The game that might revive World War II real-time strategy

Jan 11, 2013 01:41 GMT  ·  By

What we know: Company of Heroes 2 is the new video game project from Relic, a developer well known for his work on the first game in the series and the more recent Dawn of War series of strategy and role-playing mix.

The game will take players to the Eastern Front of World War II, which will be simulated using a number of specific mechanics, like TrueSight and ColdTech.

Players will command both Russian and German forces engaged in the struggle with each other, the terrain and General Weather.

Otherwise, Relic aims to keep the core gameplay mechanics pretty much unchanged from the first title in the series, focused on territory and resource control rather than on killing enemy units.

Company of Heroes 2 will offer a single-player campaign that focuses on Soviet Russian forces and their effort to take their country back and a variety of multiplayer modes.

The game will be launched exclusively on the PC in March 2013, although the bankruptcy of publisher THQ might affect the date.

Why it matters: The first Company of Heroes was described as the anti-Starcraft because it relied on smart tactical moves and on long-term thinking rather than on quick reactions and tight unit control to lead a player towards victory.

Company of Heroes 2 is one of the main strategy games that will be launched this year and it needs to prove that the genre still has the power to deliver solid experiences, especially in multiplayer, while also bringing some innovation.

Relic has a reputation for solid mechanics and has delivered a good mix of strategy and role playing in Dawn of War II. But Company of Heroes is a purer game and the fan base will demand more attention to detail and better balancing.

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