It’s one of gaming’s finest strategy series, and now Heroes of Might and Magic is back, with a brand new game subtitled Olden Era. To say we’re excited for the impending release is an understatement. A series once hailed in the halls of Game of the Year categories, before a slow decline, Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era strips everything back to the series’ roots and to when it was at its highest point at the turn of the century.
A new demo is doing the rounds on Steam, and we’ve been making our way through all the content available. Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is due to be released in 2026 and is being developed by Unfrozen, with rights holder Ubisoft joining with strategy specialist Hooded Horse to publish it. Although this new entry into the series is promising an almost nostalgic romp down Heroes III memory lane, there is lots of new twists that make sure it can appeal in a modern gaming world.
In the Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era demo, only single-player is available, but there are four different factions to choose from: Temple, Necropolis, Dungeon, and Schism. Anyone familiar with the series will instantly see the correlation with the past entries, and seeing these towns is brilliant. We felt like we had been transported back to 1999 with HD goggles. For those new to Heroes of Might and Magic, a faction is a set of specific tools that includes a specific base build, its own creatures, and special hero characters that act as generals.
Several of these faction buildings and creatures have been used throughout the series, and it’s great to see some of the fan favorites return. We’re very intrigued to see what further creatures and factions appear in the final game. As well as getting to sample three distinct factions, the Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era demo also grants access to three of the game modes: a classic single map game, single hero mode, and finally an arena mode. There is also a short tutorial that gives a small glimpse into what a full campaign may look like.
These revamped modes are interesting and certainly bring some fresh gameplay perspectives to the tried and tested loop the series is known for. We feel this will please veterans of the series and provide lots of replay value. The most interesting one is the single hero mode, which almost feels as though you’re playing an RPG, as all your attention is focused on the one character. It also leads to some intriguing gameplay ideas where you’re constantly having to run back and forth across the map instead of stationing heroes in strategic areas as before.
Interestingly, the single maps are procedurally generated, but we hope to see pre-made maps, especially paying homage to the earlier Heroes of Might and Magic games. What is here in the demo, though, is very promising. Everything that made Heroes great is back, and all the new things that saw the series dwindle have been removed. This is straight-up Heroes with just a few bells and whistles to make it relevant in today’s gaming landscape.
The turn-based gameplay has been simplified from previous titles and has returned to the faster turn generation that made the first few entries so memorable. You can skip around the map with your hero and plan your base builds without having to jump through lots of menus or deal with gimmicks. The purness has returned, and anyone who has a fondness for tight-knit 4X strategy games will become spellbound. This is the Heroes we fans wanted, and now we have it. If the demo is anything to go by, Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is going to be a classic from the outset.
It’s not just the classic gameplay loop returning that has us excited, either; the beautiful town screens with the most detailed buildings and use of color are also back. Previous entries have lots of overly 3D graphics and, at times, looked very bland. The town screens in Olden Era are a mix of Heroes III and IV in both look and design. There is also the wonderful orchestral music, which has the overtone of Heroes II with a slight prickling of Heroes III. Oh, we could talk for hours about how great it is to have this style back.
Although we’re very excited for Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, not everything we sampled in the demo was perfect. The real issue was the overworld map screen and how fiddly it felt to pinpoint buildings or items on the map. There were times when we had to slowly move around or in front of objects for our movement path to latch onto the thing we wanted to interact with. Hopefully, this is something that will be ironed out during development, but it did spoil the overall feeling a little. Apart from that niggle, we look forward to reviewing the full game.
