Firm of Heroes 3: Closing Stand is a standalone growth for the core recreation, including a brand new roguelite wave-defence mode. It takes some of the thrilling components of Firm of Heroes — these determined battles the place you’re making an attempt to carry the road towards overwhelming odds — and makes that all the focus. On paper, it sounds good, however in actuality, it’s a bare-bones mode that provides little and prices loads. Let’s leap into the evaluate, we could?
REVIEW AT A GLANCE
Developer Relic Leisure
Writer Relic Leisure
Reviewed On PC
Out there On PC
Launch Date July 29, 2026
Value (UK) £23.99/£19.19 for COH3 house owners
Style RTS/Wave Defence
Evaluate Code Offered by Relic
Fast Take:
Firm of Heroes fight stays nice enjoyable, however Closing Stand is just too repetitive, too bare-bones and much too costly for what it affords.
I hesitate to name issues money grabs lately, however Closing Stand does have the vibe of one thing conjured up in a gathering at Relic HQ as a option to squeeze additional money out of Firm of Heroes 3. There’s little or no that’s new when it comes to property and even gameplay mechanics – most of it simply remixes current stuff with just a few UI adjustments right here and there. It doesn’t imply the motion isn’t enjoyable, nevertheless it does name into query the value tag. £24 is loads – even in case you get the 20% low cost for proudly owning Firm of Heroes 3, which brings it right down to £19.
Right here’s what to anticipate: decide your faction from the 4 out there after which select from one in all simply 5 maps, which seem to only be chunks of the common skirmish maps. After that, choose an issue and put together to defend your self towards 12 waves of incoming enemy forces who’ve a grudge towards your basic existence. In the event that they handle to destroy your HQ, it’s recreation over. Must you prevail, it’s time to interrupt out the flamboyant ration packs and have a celebration.
This mode strips out base-building altogether – all of your models are constructed from the barracks, which is bloody spectacular while you begin deploying tanks and different artillery. The place are they retaining them in that tent? This leaves you to focus purely on positioning your forces and selecting what to construct and when.
Properly, form of. At first, you solely get a few unit decisions, however because the match goes on, every wave offers you an opportunity to decide on between some upgrades, both within the type of skills, perks or new models. Do I need an artillery barrage I can sometimes unleash or a smoke area that can assist me maintain the road? Will I select an anti-tank cannon, or a bunch of infantry to shore up my left flank? Do I would like a faster, extra cellular truck that I can rapidly shift from one aspect to the opposite, or one thing a bit of heavier that’s able to simply driving by shit? Elevated manpower manufacturing or another passive boon?
It’s a enjoyable thought, having to construct your forces by a combination of technique and luck. Nonetheless, there isn’t sufficient unit selection in Firm of Heroes 3 to make it work in addition to it ought to. Closing Stand incorporates all of the models discovered within the DLC as properly, however even then, after a few matches, you’ve seen all the pieces a faction has to supply.
Likewise, the gathering of sources by way of taking on territory has been tossed out the closest window in favour of getting a set quantity of all the pieces trickling in. Some perks and issues you choose mid-match can have an effect on the speed, however you aren’t worrying about marching out to annex territory.
Each few waves, you face off towards one of many 36 boss variants, which is a pleasant means of claiming it’s one of many recreation’s models with buffed stats and an angle downside the dimensions of a small nation.
The sport claims it boasts 18 dynamic occasions, though I’m nonetheless not fully positive what constitutes an “occasion” as a result of nothing ever jumped out at me as one. The one one which stood out was a wave stuffed with tiny Goliaths that rolled in like an RC automotive parade, which was form of cool. As for the opposite occasions, it actually simply means the random airstrikes and artillery barrages and different stuff that may be known as in. I didn’t clock these as “dynamic occasions” as a result of they felt like they have been a part of the common waves.
I discovered the AI to be notably dumber than it was in the primary recreation, fortunately stopping in wide-open areas to take potshots whereas ignoring the superbly cheap cowl proper subsequent to them. In equity, this fashion of AI – which principally simply strikes ahead and again on considerably predefined routes – does go well with the wave-based fight, however I’d nonetheless like a minimum of some semblance of self-preservation.
The sport’s trailer additionally makes this standalone growth really feel greater than it truly is. The inhabitants cap is 100, in order that normally means just a few infantry squads and two tanks. It means the dimensions feels off, missing the dimensions you’d need from one thing like this.
After 12 rounds of chaos, you can even decide to maintain getting in Limitless Mode. There’s not a lot to say right here: it retains going till you die or get bored.
Whether or not you handle to reside by all 12 rounds or not, perk factors will probably be dropped into your private checking account. These are tied to every faction and could be spent on everlasting upgrades corresponding to improved unit well being, unlocking additional skills for the prebuilt outposts on every map or opening up an add-on in your HQ. Not one of the additions massively alter how a faction performs or something, however they offer you a gradual energy bump for these larger problem settings.
Oh, and that brings me to a bizarre factor: the British faction can’t unlock all their perks earlier than they hit max perk factors. That’s bizarre, as a result of different factions can. Did anyone neglect how you can math?
Within the recreation’s description, Relic calls this a “roguelite wave-defence” recreation. Sure, positive, on a technical degree this qualifies as a result of it has meta-progression and also you’re making an attempt to make it to the top of the 12 rounds in a single run, nevertheless it feels extra like simply making an attempt to money in on the time period. It’s a roguelite in the identical sense {that a} Tiger tank is simply one thing the Germans used to get from A to B.
Must you really feel like backup is required, you’ll be able to type a a lot smaller model of the Allied Powers, or the Axis in case you’re in a darkish temper, I suppose. Anyway, there’s a co-op mode that helps two gamers – a bit of disappointing since Firm of Heroes has beforehand allowed as much as 4 gamers. As all the time, having a pal come alongside does make issues extra enjoyable, though there’s little extra to say about it.
When all of it comes collectively, it does seize one of many biggest moments of the core recreation: the final stand, the manic second the place it’s you and just some of your boys holding off seemingly inconceivable odds and one way or the other profitable the day. Logic says no, sheer fucking stubbornness says in any other case. You get loads of that right here, particularly while you’re desperately making an attempt to get an anti-tank weapon throughout the map in time to cease a Tiger tank rolling by your territory prefer it’s determined Blitzkrieg is a life selection. The upper you ramp the problem, the extra intense these situations turn into.
However the draw back to dramatic final stands is that they do lose their dramatic high quality once they maintain occurring. It’s not the final stand when it’s the fifteenth one you’ve performed in a row. Level is, it is a pretty repetitive gameplay fashion, blended with pretty repetitive decisions between rounds.
In Conclusion…
The issue isn’t whether or not Closing Stand is enjoyable: it’s. The problem is the context of its launch. It feels extra like a free replace for the core recreation, or at most a £5-10 add-on.
Folks labored laborious on this add-on and needed to receives a commission, however that doesn’t cease it from wanting like an asset-flip on the shopper finish. £24 buys a standalone growth chock-full of reused models and maps, a perk system and a few co-op. That’s troublesome to justify when the identical cash should buy fully new video games.
Going again to Closing Stand, it strips away plenty of the tactical depth of the core recreation and doesn’t exchange it with something substantial. It’s the identical models and the identical fundamentals repackaged throughout 5 new battlegrounds, however with dumber enemies, a smaller sense of scale and a handful of recent mechanics that don’t really feel absolutely fleshed out. It’s enjoyable for some time, however that enjoyable merely doesn’t final lengthy sufficient to justify the buy-in.
