If I had not been playing the Company of Heroes franchise since its inception, I would see a mountain of negative release reviews and move on.

I forget which graphics card I bought, that the original CoH was bundled with, but I remember holding the paper CD cover. Looking through the clear plastic and seeing three G.I.’s looking back at me. For a teenager low on money, playing Counter-Strike 1.6 scout sniper maps and the Battlefield 2142 multiplayer beta. These three strong men offered something new; the chance to master a battlefield and lead a platoon to victory. Not having yet seen Saving Private Ryan, and who’s only media experience of WWII was Call of Duty: II. It felt like an isometric masterpiece, a symphony of strategy. At least, until I dipped my toes into 1v1 competitive multiplayer.

The combination of hormones and an undying competitive streak, saw me put a hole through a rotting wooden floorboard next to my computer. The game that I will never forget. My opponent; probably a much older Wehrmacht player, exclusively playing veteran upgraded pioneer flamers and snipers. I had no counter and got a whooping, this was too much for my teenage rifle spamming brain to handle. I swore off 1v1s for a long time and wandered in and out of regular play. Playing every iteration of the franchise, including the pay to win Company of Heroes: Online.

The reason I tell you this, is because for me and I suspect a large number of Company of Heroes veterans. The rose tinted goggles are strapped on tight. Nostalgia and experience are difficult things to tease out when you’re trying to give a comprehensive and impartial review.

Did Company of Heroes 3, suck on launch? Yes.

I want to tell you a little bit about neurochemistry. When your brain sends a signal to your nerves it does so with gates. There is a period of time just after the message has been sent, where it is harder to send a subsequent message. This is called the refractory period. Nostalgia I believe is a long term refractory period, where nothing ever hits as good as the original. Addicts experience this with their chosen substance, the feeling becoming weaker with time and repetition.

Playing the Company of Heroes 3 dynamic campaign — a decent adaption of a Total War campaign. You control Corporal Conti’s squad, scaling the cliffs of Normandy, dodging hot lead spat by a Machinengewehr Zwei und Vierßig. All seems lost until Conti underhands the perfect pineapple, setting off a series of secondary explosions that craters all three Flak 88s. The mission continues with Easy Eight Shermans saving the day and rolling over the coastal defenders.

It is pure Cinema. Was it as good as the first time I played this mission in Company of Heroes 1? No, but how could you compare something so steeped in nostalgia, that the experience has become removed from reality of 2006.

The reality of 2006 was a considerably different landscape for the gaming industry. THQ had not yet gone into administration which would lead to a corporate takeover by Sega. Patches would have to be downloaded from the official site and installed in release order. Social media wasn’t really a thing, neither was the 24 hour media cycle and the need to dominate it. The world felt like it moved slower, and it did.

Over time, like with all things, the gaming industry has been taken over by the money men. Profits first and quality somewhere after corporate bonuses. Perhaps this drove the need to release a game with four factions, two separate and different styled campaigns, simultaneous console and PC versions. All firsts, in the franchise's history. Did Sega bite off more than the development team could swallow? Almost certainly.

It’s hard to see a release state that would have delighted every part of the player base that enjoys this game. It would have been more palatable in open beta, but profits would not allow a second missed deadline. This combination saw the game monumentally review-bombed.

It’s been a tumultuous year with the end result being a Sega-less Relic and a very competitive and playable Company of Heroes 3. With Relic solely at the helm, despite harsh staffing cuts, the game is better than ever. Updates are now coming monthly to the game, feedback is sought on all socials and implemented quickly. The in-game store is about to undergo a major revision, and the next update will nearly halve the responsiveness of the game. The community managers are active and prolific with memes. The slow behemoth of decision by committee has ostensibly been removed.

The Graphics are the best you’ll find in a modern RTS with Dx12 and AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution, which means it runs great on my limited gaming laptop. The colour palette and creative vibe mirror the Italian Mediterranean. With the dreary browns and greys only dominating the game, at the end of a long match, with lots of artillery cratered moonscaping. The audio is still the game's Achilles heel, but a great base of voice-lines is slowly growing on the community. Etching out their own nostalgic feel already. I haven’t had a crash during normal play for at least 6 months.

The TL;DR is: The only thing that kept me playing Company of Heroes 3 was nostalgia and hope. It’s finally paid off. As a long time player, it’s refreshing to have monthly updates that add new content to nearly every patch. It’s exciting to see what an independent Relic will do with a small team and how they’re going to grow the game.