Company of Heroes 3 Free Preview Begins Today with Battles in Italy

Company of Heroes 3 is on the way to Relic Entertainment. This time around, the WWII strategy game series will focus on the Mediterranean theater, with campaigns in Italy and North Africa. Fans can play a first version of the game for free on Steam from today until August 2.

Relic tells Polygon that CoH3 is still in active development and more than a year from its release.

The original A company of heroes released in 2006, while its sequel launched in 2013. The Real Time Strategy (RTS) franchise is well known for its small unit AI, which allows individual soldiers to take cover and use the terrain to their advantage. Company of Heroes 3 will include more of this playstyle, but will also implement features common to the turn-based franchise like the Combat Mission series and Paradox’s Hearts of Iron.

Image: Relic Entertainment / Sega

Players will now have access to a map of the outside world representing the theater of battle. A first demo shared with the press allowed me to attack Italian cities in several ways, with different combinations of American and British units. These choices had a direct impact on the resources available in real-time battles. Having a specific British unit in a nearby area, for example, allowed me to call in mechanized medical units to patch up my frontline troops.

Company of Heroes 3 will also include, for the first time, a pause button. This will allow players to stop the action to spot waypoints and controls for individual units. Then, players will be able to restart the timer and watch their intentions unfold in cinematic style. Unlike the Combat Mission series, which uses an almost identical “WeGo” system for its turn-based mode, players will be able to tweak and change these orders at any time without the simulation modeling orders and the command and control shift. ensuing.

Image: Relic Entertainment / Sega

Relic says he went to the original historical records to recreate not only the battlefield conditions present in the Mediterranean at that time, but also the units on the ground. In the case of British forces, this means units of soldiers from across its colonial empire, including some 2.5 million Indian soldiers. Relic tells ServerPlay that he’s worked closely with Dr. Diya Gupta, whose work focuses on the experiences of those soldiers who fought for the British at the height of their country’s struggle to free itself from British rule.

Relic also explained their efforts to get feedback from their fan community. It started with a summit of 10 leading actors who, among others, contributed to the choice of Mediterranean theater. This group has since grown into a Community Council of 70 players. There was also a public inquiry, which received over 60,000 responses.

The developer says he’s using a new “co-development” process to further refine the game over the next year or so. According to a statement from Relic, players who sign up – by linking their Steam account to their Relic account – will have access to ‘game design docs, early game visuals and a’ Pre-Alpha Preview. ‘limited time’ July 13.

“Access to COH-Development is 100% free for everyone, separate from existing ‘early access’ programs which require upfront payment,” Relic said. “The pre-alpha preview will provide a first look at Company of Heroes 3the experience of the first campaign of.