Company of Heroes Online – the free-to-play version of the classic PC real-time strategy game that’s previously only been available in Asia – is going to be released in the West, publisher THQ said today.
Having tinkered with the game in overseas markets, first with a Shanda-developed title in China and then an in-house THQ production in Korea, Company of Heroes’ Western launch will see the original 2006 title essentially re-released. Multiplayer will become “persistent”, requiring you to create a character then log hours and win matches to advance in rank. Or, if you’d rather skip the slog and get straight into the more powerful abilities and units, you can just pay up (though paying won’t get you anything you can’t unlock through regular play).
As a pleasant bonus, the game will include, also free of charge, the singleplayer campaign from the original Company of Heroes, which even four years on remains the pinnacle of real-time strategy in many people’s eyes.
Oh, and if you’re wondering whether this will be a sloppy port handled by an external studio, fear not: it’s being handled by Relic, developers of the original (and Homeworld, and Dawn of War).
The multiplayer game could suck a duck for all I care. If the singleplayer game is free, that’s the deal of the decade right there.
Company Of Heroes Returns [Venture Beat]
Jeff Pearce
Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 3:33 PMI’ve been wanting to purchase Company of Heroes for a while now. Now I may not need to. :)
Needs A New Username
Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 3:55 PMbottom link seems broke
Brink
Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 4:39 PMhaha a free game! I’ll dl just for the free sp game :)
steve
Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 5:45 PMCOH has great multiplayer but the SP is absolute crap. Sorry to tell you all lol
Shawn
Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 6:15 PMdude just play the original or play better mods of coh, like operation market garden or Europe in ruins which make a persistent online game where ur units vet up and carry into games and good communities. No crappy free to play game where they want you to BUY abilities and units will make me play it. Just buy the original and get some awesome mods!
Strand0410
Friday, June 4, 2010 at 11:56 PMOn the contrary, I loved the campaign for this game. If anything, I disliked the multiplayer. It’s far too focused on position and you get everyone bum-rushing and digging into the same building landmark.
Plus the macro game is almost non-existent and the micro is rather poor because it’s all squad-based, not individual units.