I was immediately on board when I heard that Company of Heroes 3 was getting a standalone expansion. Then, when they revealed it would incorporate rogue-like elements, my hype rose. In my head, I was envisioning a tower-defense survival game where I would want to keep trying to see how long I could go. Company of Heroes 3: Final Stand has some of what I expected, but I’m not sure who they developed this game for.
Protect your base at all costs
The core concept behind the game is about protecting your headquarters. In waves, enemy forces will strike from different parts of the map, aiming to take it out. It’s not quite a tower defense game, but it’s not a traditional real-time strategy game. Outside your headquarters, you have a barracks for building units and a few prebuilt outposts.
Like tower defense games, the enemies come in waves. After each wave, you’ll earn credits and unlock active or passive abilities to aid you in your fight. To start, you’re given two options to pick from. One wave might give you the option to choose between two passive perks. Another one might ask you to pick between two heavy tanks.
Like an RTS, you have limits, and you can only spend what you’ve earned. So, you can’t go crazy with tanks. The maps feel large, so you also need to plan where you direct your units. Sure, you can fortify one part of the map; it might hurt you in later waves when the enemies become stronger.
Limited content, but not limited enjoyment.
There are four factions to choose from, and these are also the same four you play against. You can mix, so you can easily have a match between two allied forces if you choose. Those familiar with Company of Heroes 3 will already be familiar with them. There is a nice mix here. I enjoyed playing with the Axis units. They have some helpful abilities, especially ones that heal units.
However, there are only five maps to choose from. While they each feel unique, it feels small considering how many are available in the base game. The game relies on randomization to make runs feel different. There is a perk system, which unlocks extra content and improves your units. Thankfully, the content you unlock works on all difficulty levels. So, you can grind on the easier difficulty settings so that you use them on the harder ones.
It also feels that most of the roguelike elements are on the greater difficulties. Most of the sidequest content relies on stuff like avoiding enemy bombing runs. The only other notable one involved finding a tunnel system the Allies had set up. I may need to keep playing to see if there are other unique scenarios.
Not designed for handheld play
As I mentioned in my introduction, I pictured something a bit different with Final Stand. I thought this was Relic’s attempt to bring the CoH franchise to a more casual market. A game that you could enjoy in short bursts or extended playthroughs. More specifically, something that after a run makes you say “I want to play another run!”
Part of that means building a game designed for console or handheld players. I wanted to enjoy this game on my Steam Deck. Unfortunately, while it is playable, you should play this with a mouse and keyboard. It would have been nice if this had a radial or quick select option. Tactical games have become more common on consoles. I hope they consider a different control scheme option to appeal to a wider variety of players.
What’s also strange is how they structure the game. This lacks its own executable; you access Final Stand through Company of Heroes 3. I have CoH 3, so that wasn’t a problem on my PC, but on my Steam Deck it was asking me to install the base game. That’s unusual, but since it uses the same assets, that is understandable.
Last thing worth mentioning is the price. While I did get a free copy to cover it here, the game is almost $40 here in Canada, so I’m assuming it’s around $25-30 USD. At that price point, the content feels light. Again, this is a standalone expansion, so it’s not an original game. This feels better suited at a reasonable $15-20 USD. The game’s been out for almost a month, and it doesn’t seem like more content is coming. If this is it, I would recommend waiting for the price to drop.
Enjoyable but won’t bring in new players
As someone who only dabbled a bit with the base game, I enjoyed Company of Heroes 3: Final Stand. The problem is that I’m not sure who they designed the game for. Long-time players may feel that it lacks enough content. Meanwhile, it may take new players a while before they are comfortable with the RTS elements. I’m hopeful this game gets some updates, specifically some quality-of-life improvements. With some improvements, this could become a viable quick-play option.
