Earlier this week, Relic Entertainment and Sega released a developer diary preview for Company of Heroes 2 multiplayer. Today, a developer diary look at the single player campaign leads into next week’s release.

In the video, developers and producers praise Company of Heroes 2 as “gritty” and “real” for a real-time strategy game. The single player campaign puts players on the Eastern European front of World War II. Gamers will command the Russians while they defend major cities such as Leningrad and Stalingrad, and help push the Nazis all the way back to Berlin.

The game is structured into a variety of missions (sniper squads and a siege are mentioned), and players will be free to complete them in any way they can. There is also a “Theatre of War” feature that educates players on actual World War II battles through solo and co-op missions, while also equipping them with advanced tactics. The Red Army and the German Army will both have 9 Theatre of War missions available at launch.

“We get a lot of requests from fans to showcase specific conflicts from the war and it isn’t always possible to fit these into the campaign,” said Greg Wilson, producer for Company of Heroes 2. “Theatre of War gives us the opportunity to deliver these new gameplay experiences to our fans.”