Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor

Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor is a standalone expansion to Relic's critically acclaimed WW2 real-time strategy game, meaning you do not need the base game installed to play it. That said, it very much assumes you already understand how Company of Heroes works. If you are coming in cold expecting a full tutorial ramp-up, you will be dropped into the deep end with a squad and a prayer. For returning players, though, this is a familiar and comfortable place to spend a few more hours in one of the best-looking and best-feeling WW2 RTS engines ever built. The expansion introduces three new single-player campaigns told from different perspectives across the European theater. These are shorter, more focused vignettes rather than sprawling operations, and that framing works in their favor. You get tight, scenario-driven missions that prioritize variety over length. One puts you in control of a Tiger tank crew, managing a single powerful unit through a gauntlet of Allied pressure. Another follows a small German infantry unit in close-quarters combat. The third switches to the Allied side entirely. None of them overstay their welcome, which is both a strength and a limitation depending on what you are after. The core Company of Heroes mechanics are intact: cover systems, destructible environments, squad-level micro, and the satisfying push-pull of holding territory for resource income. New units are folded in across the factions, and there are fresh multiplayer modes including a co-op wave defense mode called Stonewall and a vehicular skirmish mode called Panzerkrieg. These additions feel genuinely creative rather than padded, and Panzerkrieg in particular scratches a specific itch if you have ever wanted pure tank-on-tank chaos without worrying about infantry logistics. Where Tales of Valor falls short is in depth and polish relative to the base game. The campaigns are good but brief, and the AI in some missions behaves inconsistently. Multiplayer remains solid but the community, even at the time of release, was split between this expansion and the original. Today the online population is thin, so competitive multiplayer is a gamble. The Metacritic score sitting at 70 reflects exactly this: not a bad expansion, just one that does not reach the bar Relic set with the original and the Opposing Fronts expansion before it. If you have already played through Company of Heroes and Opposing Fronts and want more time in that engine, Tales of Valor delivers a reasonable additional chunk with some genuinely fun new modes. If you are new to the series, start with the original. This one is for people who already know they love this world and want to visit it again from a few new angles.

Alex · Scout Team

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