❓Is Company of Heroes 3 Steam review score deserved? Latest RTS gameplay and impressions

Let's dig into player comments, reviews and impressions of Company of Heroes 3 to try and understand where Relic went wrong with this RTS and what players actually wanted. Becase one year later, even the latest free weekend and 50% off sale on Steam only served to enhance the negative image of Company of Heroes 3 which many already had about it.

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Chapters
0:00 Free weekend & Mixed review
0:29 A year of updates?
1:07 A visual disconnect
2:52 Horrible UI design
3:30 Cartoonish graphics?
3:50 Poor campaign design?
4:27 Realistic or arcade?
4:49 Other game issues…
5:35 Multiplayer and PvP
5:50 Battlegroups system
6:48 Store & Skins
7:48 Hope for future!

Company of Heroes 3 combines heart-pounding combat with deeper strategic choices in a stunning Mediterranean theatre of war. In Company of Heroes 3, every battle tells a story...what's yours?

🛒 Steam store link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/16...

Company of Heroes 3 was Relic Entertainment’s attempt to change, improve and make fresh a franchise which is almost 20 years old at this point, but the 10 years which went by between the second and third installment created a fan base which isn’t up for underwhelming changes and subpar improvements.

Now, one year later, even the latest free weekend and 50% off sale on Steam only served to enhance the negative image of Company of Heroes 3 which many already had about it. Cementing its low review rating which is in such stark contrast to Company of Heroes 2 the sequel most quoted as the bar for quality this franchise has set for itself. This is despite the year’s worth of updates and changes the developers did to try and improve the game.

I want to speak about two visual problems I personally had with the game from the get go and which show me the developers didn’t do a quality job on this title.

First of these is the disconnect between gameplay, cinematics and story elements in the opening of the Italian campaign which was the developers attempt to bring something entirely new to the franchise, like the turn based campaign map gameplay.

But before that gameplay even starts the player is treated to a beautiful cinematic of combat in an italian town which ends with a huge battle at the square with tank duels, artillery, aerial bombardments, and infantry combat. Almost all of this happens during the day, while in the game it all plays out during the night. It is also highly underwhelming with fewer units in battle, hardly any abilities to use and just not nearly as satisfying as advertised by the cinematic.

Multiplayer is another game feature which instead of getting improved and expanded on was minimized and simplified giving players even less incentive to keep playing in the long term. There is only the quick match option while the battle groups are one bright ray of gameplay sunshine which was dug up from the franchise's past to enright the gameplay with unit upgrades and unlocks mid match.

As for the feedback, reviews and impressions from other players I have seen, we can group them together into a few categories. First is the overall graphical design which many call cartoonish especially compared to the previous game in the franchise which felt far more realistic, historical and epic.

The second major gripe players have with this one are underwhelming campaigns which simply don’t offer the same level of emotional impact or memorable moments like those of previous games. One thing I especially agree with here are reviews mentioning how the Africa core campaign is not even focusing on the experiences of an actual company, which is the literar title of this game, but on a talking head of general Rommel for story exposition.

Third issue many have with Company of Heroes 3 gameplay are units which don’t feel powerful enough in combat and feel arcadey instead of realistic especially when you focus on the explosive moments like blowing up an enemy or tank duels. The sounds are not there, the visuals feel bland and the action does hold a grip over the players as it used to.

The fourth issue is a mixed box of technical glitches, unbalanced factions, units, as well as weak voice acting. I have made sure to play all the games features and tried to confirm what others have said and I must admit many of these issues are still there.

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