It’s poetic then that Company of Heroes, widely considered to be one of the best RTS franchises ever made, is re-emerging now. With the resounding success of Age of Empires IV just a couple of months ago, it’s safe to say that RTS games have been building toward something of a moment. Survival sims, zombie games, and stealth titles have all borrowed from real-time strategy to make something wholly new, with throwbacks and remasters garnering widespread acclaim. But while the RTS scene has become more fragmented and eclectic, it has also become more flexible and refined. It’s tempting to say that the genre “died” in the years following Blizzard’s sequel, with shrinking sales and dwindling esports interest. It was a period marked by robust multiplayer offerings and big-budget campaigns, beginning - although there is some dispute - with Age of Empires in 1997, and culminating with the release of Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty in 2010. In 2006, Company of Heroes was released during the golden age of real-time strategy games.

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