Company of Heroes 3 manages to find white-knuckle drama in even the smallest moments. In most RTS games – Command and Conquer, Age of Empires – the excitement comes from executing big maneuvers. In CoH, something as simple as moving one squad of soldiers into the same building as another can devolve into an all-out war. It’s not just the mechanics; the guns, the explosions, and the soldier yells all sound fantastic. It’s a sensory overload, in a way that feels right for a war game. Two years since it was released – to an understandably cool reception – a transformational Company of Heroes 3 update continues the game’s redemption story. And if you haven’t played it yet, it’s now half price.
Battle groups felt unbalanced. The interface was too small and intricate. Mechanically, some of the units had too many abilities, and managing everything detracted from the greater experience. These were some of the central criticisms of Company of Heroes 3 when it was released back in 2023, and while some of them are unlikely to be remedied, given that they’re core to the RTS game’s structure, where possible, Relic has been responsive to feedback. Back in February, the studio released a giant update marking the anniversary of the WW2 game. Now, CoH 3’s maps, battle groups, and building systems have all been reworked.
The new Company of Heroes 3 update is primarily focused on Mignano, the multiplayer map that’s split into two versions, Summit and Gap. Although eight other maps have been revamped as part of the latest overhaul, Mignano is the centerpiece.
“It was clear that the 3v3 version of the map did not meet expectations,” Relic says. “The map was too urban for such a small space, chokepoints were plentiful, and once players had a stranglehold of the map’s high ground, it was challenging to contest. Given our recent second anniversary, we have taken the opportunity to return to Mignano Summit with a fresh approach to how the map should play and feel.”
Mignano’s verdant fields have been replaced with craters and burning rubble, to make it look suitably destroyed. The retaining walls that blocked a lot of movement have been removed, allowing for more routes of ingress and egress, and a lot of the garrisonable buildings have also been pulled, to make matches more fluid. Relic has trimmed down the size of the surrounding, inaccessible parts of the map – the playable area remains the same, but cutting the scenery should improve performance.
Angovile, Crossing The Woods, Langres, Pachino Stalemate, Semois, Longstop Hill, Black Gold, and Sousse Wetlands have also been tweaked and revamped, and Relic has made attentive changes to some of CoH 3’s most troublesome mechanics. Building times for field defenses have been decreased, landmines now inflict 50% less damage when they’re detected, and the fire rate of artillery units has been boosted. You should also have better luck using craters for cover now in multiplayer, since their depth has been standardized.
Relic has also improved and rebalanced 17 different battle groups across basically all nations. The Terror battle group’s King Tiger tank is now harder to destroy, for example, since it has more health, while the Wehrmact’s Panzergrenadier squad now does more short-to-mid-range damage.
If you stayed away from it at launch, now is a good time to give Company of Heroes 3 a shot. As well as the two big updates that have arrived in recent months, it’s available at the lowest price in its history. From now until Monday May 5 you can get Company of Heroes 3 for 50% off, meaning you’ll pay $29.99 / £23.99. Just go here.
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