So there’s a lot of thought, a lot of love, a lot of attention being given to the map, I think mechanically as well as from the presentation layer.”Īfter spending a bit of time admiring Italy, I get back to the war. So where were the rail lines? Where were the roads? Which roads were functional? As we’re building the map, we’re taking note of which highways the Allies used that were serviceable for tanks and things like that, which ones had hard surfaces and which ones were dirt tracks. “We’ve looked at old World War II maps of rail assessments done by the Royal Engineers. “It’s got that Mediterranean palette, but we’re also spending a lot of time looking at the construction of each of the territories,” says lead campaign designer Andrew Deneault.
But Relic’s also built it with an eye towards logistics and authenticity.
It’s a fetching map, too, with lots of little cosmetic flourishes, like Vesuvius standing next to Pompeii, huge and menacing, or the striking Monte Cassino, which looks lovely even when it’s surrounded by barricades, tanks, and AA guns. Sure, there are still gaps, and some features not working quite like I expected, but broadly this is already a game where the relationships between the systems are very strong and very apparent. There’s a level of consistency and permanence that even Total War hasn’t achieved, and while Littman apologetically explains that the connection between the campaign and missions “simply isn’t there yet”, I think he’s being humble. This ‘holistic loop’ is one of the main pillars of Company of Heroes 3 and makes this undeniably complex game feel significantly more intuitive. What you can do in the RTS layer can be replicated in the turn-based campaign, whether it’s bombarding the enemy with artillery strikes or plonking down some sneaky mines to scupper troop movement. Both layers share the spotlight and are fundamentally interconnected. While Relic has dabbled in dynamic campaigns before, it played second fiddle to the RTS action – not so in Company of Heroes 3. The largest and most ambitious game Relic has put together.
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