Company Of Heroes 3 – Launch Content & Beyond
Company of Heroes 3 will be releasing on Steam on February 23, 2023 and will be the biggest game at launch in the franchise’s history. CoH3 brings the series’ intimate, boots-on-the-ground storytelling to two brand-new theatres of war, one with branching storylines where players make difficult historical choices, and the other being a focused narrative-driven experience offering a ‘classic CoH’ approach, all with our acclaimed tactical gameplay. We plan to support CoH3 for years to come, with plenty more updates and content coming post-launch. Today we want to cover everything you’ll be able to experience on day one.
Day-1 Launch Content
Singleplayer
Jump into two singleplayer experiences right at launch with the Dynamic Italian Campaign and the North African Operation.
- Dynamic Italian Campaign
- The new Dynamic Campaign Map delivers full ‘sandbox-style’ gameplay, allowing players to command the overall war effort and experience an unprecedented level of strategic choice.
- Command ground, air and naval forces, build supply lines, and develop a Partisan spy network to crush enemy advances. No two playthroughs are ever alike!
- Choose your forces and upgrade your veteran companies to match your playstyle. Each of the 5 starting Companies can be upgraded uniquely so that they function radically differently from one another.
- Players have agency to play their way with branching storylines and multiple endings, introducing a level of re-playability no CoH game has ever had before.
- North African Operation
- The North African Operation offers players a more traditional and linear CoH3 experience – with no shortage of action.
In the sprawling deserts of North Africa, players will be in full control of the overwhelming vehicular power of the Deutsches Afrikakorps as they fight against the British forces for control of North Africa in this moving narrative-driven experience.
- Skirmish vs AI
- Take on the enemy AI in singleplayer skirmish.
- Play solo, or with AI teammates across 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 or 4v4 maps.
- Victory Point win condition – Hold the victory points and deplete your enemy’s tickets to win.
- Annihilation win condition – No holds barred. Destroy the enemy base to win.
Multiplayer
- Queue up as one of four factions in automatch for one-on-one or team games pitting the Axis vs the Allies.
- Victory Point win condition
- Includes 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 maps
- 4x Factions
- US Forces
- Wehrmacht
- British Forces
- Deutsches Afrikakorps
- 12x Launch Battlegroups - Battlegroups are the evolution of the Doctrine and Commander systems from CoH1 and CoH2. This new system now offers ten choices split across two branches in each battlegroup. What's more, players will have to make exclusive choices in each branch. Battlegroups let you customize an army with unique squads, specialized units, and new abilities.
- US Forces: Airborne, Armored and Special Operations Battlegroups
- Wehrmacht: Luftwaffe, Mechanized and Breakthrough Battlegroups
- British Forces: Indian Artillery, Armored Support and Air & Sea Battlegroups
- Deutsches Afrikakorps: Armored Support, Italian Combined Arms and Italian Infantry Battlegroups
- Over 120 Playable Units
- 14x Launch Multiplayer Maps
Co-op vs AI
- Queue up for cooperative matches against the enemy AI with friends and other players.
- Modes include 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 or 4v4.
- Victory Point win condition
- All available multiplayer maps
Custom Games
- Create custom games for private or public lobbies/matches
- Use game mods from the Steam Workshop.
- Custom games allow you to have more granular control over your match settings. Set the number of Victory Points (250 to 1000), change the Starting Resources (Standard vs High) or apply a modding tuning pack from the Workshop.
- Modes:
- Victory Point win condition
- Annihilation win condition
Modding Support
- The Company of Heroes 3 Essence Editor and modding will be supported on launch day. Find all the details here.
- Modding support comes with the latest that our brand-new Essence Engine 5 has to offer, and new capabilities to build more incredible Company of Heroes experiences than ever before.
- Once created, mods can be published to the Steam Workshop to enable an easy and familiar path to downloading and playing community content.
- At launch, you will be able to create:
- Maps & Scenarios
- Game Modes
- Tuning Packs
Features & Systems
- Over 40 main missions + 8 singleplayer skirmishes
- Full Tactical Pause – Take total control over the pacing of single-player action. Plan your attacks, then effortlessly queue up lethal precision plays that will give you the edge in battle.
- Tactical Map – Bring up an interactive tactical overview during a skirmish or online match to outwit your opponent.
