In the past few years, when I heard that a new HoMM game is being released, I was less than excited. I grew up playing the fifth and third editions of the title and they are some of my fondest memories gaming—together with my family or friends.
The newer releases were lacklustre however, until now. When Olden Era was announced, I would assume many thought along the same lines as I did. ‘Another Heroes game, another disappointment.’ The developers of the game thought different. They released a demo that got players hooked. Now, with the official early access coming out, the game is the eighth most wishlisted on Steam. Thanks for Hooded Horse for allowing me to play a version before the release. With enough words wasted, allow me to share my impressions of Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era’s early release.
What’s HoMM?
Heroes of Might & Magic is a classic series of turn-based strategy and fantasy role-playing games. The series is best known for blending resource management, tactical combat, and exploration in a rich fantasy world. During the game players manage towns, recruit armies and engage in turn-based battles. Every game had a number of factions ranging from humans to demons or even necromancers—each with its unique mechanics and themes. There’s also a campaign mode in every game with a story mostly based around good and evil; or you could say, based around heroes of might and magic.
What Does Olden Era Offer?
Simply put, a lot. I believe Olden Era managed to look into the past and find what players loved in HoMM III&V, and blend it neatly into a game fit for modern times (III was released in 1999 and V in 2006).
When I first launched the game, two elements instantly jumped out. One was the intro for the story with a unique, seemingly hand-drawn animation style. I did not expect it to match the feel of HoMM, but it did stunningly. The second factor was when the main menu music started playing. I’m not certain whether they used the same music as they did in Heroes V, or if it’s a new version of it, but the nostalgia of the grandiose soundtrack instantly hit me. I felt 12 again, launching my favourite game of the time.
Campaign
I jumped into the campaign first, as it is usually a good way to learn the game and its mechanics. There are two elements I’d want to point out in the start of the campaign. The storytelling is done through dialogue between different characters, fully voiced. The voice acting is great, you can feel each character’s personality through the actors.
The other part was the difficulty scaling. I usually start every game I get my hands on by playing the hardest available difficulty, especially if it’s a franchise I am familiar with. As painful as it is to admit, Olden Era humbled me. According to some reviews and reactions from streamers with the version, I was not alone.
Personally, I am all for it. Harder difficulties should be unbeatable unless you completely understand the game and its mechanics. Until you do, play on normal difficulty—that’s what I had to do.
However, the campaign is well crafted. The first surprise was the dialogue options. During your playthrough, you are able to choose how your character answers in encounters with others, similarly to any RPG games. These decisions will either get you out of a combat encounter or improve your relations with different factions. I will not spoil any of the campaign as the first experience is always the best. What I can tell you is that it took me about 12 hours to beat (yes, with many restarts), and this is just the first act of the campaign, during early access more will be added.
Factions and Game Modes
The game includes six factions: Temple, Dungeon, Schism, Grove, Necropolis, and Hive. Most of these are familiar to players from the previous titles; Schism and Hive are the new ones. Without spoiling a lot, Schism is frosty, and Hive is fiery, but not in the way Inferno was in previous games.
There are also new game modes like Classic, Single Hero and Arena, and some premade story-based scenarios. My favourite scenario is one titled ‘All Cats go to Heaven’, where you play a cat-like hero, who builds a cat army to reach cat paradise—honestly, a great concept.
Single hero seems to be the most popular; it’s one I enjoyed a lot as well. Not being able to hire more than one hero, and having to decide how to optimize your movement points to get the most out of your turns is a fun challenge.
The early access also includes multiplayer and a leaderboard for ranked play. I believe this may be the most interesting and promising aspect of the game. As not many players had received copies before release, I personally couldn’t try the multiplayer; however, I watched some streamers play it, and it seems incredibly fun and complex. With a turn timer on the global map and in battles, you really have to plan ahead and manage your situation as best as possible, otherwise you get overwhelmed.
New Mechanics
Olden Era introduces new mechanics to the Heroes genre while reworking or improving upon old ones. The three main new categories are Law Points, Astrology Points and Focus Points.
Law Points are a passively generated resource. They can be used for bonuses to your units, your hero or your economy. Each faction has a different path to take in the law tree. You can base your build entirely around generating law points to get stronger.
Astrology points in essence are similar to Law Points. You can generate them in the same way, or build toward them entirely. Astrology points are used to unlock and upgrade global map spells. These spells allow you to teleport back to you town, recover movement points, or fly over terrain to your heart’s desire.
Focus points are generated in combat, however. There are two main uses for them—your hero can use a heroic strike for one focus point, or your units can use special abilities, using the same resource. It introduces some more consideration into your battles. Do I want to attack with my hero here, or save my points to use a better ability from one of my units?
Another change is how the spellcasting works in Olden Era, compared to previous games. You have four schools of magic—Daylight, Nightshade, Arcane, and Primal. Normally, you cannot spam one of them. After casting Daylight, for example, on your next turn you have to choose a different school of magic. Of course, this mechanic can be bypassed by levelling specific skills on your heroes. Spells also have cooldowns now, depending on their power level. This means that you cannot just cast a fireball every turn to destroy your enemies, you have to be more strategic in this part of the game as well. Spellcasting used to be the bread and butter in Heroes V, for example. It is still strong, but requires the correct build around it to function on a similar power level.
Final Thoughts
As I expressed in the introduction, I was prepared to be disappointed. However, I was as far from it as imaginable. This game feels good. Great, even. I truly believe that the developers found the sweet-spot that allows Olden Era to finally compete with the previous titles. It really has been 20 years since a good Heroes game—and it’s finally here.
The combat mechanics feel fluent and intuitive, and the art-style of the game is something I enjoyed quite a lot, although I’ve heard mixed reception on this one aspect. I loved the campaign, the new factions are interesting, and the ranked multiplayer aspect is what I’m most excited about after the full release.
If I had to give a point rating to HoMM: Olden Era, I’d go with an 8/10. Considering that it is just the early access, there are of course some bugs to iron out and some Quality of Life changes I’d love to see implemented.
During the early access, these will be addressed, the campaign will be finished, and we can probably expect DLC’s with new factions in the future as well.
Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era is available for 29,99€ on Steam and Microsoft Store starting today, and it is also included in PC Game Pass. I can only recommend picking it up: whether you’ve enjoyed the old games, or you’re thinking of trying this one, you will not be disappointed.
All pictures in the article are screenshots from the game itself.
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