Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake

To be blunt, I’ve never played a Heroes of Might and Magic game until now. Its setting and era of turn-based gameplay passed me by. An invite that I got a month ago changed this. Announced last night during Geoff’s dull tri-annual “I know Hideo Kojima/Sam Lake” event, a remake of the 1999 classic Heroes of Might and Magic III was announced for 2027, and after playing it, I think I get it now.

We didn’t get a full “go buck-wild” demo; it consisted of a tutorial level called “Queen’s Departure,” guiding your hero through a forest with a bit of story about the impending doom, then a skirmish map allowing you to freely play with the mechanics, face three AI opponents, and learn the game better. Though, if you’re like me, one AI will kill two of your heroes back-to-back because you were stupid. Indeed, why do they allow these “noob journalists who know nothing” to play these games early?

Probably so people like me who never played a HoMM game before get somewhat excited to play more at the next event or on release next year – highlighting what fans old and new can expect. Such as the fact that all original modes from the 1999 release will be included, its nine playable factions, and both expansions “Armageddon’s Blade” and “The Shadow of Death” are included from the jump. It gets better for long-term fans, however, as Ubisoft got in contact with original developers and modding teams about player-generated maps and the importance of that within the HoMM III community. With built-in shareability thanks to Mod.io.

Indeed, this is not just a graphical uplift, from the 2D isometric classic to a proper 3D turn-based RPG style, but a modernization as a whole that hopes to bridge the gap between fans of the original and those that are coming in for the very first time. For those of us who also missed the 1999 boat, Heroes of Might and Magic III sees you take control of a hero in a colony of mythic and legendary creatures from page 1 of the How to Write Fantasy book. Typically these are things I don’t run towards. Not until 2015 onward, anyway.

Some of the maps from the original quite literally asked you to find the Holy Grail. Doing a little bit of research, the general idea of why HoMM III was so successful was the classic Goldilocks trilogy thing: The first game lays the concept, the second game adds the things to improve and build on it, but is a little rough, and the third understands it all to mechanically blend everything so well. See Burnout, The Witcher, Dark Souls, Baldur’s Gate, Far Cry, and of course, HoMM III for example.

Speaking about the hands-on preview itself though, I have to say that I am hoping the in-game tutorial is eventually more in-depth or explores more mechanics than the map we saw, “Queen’s Departure.” I’ve been asked not to give too much detail about how long we got with the demo or how long certain things were, but I did find myself better understanding and digging deeper mechanically during the PvPvE skirmish map and defending Highcastle.

“Queen’s Departure” felt like a crash course in how to move around with the 3D camera over the 1999 2D isometric classic view, how to collect things, how to add people/fantasy creatures to your growing army, and the UI/UX. The skirmish map explored more of the building up of assets like towns, armies, defending that town, gaining assets, having multiple heroes (it’s in the title), and the differences between each of the heroes’ abilities. I said this when our time was up, but I was getting into it, enjoying my time, and wanting more by the end of it.

As you might expect, if you’re a fan of RPGs, CRPGs, and turn-based strategy games of the era (even to this day), you’ll get the basics of controls down pretty quickly. Though there was a mention of something called “playstyles” during a pre-demo presentation; again, I can’t go too in-depth, but it is about making the game accessible. We didn’t get a look at that segment of the game, so I can’t comment on that either. Nonetheless, it is promising for the future of the series beyond the remake, creating new fans with a classic.

From these little details that add quality of life to gameplay, the updated visual aspect, and indeed, things I even noticed during gameplay. For me, turn-based combat can often feel slow and “boring” as I wait on the opponent’s turn – why yes, I am impatient. Of course I don’t know how or if this was implemented in the 1999 original, but you can speed up movement right there in the hexagonal grid-based combat system, which takes a turn or two to get used to. Opponents’ turns in the main “overworld” which you travel about in aren’t particularly long either. As you might guess for a remake, it makes this 1999 classic feel modern.

If Ubisoft can pull off this remake and it is received well, I am hopeful not only for Heroes of Might and Magic III but also the future of the series. Which only just got Olden Era this year after 11 years away following HoMM VII. Getting hands-on, being given that freedom to explore the mechanics which I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface of in our couple of hours, and seeing this take on the classic has made me excited for more. I don’t say it every day, but Ubisoft is doing something right here.

Ubisoft reached out and hosted a remote hands-on preview of Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake, which we attended and participated in.