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Relic Entertainment is a game development company that specializes in 3D real-time strategy games and has released a number of innovative PC titles, including Homeworld, Impossible Creatures, Homeworld 2, and Dawn of War. Currently in production is Company of Heroes, a PC real-time strategy game. Relic has also released an expansion pack to Dawn of War, called Winter Assault.
History
Relic was started in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada by Alex Garden and Luke Moloney in 1997. Their first title, Homeworld, was released to critical acclaim and successful sales. Though they did not immediately continue working on the franchise (Sierra Entertainment, the game's publisher owned the rights), the game did have a spin-off, Cataclysm, developed by Barking Dog Studios and published by Sierra.
Their next title was Impossible Creatures, produced and released by Microsoft in 2002. It focused on a fictional environment during the 1930s, allowing players to design units from different anatomical parts of animals. The game was successful, though it did not receive the same attention as Homeworld.
In September 2003, a sequel Homeworld 2 was released. Although it boasted improved graphics and features and changed some elements of gameplay from the original, reviews cited some issues and did not score it as highly as its predecessor.
On April 27, 2004, publisher THQ announced it was acquiring Relic in an all-cash transaction, completing in early May, 2004.
Dawn of War and Beyond
Relic then released Dawn of War, an RTS based on Games Workshop's popular Warhammer 40,000 franchise. The game was a success, receiving good reviews and in contention for game of the year in many magazines.
In early 2005, Relic announced a new PC RTS game, Company of Heroes, as well as an expansion for Dawn of War entitled Dawn of War#Winter Assault. This expansion has since been released. A second Dawn of War expansion, Dawn of War#Dark Crusade, is due for release in the third quarter of 2006. Soon after, Relic also announced a new Xbox 360-based action game titled The Outfit. Both new games are set in World War II Europe. Company of Heroes has received much attention from gaming press and has been awarded "best of the show" at E3 by many websites and magazines. The Outfit has received less attention.
External links
"Relic Entertainment"