[h1] The black sheep of the HOMM series [/h1]
I tried liking this game since it came out back in 2015, and, not gonna lie, each time I'd give it a try, I just hated it. I’m a huge fan of the Heroes of Might & Magic series as a whole, and this just felt like a cheap and low-effort entry in the series. Not to mention that it was plagued by technical difficulties and bugs that to this day aren’t fixed. But, you know what? I gave it another try recently and I actually do enjoy the game now. I don’t know if I was just influenced and carried away by the generally extremely negative tone surrounding the game or if I just became more open-minded with the years, but I genuinely like the game now. Don’t get me wrong, compared to the other games in the series, it still pales in comparison, there’s absolutely no denying that, however, it is an alright game. I think my playtime speaks to that as well, and I plan on finishing it all for all the achievements too.
So, yes, I do think that this game is a bit over-hated. I for one will recommend it and leave a positive review, because it’s genuinely not that horrible if you go into it without the prejudgmental attitude. But if you do decide to get it, you should absolutely get it on sale, because the price they still keep on it is a bit too much for such a flawed and 10-year-old game.
Some main points about it I’d like to share with you:
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[*]This is a Ubisoft game, which means that they just “had” to cramp that lousy Uplay launcher of theirs into it. It launches every time you launch the game on Steam for no good reason. It does just install a lite version of it, but you have to have it running in the background if you want to play this game, and in case the launcher goes offline or issues appear, you get booted out of the game completely.
[*]The story is not very good at times. It’s not very engaging in general, and the cinematics and cutscenes are rather simple, which is a real shame considering some of the lore and events in the previous entries. It does serve its purpose though and does have a few good moments here and there.
[*]The balance in the game is hilarious. Might heroes are decent, but Magic is absolutely way stronger than Might. Some spells in particular can literally carry a hero with a single unit. Some units are also way stronger than their counterparts of the same tier.
[*]The UI, the hero talent-wheel and townscreens feel very rough (literally like a beta version), but once you get used to it, it’s tolerable.
[*]There are alternate versions of some units, which is actually quite nice, because you can play the same faction in different ways. The factions in general are good.
[*]The performance of the game is not as bad as people make it out to be. Maybe it was back in the day, but the game does work fine nowadays. The visuals in the game and the animation on units are also actually rather nice and good-looking. I know this is a bit controversial, because many people feel like the Heroes series never should have gone 3D, but this game does look quite nice on higher settings. I do advise you to play it on an SSD though, if you can, because the difference between playing this on HDD and SSD can be greatly felt.
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But, yeah, my advice is that you should form your own opinion on this game by keeping an open mind and giving it a fair try. It’s absolutely flawed, definitely the worst entry in the HOMM series by far, but regardless, it’s still decent for sinking some hours into it.
