Game review
Company of Heroes 3
6 / 10
- Developer
- Relic Entertainment
- Publisher
- Relic Entertainment
- Released
- 23 February 2023
- Platforms
- Windows
- Genre
- Real-Time Strategy
- Monetisation
- One-time purchase, paid expansions
- Players
- Online PvP and co-op
The short version
Company of Heroes 3 is Relic Entertainment's WWII real-time strategy sequel, moving the series' destructible, tactical combat to a Mediterranean theatre with a new dynamic campaign map. Released 23 February 2023, it holds 39,840 Steam reviews at a lifetime Mixed, roughly 56.8%, with recent sentiment running slightly softer at 50%. This review's read of a substantial share of both samples finds a launch franchise veterans describe in genuinely damning terms — reviewers with extensive Company of Heroes history compared the release state to early access sold at full price — set against equally passionate defenders, some logging literally thousands of hours, who argue the criticism is overstated and the game has become the series' best. Three years on, one specific complaint unites both camps: a restrictive camera zoom level the community has requested changed since launch, still unaddressed.
Biggest strengths
- The Mediterranean campaign's dynamic, TotalWar-style map layer draws real credit for adding strategic decisions beyond individual battles, a structural addition several long-time fans specifically praise
- Extremely dedicated players, some logging literally thousands of hours, describe genuine, sustained quality-of-life improvements over the original Company of Heroes and its sequel, with balance specifically credited as having improved substantially since launch
- Destructible environments and core squad-based tactical combat retain the series' signature feel according to reviewers on both sides of the broader debate
Biggest weaknesses
- The launch drew a genuinely damning, specific verdict from franchise veterans, who described the game as feeling like an early access build sold at full price, citing rough animations, thin content and missing features relative to the prior two entries
- A specific EULA controversy emerged in the weeks after launch, when players noted an included class-action waiver and arbitration clause; this review reports the clause was real and documented, without asserting the more speculative theories some reviewers offered about why it was included
- A restrictive camera zoom level is this review's most consistent, cross-cutting complaint, raised by reviewers on both sides of the recommend button and, notably, still unaddressed despite years of community requests
Who it's for: Long-time RTS and Company of Heroes fans willing to judge a game whose reputation is still genuinely contested by its own dedicated community; less suited to newcomers seeking a universally acclaimed entry point to the series.
Our recommendation: A strategy game whose fundamentals have real, passionate defenders and whose launch problems were real and specific — read both sides of this review carefully before deciding which camp you're likely to land in.
6 / 10
Introduction
Company of Heroes 3 moves Relic Entertainment's destructible, squad-based WWII strategy series to the Mediterranean theatre, adding a dynamic campaign map layer over its tactical battles. Developed and published by Relic Entertainment, it released 23 February 2023 for NZ$84.99. Over three years on, it holds 39,840 Steam reviews sitting at a lifetime Mixed, roughly 56.8%, with recent sentiment running slightly softer at 50%. This review reads a substantial share of both the negative and positive samples, and finds a genuinely contested game rather than one whose reputation has settled in either direction — franchise veterans on both sides argue their case with real specificity, and this review reports both rather than picking a side for them.
A launch franchise veterans describe in damning terms
The clearest, most consistent thread in this review's negative sample is a specific, repeated verdict from long-time Company of Heroes players: the game launched feeling unfinished. Reviewers with deep franchise history — one logging over 45,000 minutes, another over 37,000 — describe rough unit animations, missing features relative to Company of Heroes 2, and content that felt thinner than a full-price sequel should deliver. Several reviewers use the specific phrase "early access," arguing the state of the game at launch matched a pre-release test build rather than a finished product, and one pointed reference to Relic's previous release, Dawn of War III, suggests this wasn't seen as an isolated incident for the studio. A specific, documented controversy compounded the anger in the weeks after launch: players discovered the game's EULA included a class-action waiver and arbitration clause, and reviewers connected the timing to the rocky launch, though this review can't verify the more speculative theories some offered about the company's motivations — only that the clause itself was real and drew genuine community pushback.
Defenders with genuinely staggering playtime
Set against that verdict, this review's positive sample includes some of the most extreme playtime figures this review has encountered — one reviewer logging over 278,000 minutes, nearly 4,650 hours, another over 120,000 minutes. These aren't casual endorsements; they're detailed, considered defences from players who've spent years with the game, several explicitly pushing back on the launch-era criticism as outdated or overstated. These reviewers describe genuine, sustained quality-of-life improvements since 2023, with balance specifically credited as having reached a much healthier state, and more than one long-time fan of the whole trilogy states plainly that Company of Heroes 3 has become their preferred entry, ahead of the originally beloved second game.
The one complaint everyone seems to share
What makes this review's sample genuinely notable is a single, specific complaint that crosses the entire divide: camera zoom. Reviewers who love the game and reviewers who don't recommend it both raise the same frustration — the camera is locked to a restrictive zoom level that limits visibility of the battlefield, and community requests to loosen it have gone unaddressed for years. It's rare for a review corpus this split to converge this cleanly on one specific, fixable issue, and it's worth reporting as the closest thing to a unanimous verdict this review found.
Final Verdict
Company of Heroes 3 is a genuinely contested game rather than a settled one, three years after a launch its own veteran community described in damning terms — thin content, rough execution and a controversial EULA change landing within weeks of release. What the lifetime score doesn't fully capture is the passionate, detailed defence mounted by players with genuinely enormous time invested, who argue the game has matured into the series' best entry on balance and quality-of-life grounds. Both camps are arguing from real experience rather than talking past each other, and this review won't resolve that debate on the reader's behalf. What it can say plainly: go in aware of the launch's real problems, and know that even the game's staunchest defenders are still waiting for the camera to zoom out properly.
Pros and cons
Pros
- The Mediterranean campaign's dynamic, TotalWar-style map layer draws real credit for adding strategic decisions beyond individual battles, a structural addition several long-time fans specifically praise
- Extremely dedicated players, some logging literally thousands of hours, describe genuine, sustained quality-of-life improvements over the original Company of Heroes and its sequel, with balance specifically credited as having improved substantially since launch
- Destructible environments and core squad-based tactical combat retain the series' signature feel according to reviewers on both sides of the broader debate
- Development remains active years after launch, with hotfixes landing as recently as days before this review and a new paid expansion, Final Stand, released in July 2026
Cons
- The launch drew a genuinely damning, specific verdict from franchise veterans, who described the game as feeling like an early access build sold at full price, citing rough animations, thin content and missing features relative to the prior two entries
- A specific EULA controversy emerged in the weeks after launch, when players noted an included class-action waiver and arbitration clause; this review reports the clause was real and documented, without asserting the more speculative theories some reviewers offered about why it was included
- A restrictive camera zoom level is this review's most consistent, cross-cutting complaint, raised by reviewers on both sides of the recommend button and, notably, still unaddressed despite years of community requests
- AI quality draws specific, repeated criticism from PvE-focused reviewers, several describing predictable, easily exploited behaviour that undercuts single-player and co-op modes
Screenshots
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Company of Heroes 3Image: Relic Entertainment via Steam -
Company of Heroes 3Image: Relic Entertainment via Steam -
Company of Heroes 3Image: Relic Entertainment via Steam -
How the review scores each part of the gameWanderer Editorial -
The essentials at a glanceWanderer Editorial -
The short versionWanderer Editorial