Eight years after its second entry, a new Company of Heroes game is in development at Relic Entertainment. Announced today by publisher Sega, Company of Heroes 3 will take the World War II real-time strategy series to the Mediterranean theatre. As before, the emphasis is on commanding squads of infantry and individual tanks, but new to this game is a strategic map that will allow you to decide how to approach the Allied invasion of Italy. How you plan your moves there will determine the forces you have at your disposal in the real-time battles that follow.
Relic is also introducing a pause button that will allow players to stop the action and queue up commands to all their units. In practice, it looks like the single-player campaign will play out a lot like one of Creative Assembly’s Total War games, which isn’t too surprising given that Sega owns both studios.
Company of Heroes 3 is due in late 2022. In the meantime, fans can sign up to play an early build of the game by linking their Steam and Relic accounts. Additionally, the entire franchise is on sale on Valve’s storefront, allowing you to get the second game for a mere $1.10.