Relic thought Company of Heroes 3’s ambitious dynamic campaign would eventually come together, but it didn’t: ‘We bit off more than we could chew’
Company of Heroes 3’s dynamic Italian campaign represents an ambitious attempt to expand on the successful Ardennes Assault expansion from Company of Heroes 2. The campaign was designed with Total War-like strategic elements and introduced several novel gameplay features to create a compelling strategic experience.
Initial impressions of the campaign were promising when journalists first experienced it. However, upon receiving full review access a year later, significant fundamental issues emerged that Relic Entertainment struggled to resolve throughout development. The developer was forced to remove key features, including controllable detachments—a mechanic that initially impressed during testing but proved problematic in practice.
These cutbacks reflected deeper design problems that plagued the entire campaign mode. Relic ultimately acknowledged the mismatch between ambition and execution, with the team admitting they “bit off more than we could chew” with the scope of their campaign redesign. While the core concept remained sound, the execution fell substantially short of the initial vision, resulting in a feature that underperformed relative to the developers’ original goals.