Company of Heroes 3 preview: A great intro for a enjoyably fluid faction

As far as Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games go, the Company of Heroes franchise is among the best that the genre has to offer, and with its third installment scheduled for a November release this year, it's about time we checked in on how development is trucking along.

Fortunately, an even better opportunity dropped into our laps.

Just over two weeks ago, Relic Entertainment set us up with a special preview opportunity for the new Deutsches Afrikakorps (Dak) faction in Company of Heroes 3, and in short, the game is everything a modern RTS should be and then some.

Fluid, detailed, and yet immensely tactical (as one would expect from CoH), I greatly enjoyed the first part of the brand-new North Africa campaign, which was aptly titled Mission Alpha.

History time!

Historically, the Italian Mediterranean front of WW2 is characterised by its focus on tank battles and the employment of guerrilla tactics by both Axis and Allied forces in the desert.

The participating Dak faction, which was Axis-based, favoured the use of speedy vehicles to take their opponents by surprise, and this emphasis of theirs has been brilliantly introduced in Mission Alpha. 

Fundamentally, the North African Campaign of CoH3 starts players off in 1942, covering famous engagements and operations like Ajdabiya, Tobruk, Gazala, and the first battle of El Alamein.

Zooming into Mission Alpha, which is part of Operation Theseus in January 1942, this section of the campaign will see the player controlling Dak forces looking to entrap an Allied force between Ajdabiya, Msus, and Saunna.

It lasts just over an hour (or at least, that's how fast it took me to complete it) and is broken up into about four or five relatively bite-sized objectives.

"You are speed."

Gameplay-wise, it is excellent to see that all of the tactical elements that made CoH so successful as a franchise have been introduced faithfully in this third instalment, though of course, the experience is noticeably smoother now due to advances in game development technology since CoH2.

Controlling your units and watching them navigate the battlefield (a.k.a. path-finding in RTS speak) feels much more fluid than ever before, and I particularly love that the team has also brought in "common practices" from the war like tank-riding.

Not only does this change up the strategic possibilities of the game, but it adds extra points to the realism aspect too. 

Admittedly, the mission objectives were somewhat standard fare, though the North African campaign has been noted by the developers to be comparatively more "linear" than the others.

First, you'll start off by flanking some tanks that are keeping a squad of Axis soldiers pinned down, and the Dak's mobility plays a huge role in this section, as it also functions as a tutorial on hitting the weak spots of an opponent's armoured units.

Although their units aren't the most durable of the lot, their immense speed more than makes up for it, and a combination of well-placed tanks and anti-tank grenades from the infantry made short work of the enemy. 

Just another day at the office

Following that, you're then tasked to take over a number of key strategic points to stabilise your supply lines, while also dealing with a pesky anti-air battery located on a nearby ridge.

The game grants you use of what is arguably the Dak's best utility unit, and it's pretty much a godsend for any vehicle-centric faction.

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Not only is this vehicle able to salvage your destroyed tanks and essentially "revive" them, but it can also repair them on the spot.

It's practically "free real estate", and I will admit I cheesed out some engagements just by parking this vehicle behind two or three tanks and moving them about.

Hey, don't judge me — all's fair in love and war, as they say. 

Now the third part of Mission Alpha is a little trickier since you'll need to flush out some British forces and tanks from a nearby town.

You can either do this methodically by picking off squads and tanks one at a time like I did or soften them up with your own artillery before having your tanks move in all at once.

Either way, this is probably the section that took me the longest to wrap up since durability isn't exactly the Dak's strong suit, and I had to retreat once or twice to repair my vehicles for another push. 

Finally, all that's left is to hunker down in the now-deserted town and ambush the retreating British forces.

Conventionally, I'm that kind of RTS player who prefers to take his time and then nuke the opponent in a single go, so defensive objectives like these are right up my alley.

To give credit where it's due though, the Dak's mobility did mean that I was able to use the buildings for cover more effectively than I might have with any other faction.

Unfortunately, Mission Alpha ends there, and by extension, our preview experience too. To clarify, I haven't had the chance to really sit down and figure out the other factions, but I'd like to think my prior knowledge will suffice for the time being.

With that said, the Dak will probably be a great fit if you like hit-and-run and disruption tactics, and their sheer mobility rewards players who are able to really think on the fly and switch up their game plans at the drop of a hat.

Generally, I think it might have a harder time taking down singular fortified locations, but hey, you can't have everything, right?

Company of Heroes 3 will release in November 2022 for PC via Steam, and offers the Digital Launch and Digital Premium Edition (above).

Pre-orders have already opened, and doing so lets you try out Mission Alpha immediately. For more information, feel free to check out the official Steam page. 

This article was first published in HardwareZone.