- Key Remapping – Customize your inputs and keys to your preference.
- WASD Camera Control – Swap between default grid keys and WASD camera control presets.
- Ping System – The ping system provides three options for players, allowing them to indicate locations to defend, to attack, or pay attention to.
- Updated Social Systems – Seamlessly create your party, add new friends, report a player, or invite someone to a match.
- Next Generation Destructible Environments – Open up new movement paths for your units by completely collapsing structures and other obstacles, which adds a whole new strategic element to battlefield destruction.
- Tank Riding – Infantry can now ride tanks, allowing for new combined arms tactics and powerful rapid strike maneuvers.
- Towing – Large team weapons such as the German Flak 36 or British 17-pounder can be rapidly deployed and re-positioned to react to the shifting battlefield.
- Breaching – A new way for infantry to deal with powerful garrisoned buildings.
- Side Armor - Provides deeper and more strategic gameplay. In addition to frontal and rear armor values, side armor now rewards positional play and clever flanks.
- Verticality – Nullify your opponent’s cover advantage with height and elevation. This system provides unique benefits and buffs (or debuffs) to units, offering another strategic dimension to classic CoH combat.
- Enhanced Recon – Specific units and abilities allow players to detect threats just beyond the edge of the fog-of-war for a tactical advantage.
- Traversable Trenches - Vehicles can pass over trenches, providing more realism with vehicular combat.
- Pre-Order Devil’s Brigade Cosmetics – We know players love to personalize their Company of Heroes experience. The Devil's Brigade will be the first cosmetic theme for the US Forces, and we will have more coming post-launch with different looks and rarities for all factions so you can customize your armies.
- Company of Heroes 3 will launch with English language support, and text localization in Traditional & Simplified Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Spanish, and Turkish.
Post-Launch Content
- Store – We want to support CoH3 for years to come while also providing players cool things to earn and unlock. An in-game Store is a critical part of that. This will be rolling out shortly after launch and it will offer players fun ways to customize their experience with cosmetics and more. Players can unlock Store items in two ways – with either a paid currency (War Bonds) or an earned currency (Merit) which is gained through Challenges. Certain cosmetics will not be available with Merit, but we will keep an eye on things and ensure the Store feels fair when players choose to engage with it.
- Challenges – This new system will test your skills, challenge you to use new tactics and strategies, and provide fun goals to accomplish while playing CoH3. Challenges will refresh on a regular cadence, and we’ll have more details on how they work soon. Challenges will provide players a way to earn Merit and gives players the flexibility to choose how they unlock items in the Store.
- Ranked Seasons – We want to ensure that CoH3 is stable and that the game balance and the ‘meta’ are on solid ground before we introduce ranked seasons. This gives us time to review match data, fine-tune balance, and roll out any major patches or fixes necessary before players start climbing the ranked ladder.
- Multiplayer Maps – To add more variety to the competitive and co-op landscape, we plan to introduce new maps on a regular basis.
- Replays v1.0 – Replays are a critical part of reviewing and sharing matches, while also supporting other forms of content creation and events. However, we knew that prioritizing Replays for launch would have risked the core game, or it would have meant releasing this feature in an incomplete state. We made the decision to continue working on the 1.0 version of Replays and to release it after launch. This first version will have parity with CoH2’s Replay functionality, and we will continue working to improve it based on your feedback.
- Observer Mode v1.0 – Just like Replays, we know many of our players and community event organizers rely on Observer Mode. Our intent is to roll out a solid Replay system first, and then we’ll be able to finalize our Observer mode based on the reception to the Replay system and the feedback you share with us.
- Expansion #1 – Our first expansion will include new additions to CoH3's singleplayer. We'll have more details on what's included in the months ahead!
- Game Modes – We plan to build new, exciting, and limited time modes over the coming months to add some spice to the traditional CoH formula. We want to experiment with a ton of fun ideas to see what players like. Tank Royale? Last Stand? The options are endless!
We’re dedicated to building the biggest and best Company of Heroes game in the franchise’s history and we’re committed to delivering the post-launch content and features above at a quality that we can be proud of (and many are already far along in production). We know you’ll stick with us as we have a ton of fun and exciting stuff to share in the future that hasn’t been outlined here. But for now, we’ll see you at launch!