SAVE ROOM FOR DESERT

COMPANY OF HEROES 3’s second campaign is all explosive RTS action, all the time.

- Fraser Brown

When I was small, my dad took me with him on a trip across the desert outside of Dubai, where we lived, to scout the route drivers would be taking in an upcoming rally. After a day of bouncing around in a 4x4, I was tired and bruised, but I came away with a newfound appreciation of the golden expanse—for its big, open spaces that really lets vehicles rip; for its hidden dangers that can halt drivers in their tracks; and for the surprising diversity and sudden, dramatic changes in terrain.

These qualities, which gave me such a memorable experience when I was 12, also make the desert a compelling setting for an RTS, which is evident in Company of Heroes 3. The latest in Relic’s World War II series of games, which was revealed last year alongside its dynamic Italian campaign, will also launch with a second campaign in North Africa.

Company of Heroes 3’s North African operation is a return to the more familiar campaigns of its predecessors, with a more straightforward chain of missions and no turn-based portions. It’s all about those explosive RTS brawls. “In the Italian dynamic campaign, what we’re doing is allowing players to forge their own story and their own path,” senior mission designer David Milne explains. “It’s an open campaign map where players are able to choose what missions and in what order they do them. The North African operation is a linear story. So the players are going to go through and play each mission one after the other and experience that whole story start to finish as we tell it to them.”

ROLL CALL

A few of the units you'll be fielding