Company of Heroes 3 is real, and it's coming to PC in 2022.
Relic Entertainment and Sega announced the long-awaited sequel today, some eight years after the release of Company of Heroes 2. Set in the Mediterranean during World War II, Company of Heroes 3 is promising landscapes "of immense variety, from windswept Italian mountain passes to harsh North African deserts and coastal vistas." These locales shape the "dynamic campaign map" on which you'll lead the Ally forces against Axis forces in the fight for control of Italy.
Relic has talked up new factions, tactics, and stories to uncover, as well as new mechanics like a full-on pause button that lets players "coordinate all their actions at once, thinking through every move in detail without the pressure of doing it all in real-time." This pause button will only be available in single-player, naturally, but it ought to give you time to reflect and plan ahead during intense moments.
General manager Justin Dowdeswell described Company of Heroes 3 as being co-developed with "some of our fantastic community members," whose feedback was integrated into the game along the way. The studio's looking to keep that back-and-forth going by giving players an early look at the sequel in a pre-alpha campaign preview which is live now and will run until August 2 at 7pm PT / 10pm ET / 3am BT (August 3).
The Company of Heroes 3 preview will be Steam-exclusive, and you'll also need to create a free Relic link account if you don't have one already. You can do that here – just click "play now" on the main page and follow the sign-up prompts. Once you have an account, go to your Relic rewards page and find the pre-alpha preview, then link your Steam account. Once you're finished, the pre-alpha preview should show up in your Steam library.
Here are the recommended PC specs for Company of Heroes 3:
Intel-i5 8th-gen CPU
Our Company of Heroes 2 review praised the series' attention to detail and creative use of environmental mechanics, and at first blush it sounds like the sequel's doubled down on all that and more.
