Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era

It has been almost 5 months since release, and there have been no substantial updates to the game, though there have been plenty of balance and minor UI updates, mostly catered toward PvP. While balancing via PvP first and adding PvE content later might be easier, you still have to give something to PvE players in the meantime. Right now, the AI in PvE is abysmal, it cheats because it won't utilize various mechanics in the game. ​Also, there is still no co-op team play, and the writing in the campaigns is mediocre. Where are interesting, unique characters like Gelu, whom people still remember today? The music is also very generic. Why did you start working with Romero only to reject his unique tracks? Heroes music is anything but generic fantasy tunes. Where are the organs, the choirs, and the soul? In general, as a PvE experience, it's very lackluster right now. P.S maybe I'm dumb, but the map selection legend makes no sense and it's hard to udnerstand what it means. It also doesn't showcase any needed information, like how many castles each faction will have when starting. We like to start playing with one, and majority of maps have at least 2, or even more nearby, so we have to try other maps until we are able to find what we're looking for.

Worst HOMM so far—if you can even call it HOMM at all. The maps don’t feel like they were crafted by humans. There’s just loads of stuff randomly scattered everywhere, with very little sense or purpose behind the placement. The PvP ranking system is completely out of touch, the factions seem to have completely missed the point of the HOMM universe, and the overall design feels like it doesn’t understand what made the series special. And worst of all… imagine having a Rampart faction without Treants

Рука сильно тянулась поставить палец вверх. Как минимум из-за того, что я бесконечно возвращался мыслями в школьные годы, когда залипали с другом в тройку по hot seat. Но, увы, не могу. Тем более казалось бы нужно поддерживать такие начинания, вдруг решат ремейкнуть мои любимые M&M VI и VII, но к третьей миссии кампании игра начала нереально душить. Если не брать в расчет тройку, то четверка и пятерка для меня на три головы выше чем Olden Era. От игры дико веет каким-то нейрослопом. Или как будто играешь в какую-то мобилку. Сложно объяснить. На карте в каком рандомном хаосе натыканы шахты, мобы и бесконечные "данжи" - зайти, перебить мобов, чтобы получить золото/артефакт. Да, вроде бы все герои про это, но там ты уже издалека видел что где находится и что тебе нужно, а тут все сливается в какую-то цветовую кашу. С четверки я начал понимать, что мне нравится читать портянки текста с описанием сюжета во время миссий, отчего вроде бы одинаковый геймплей становился интересным от миссии к миссии. Прямо как книгу интересную читал интерактивную. Тут опять таки будто сгенерированные нейросеткой диалоги с никакими персонажами. А выбор вариантов ответа в диалогах. Ну такое, мне не зашло. Вместе с общим дизайном похоже на какой-то клуб романтики. Города. Я так любил отстраивать каждый и любоваться ими. Тут порой не сразу получается заметить что ты вообще построил. Короче, если вы лютый фанат и давно хотелось чего-то нового по Героям, то однозначно отлично, конкурентов все равно нет. Если брать как игру отдельно, то я бы лучше переиграл в пятерку. ЗЫ. Отдельный респект разрабам за то, что дожив до сракалетнего возраста я наконец увидел наидушнейшее обучение, к которому еще и привязана ачивка, я испил эту чашу страданий до дна.

I was there my fellow gamer, 3000 years ago... where it all begun. I like to try new games and atempts, I am no bothered with NEW things, which is obligated to say if you ahve any critical views of this game on every forum and every time. I know that people do not like changes so pills like olden era can be hard to swallow. I could say that they knew they are doing something wrong since they call the game HEROES and an OLDEN ERA not like, NEW ERA. If it was called new era, We could assume it is brave new step into future... But let me go to the core of the problem I have with this game: - Game for kids. 3-6 years old. Thats it, thats what your game is. There is no single hint of evil in that game. Void faction, literally cthulu creatures have an lore like:"creatures appeard from the void looking to serve new master, and you worry not they are doing it willingly". And you could say "Man, they are playing with words. NO, they are not, every single ambigues thing in this game is explained to you that everybody is happy and smell flowers. So why we have to fight? lets stop making wars and have a tea, uncle Iroh agree with me here. Ah, yes I do not need to read that to play. Fair enough, lets move on: - Silly 3D models - just look at them.. they look like AI generated slop. I even Asked Chat GPT to generate me few units with prompt "Heroes 3 unit but more kid friendly" and I got similar things with similar lore. - I feel Like every hero is the same expect few individuals with real perks. - I do like skills for creatures, but making resource for every skill an ARMY resource feels... blank. Most of the time you will see one skill used only every battle sinc only that one unit has meaningfull skill t use. -Maps are made with like 6 buildings and you will see them repeat everywhere. - I am glad that you are adding aliances, thats good move. Here, have a cookie for good decision. To sum it up: Want a fresh take of heroes? If you are not bother with childification and uncanny feeling that you play the Heroes 3 game but inside My little Pony universe then I am sure you will enjoy it! It can be really good at times, but every time you stop to look on desing of a creature, place, map.. or try to immerse yourselve into the world that is when the game fails.

I'd like to recommend this game, but can't in its current state. I encountered no performance issues on higher-end 6 year old hardware. The campaign is decent enough, if quite incomplete. Act 1 is 5ish missions long (say, 10-15 hours), but the player still hasn't unlocked all buildings or features/systems that are available, nor encountered every faction. The story is pretty bog-standard for the genre. If they add another 1 - 2 Acts of similar length I'd say it's probably a buy if you enjoy the campaign of these games. PvE broadly is not good as of this version. On what are normally fairly modest difficulty settings for experienced players of the genre (mix of hard - normal) the AI can just crush you. Not you fight a retreating battle, regroup, and have a semi-enjoyable back and forth. Nope, your main hero was exploring, ended their turn, and out of the fog of war their enemy hero comes and beats you before the 3rd turn while their stacks are almost entirely intact. I'm not a competitive player by any means, but have a decent number of hours in the genre and this is the worst balance I've seen.

I'm honestly just not enjoying this game as much as Songs of Conquest or the original HOMM3. There are a few updates/redesign of the magic system with Astrology points. But otherwise it's just kind of "meh." The graphics feel neither new and magical like SoC, nor a refresh of the classic HOMM3 which so gripped you the first time you played it. Overall I just feel it is lacking in creativity. The campaign storytelling feels hollow. It's trying to be emotional but it isn't. I really can't think of a reason to play this over the other two versions I mentioned above. *shrug*.

The map generation for exodus is so frustrating. Why is it an option to have minimal drops for wood and ore? What do you do if your special resource or third town is guarded by ranged mobs? Why the ♥♥♥♥ do you not get an option to restart the match until you are above a certain rating? Below 2k we are too stupid to figure out how to press escape and restart, right? Or is it because below 2k we don't care if we get ♥♥♥♥♥♥ by RNG? WHY CAN'T I PICK A MAP? Why is it a coin flip if i play exodus or sprint or blitz? These are completely different game modes but the option is - pray to you grandma or suffer through two hours of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. I am a dad - I want to play what I want to play. What if i care about my rating? Do i just quit and take -20? This model does not respect the players time - an unfortunate conclusion i came to after sinking over 200 hours. Until changes are made, i will not play this - and neither should you.