Company of Heroes 2

Forget World War Z. Bring back World War II games

The public’s appetite for zombie games amazes me. I’ve enjoyed playing these games, too, dispatching the terrifying zombie hordes as they close in on me from all directions. But in memory of other fads that peaked and came crashing down to earth, I wonder if zombies will run their course in video games. Having just played Company of Heroes 2 from Sega, I also wonder if zombie games will go the way of the oversaturated World War II game market — and hope that games based on the Second World War will make a comeback.

Company of Heroes 2 reminded me what it’s like to play a game filled with strategic thinking, pitched battles, and a combined arms approach to tactical combat. It was a refreshing dip back into the underrepresented spaces of historical combat and real-time strategy. These categories have died out with the push to make games more immediately relevant to today’s young gamers who have twitch reflexes and feel like the weapons of World War II just don’t let them reflect their inner selves properly.

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.