Essence Engine is a game engine

Game engine

A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...

 developed by Relic Entertainment

Relic Entertainment

Relic Entertainment is a Canadian game development company that specializes in 3D real-time strategy games and has released a number of unique PC games. Relic specializes in creative, visually appealing, and combat intense RTS games.-History:...

 for video game Company of Heroes

Company of Heroes

Company of Heroes is a real-time strategy computer game developed by Relic Entertainment. It was released on September 12, 2006, and was the first title to make use of the Games for Windows label. A standalone expansion, Opposing Fronts, was released on September 25, 2007. A second standalone...

.

Features

The Essence Engine features many new graphical effects, including High Dynamic Range Lighting, dynamic lighting & shadows, advanced shader effects and normal mapping

Normal mapping

In 3D computer graphics, normal mapping, or "Dot3 bump mapping", is a technique used for faking the lighting of bumps and dents. It is used to add details without using more polygons. A common use of this technique is to greatly enhance the appearance and details of a low polygon model by...

. The Essence Engine is also one of the first RTS engines to create detailed faces with facial animations.

In Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts

Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts

Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts is the stand alone expansion pack to Company of Heroes, a real-time strategy game for computers running the Windows operating system. It was announced on April 5, 2007. Opposing Fronts was developed by Canadian-based RTS developer Relic Entertainment, and...

the Essence Engine was further improved to include weather effects and also added support for DirectX 10 for Windows Vista.

The recently released sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment based on Games Workshop's popular tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000. It was released by THQ on September 20, 2004 in North America...

, Dawn of War II

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is a real-time strategy/tactical role-playing video game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ for Microsoft Windows based on the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe. It is the sequel to the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War video game series...

, is using an updated version of Essence Engine (Essence 2.0) which allows for more detailed models and textures, and more advanced lighting and shading effects, as well as including more complex "sync-kills" than those in Dawn of War and better supporting dual core CPUs.

Essence v1.0

  September 29, 2006
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|Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts

Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts

Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts is the stand alone expansion pack to Company of Heroes, a real-time strategy game for computers running the Windows operating system. It was announced on April 5, 2007. Opposing Fronts was developed by Canadian-based RTS developer Relic Entertainment, and...

|   September 25, 2007
  September 28, 2007
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|Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor

Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor

Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor is a real time strategy video game stand alone expansion pack to Company of Heroes. It was announced on November 3, 2008 and was released on April 9, 2009.-Gameplay:...

|   April 9, 2009
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|Company of Heroes Online

Company of Heroes Online

Company of Heroes Online was a free MMO real-time strategy computer game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. The open beta for the game started on 2 September 2010 and closed on 31 March 2011. The game has no link with the original Company of Heroes series multi-player system and...

|   September 2, 2010
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