Company of Heroes 3 has changed over the years since its somewhat controversial release. What I’m trying to understand is why COH3 was received so badly in the first place, and whether the game has the potential to rise back up from its controversial launch.
Company of Heroes 2 is one of my all-time favorite strategy games. It’s punishing, sometimes infuriating, to play. But despite its infamous difficulty, I always find myself returning to it. Is this how Company of Heroes 3 will turn out, or will it continue to live in the shadow of its predecessors?
What Content Has Been Added Since Launch?
Despite the initial criticisms of COH3, Relic Entertainment was still dedicated to making COH3 another real-time strategy classic and has added quite a bit of content since launch. While the current sentiment towards the game is not entirely positive, it has certainly improved since launch.
Gameplay Changes That Have Made a Big Difference
Since its release, Relic Entertainment has implemented a ton of gameplay changes that have made battles far more enjoyable. Considering that COH requires you to micromanage your units, unit responsiveness can make or break the game. There’s nothing worse than commanding a unit to escape the explosion area of a grenade, only for them to take way too long to respond and get wiped out as a result. This was a big problem when the game first launched, but has since been significantly improved.
Pathfinding has also been improved. At launch, AI pathfinding was somewhat of a problem, as units would take unnecessary detours to their destination and, in some instances, would even get stuck on the terrain. That’s not much of a problem anymore, as the unit AI has gotten much better at tracing an efficient path.
There were also tons of balancing that Relic has implemented to make units more effective in different ways. In earlier versions of COH3, in the initial stages of a battle, some units felt like they could barely make a dent in the enemy and felt useless. Thanks to some tweaks and balancing, units in the early stage feel more impactful.
The Arrival of New Battlegroups (Units) and Vehicles
Battlegroups, or a set of faction-specific units and upgrade trees, have been added to COH3 over two years as both free updates and paid DLC. These are fantastic additions, since units are the cornerstone of the franchise’s strategy.
Unlike in other RTS games, you must ensure that as many of your units as possible survive, since each unit gains experience with every battle. Once a unit reaches the level of Veteran, they have far more health, do way more damage, and have access to potent abilities and weapons. Your primary goal as a commander is to ensure as many units (or battlegroups) survive as possible.
So, adding new units and vehicles is always a welcome development, since players can tailor their strategies around the units, which means more ways to play.
New Locations to Fight In
If units are the cornerstone of a good COH title, then maps are the rest of the structure. The maps dictate the flow of battle and will significantly impact your strategy and tactics. No two maps play the same, regardless of what units are being used.
Well, this is ideally how it should be, which is why COH games are famous for having a very large number of maps, to ensure that players can test out their unique strategies in different environments.
Since COH3’s release, Relic Entertainment has added 13 new maps to the game, which is quite a large number.
The Initial Poor Reception at Launch
COH2 was not without bugs and technical issues when it was released in 2013. It received tons of criticism for its faulty launch and terrible microtransaction system, leaving some fans favoring the first one over its sequel.
Yet, over the years following COH2’s launch, it slowly became a cult classic as bugs were ironed out, a huge new DLC with 3 new factions was added, and a ton more content was released. Just a year later, in 2014, with the release of the Ardennes Assault DLC, the game had somewhat redeemed itself in the eyes of its fans, though some still claimed that COH1 was the best in the series.
So why hasn’t COH3 gotten the same treatment?
Uninspired Faction Design That Didn’t Feel Distinct
By 2014, COH2 already had 5 very different factions you could play as. COH3 still has 4. Now, that might not seem that bad on paper, but it’s not so much about the quantity of factions in the game, but rather how each faction plays. How different, to be more specific.
In COH2, each faction plays very differently from the next. Even the two Axis factions, which you’d think would be similar, were completely different. Each of the five factions had its unique strengths and weaknesses that players had to adapt to. In COH3, many fans feel as though the factions are too similar.
On top of that, COH is famous for its unit management system and how units become more powerful with every battle. This power is pretty toned down in COH3. It feels like there’s not much of a difference between veteran and brand-new units, besides their equipped weapons and unlocked abilities.
Lack of Content Left Players Hungry for More
I’ve been playing COH2 for 7 years, and there are units and equipment I’m still discovering to this day. That’s how much content the game has. It’s been a couple of years since COH3’s launch, and most players feel like they’ve already seen most things the game has to offer.
It’d be impossible to list every unit and vehicle in COH2. Well, it’d take a very good sense of memory and a bit of time. The units available in COH3 are significantly less. You could argue that COH2 has the advantage of being released a decade ago, so the developers had enough time to pack it full of soldiers and military vehicles.
Yet, the biggest content drop for COH2 happened only a year after the game’s release. It’s been well over two years since COH3’s release, yet its unit quantity pales in comparison to its predecessors. COH is a very unit-focused strategy game. This is a series of titles, where even the weakest infantry squad can be upgraded to become a deadly force on the battlefield, potentially being the unit that tips the scales of battle in your favor.
So, when players are disappointed by the quantity and feel as though some core units are missing, then there’s a serious problem with the content.
COH3 Feels Underwhelming Compared to Its Predecessors
If there’s one word to describe COH2 with, it’s gritty. The game’s visuals are gritty, the art style is gritty, the story is gritty, and even the UI looks gritty. That grittiness seems to be missing from COH3.
Now, sure, this is purely a matter of preference. Strategy games don’t all have to be dour and depressing to be serious. Yet, many fans feel as though the game is visually and stylistically all over the place. The maps are very bright and vibrant, which should be fine at first, but once battles rage on, it’d be nice for the colors to dissipate.
On top of that, the UI is clunky and in some cases even distracting. COH2 UI was very utilitarian. It might look dated by today’s standards, but it serves its purpose. The default UI in COH3 just makes everything way too big and distracting.
Is Company of Heroes 3 Worth Playing?
Has the third installment been redeemed?
Now for the big question: Is Company of Heroes 3 worth playing? I’d say “absolutely”. As was previously stated, the game is not bad when you don’t compare it to previous titles. I still believe COH2 is a superior game, but then again, that game has had well over a decade to right all its wrongs.
I love the COH franchise and its developers, Relic Entertainment, so I’d hate to leave on a sour note.
Regardless of the backlash, the developers are not giving up, and that is worth praising. It’s always inspiring to see games have a rocky start but end up prevailing thanks to a dedicated team of developers.
If you’re a fan of the series and feel as though COH3 does not live up to its expectations, the only way for you to ensure that it becomes as great a game as COH2 is to play the game and support the developers. There’s a roadmap for 2025 with plenty of content down the line, so there is tons to be excited about with COH3.
The developers have shown that they are not giving up on Company of Heroes 3, and neither should the community. With the sad state of the RTS genre, I’ll take all the strategy games I can get.
