Recent reviews by finneth

This is the most enjoyable RTS pvp experience I've had in a long long time.

I've been craving a competetive RTS that I could try to master, something that was strategically rich, with a healthy matchmaking pool. StarCraft2 was always too "twitchy" for me, and I could never play more than a game before feeling strung out. BAR might be the most comprehensive RTS I've ever seen, but it's heavyweight and feels like you need a PHD to reach basic competency. CoH3 is refined, with enough variety to offer real expression in how you play, and paced just right so each battle is a sequence of meaningful decisions, reactions, and gambits.

CoH3 is relic at their finest. The territory based resource system encourages fun game play. Push and pull across the map, manoeuvring and out manoeuvring, flanking and traps. The limitations on units you can field means you are encouraged to be deliberate about your investment choices, and it's about how you use your units, not how many you have. The crescendo of the battle is excellent. Veterancy means your initial units remain important to your strategy even as the battle escalates. The escalation through light, medium and heavy armour presents very real shifts in the battle dynamic.

There is a ton of emergent strategy. Line of sight, accuracy, elevation, movement, damage and range, armour and health - it all *makes sense*, and diving deeper into the mechanics and stats of your units can be really rewarding, offering you a tactical edge.

The allies vs axis dichotomy allows the game to have the variety of 4 factions, but with a much lower match up burden. Choose your favourite, and know that the opponent can only be one of two core options. Battlegroups are a great way to add variety without a huge knowledge burden. I was very happy playing DAK Italian infantry, and branched out to try combined arms when I wanted to. I'm 200+ hours in now and am quite comfortable with most of the DAK battle groups, and am excited to try out an ally faction in a similar way.

I don't really engage much with the cosmetics being sold, and I don't feel I need to. I'll pay for something if I think it looks worthwhile, like new battlegroups if I think they will be fun to use and give me cool new strategies to try.

I am excited for Endure & Defy!