out hope for Stormgate. It’s like WC3 + SC2 (made by some of the same devs) and will be free-to-play. Would be cool to see it get a following and renew interest in the genre.

 

[Solarstrike]

Thanks for the responses! Man I'm really hoping for a sale. Played the heck out of CoH 2 and Warhammer Dawn of War 40k (and expacs). I remember a few years ago Relic had a survey/questionaire sent out in which CoH 3 was the topic. I submitted a bunch of ideas more or less for immersion like weather propagation and different biomes from sand and heat of Africa to winter in Moscow. Sea battles as well, introducion of a variety of floatila to include carriers, submarines, Battleship(s) as well as aerial combat & bombardment (Battle of Midway). Anyway, I'm sure many, many other people had ideas and it just seems very few were taken into consideration. Imagine what could have been! I still have hope something incredible out there is being made in some studio. Would love to see Blue Byte (Anno series) develop an RTS. The details in their product(s) are consistently great. Anno 1800 is brilliant in that regard.

It’s okay. The campaign is fine but definitely feels less polished than CoH2. Like a good mod rather than a brand new sequel. No idea on multiplayer at this point but I’m guessing CoH2 has way more players.

The most telling thing to me about the whole experience was how the main menu feels like it belongs in a mobile game. All the buttons are huge like they were meant for a touch screen and the art feels like placeholders that they decided were “good enough.”

Get it on sale for the single player if you want that. It’s totally playable and fun, but you aren’t missing anything if you skip it. This could have just been an expansion for CoH2.

I'll take your advice, will definitely pick it up on sale. Relic needs a rebirth. For example a remake of Warhammer 40k Dawn of War II 40k would be most welcome by many. SEGA needs some stellar sales from their portfolio to be able to rekindle Relic back to greatness. The talent is out there. Or they should just sell the studio outright.