Working away in the leviathan's guts, with the famous motto of the SAS in mind - “You’ve got to at least have a go, even if it's really hard” - Relic learned from their fellow strategy Jonahs at CA, and set about applying the knowledge to their landmark WW2 strategy franchise, Company Of Heroes. “Turns out,” says Littman, “it’s because it’s really hard to do”. But then along came Sega, gulping down strategy studios like a big mad whale, and Relic ended up in its belly - right next to Total War devs Creative Assembly. I'm not alone in this: David Littman, executive producer at Relic Entertainment, always wondered the same thing.
It's a tasty formula, and I've often wondered why more games over the years haven't adopted it. The Total War series are the Kinder Eggs of strategy gaming: a layer of delicious, map-based strategy, with a dramatic RTS toy hidden inside.
