Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era Announced

[Blake00]

Wow.. Ubisoft have just announced a new Heroes of Might & Magic game called Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era that is not their usual mobile pay to win shovelware and surprisingly even uses the original HoMM title instead of their usual Ubi style 'Might & Magic: Heroes' name system.

It's probably kinda low budget so they haven't dared put an 8 on the end of the game title and are making it a spin off however it does actually look pretty good. Naturally it's heavily styled off HoMM3 which is kind of the 'HoMM template' these days and interestingly it is set on Enroth (the original New World Computing HoMM universe/world instead of Ubi's Ashan) as a prequel before HoMM1.

I thought the town screens were simple frozen artworks again however judging by the video they're using a Songs of Conquest and Silence of the Siren like 2D within a 3D plane diorama kind of trick to give it more life so while in the screenshots they look pretty simple they don't look too bad in the video trailer with a moving camera. I could be wrong and they may actually even be full 3D towns, it's kinda hard to tell, if full 3D then that's kind of funny considering the excuses made for HoMM6&7 that 3D town screens are too expensive lol.

Announcement:

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era Unveiled at Gamescom

Helmed by partner studio Unfrozen, the new installment in the turn-based strategy series will debut in Early Access in 2025.

news.ubisoft.com

Steam Page:

Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era on Steam

Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era is the official prequel hailing back to the origins of the genre-defining, critically acclaimed series of turn-based strategy games. Explore the map solo or in multiplayer, triumph in iconic battles and establish peace on a continent where it was never an option.

store.steampowered.com

Trailer:

Screenshots:

 

[Blake00]

oooooh nope.. judging by this animation the town screens are indeed full 3D.. I think I can even see people walking around in the Knight one! The classic old man HoMM1 fan in me that always complains about lifeless town screens in nearly all the sequels is pleased lol.

 

[Sephi]

It seems they noticed how many sales HOMM has on GoG

nonlinear campaign sounds interesting. It looks like they go for the classic 1 hero per army setup and not the Homm IV gloriful madness.

 

[Blake00]

They've posted a Q&A..

Observations made by admin Pol at Celestial Heavens...

• Hexes are back
• Random Template Editor will be given to community
• Word 'community' was used a lot..
• 'eSports' word was also used around a lot..
• Spectator mod is likely
• Recording the game is also likely
• Grail mechanism is in but different, you shall be able to build it more often. Definitively not the Conflux (OP) type of Grail.
• In the Siege, you can control your ballista. One faction will have also a similar skill.
• Non-linear campaigns.
• Faction Units will have two types of upgrades. For example Skeletons can become Skeletons Captains or Skeleton Archers.
• Morale/Luck system is in but it will works a bit differently.
• First Campaign in Early Access will have about 6hrs.
• Modding support unknown, it will be known after version 1.0.
• Matchmaking system will be in. You can select templates indirectly, by banning some of these which you don't like. Your opponent then will do the same.
• FAQ and DevBlog will be available soon, to track game development progress.

I like the sound of the alternate upgrade system with 2 choices for every creature (ala HoMM5 after the addons) and also noticed they mention a faction research perk tree in the video which I very much like the sound of!

A German PC Games channel has also posted a video with lots of gameplay footage (turn on youtube subtitles for translation). Judging by the footage in this I think my original thought about them using a Songs of Conquest and Silence of the Siren like 2D within a 3D plane diorama/parallax kind of trick for the town screens was correct after all.. they just did a damn good job of it so when the camera moves around like that it can really trick you into thinking it's full 3D lol!

 

[Blake00]

Looks like they've started putting out dev diaries breaking down what the game will be and it's primary features..

Steam :: Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era :: Designing a Heroes Game

Hello, fellow heroes! First things first — for the last couple of days since the announcement, we’ve been drowned in the amount of love and credit you gave us. We appreciate it greatly and will work to enhance that. When we set out to make a Heroes of Might and Magic game, we knew we had big...

steamcommunity.com

Steam :: Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era :: Devlog#1: Everything Everywhere All At Once: Game Modes

People play strategy games in all kinds of ways. Sometimes you want a hot seat match with a friend. Or a huge map to explore for several days solo against AI. Or a tough multiplayer battle against a pro. Or a dive into the story, focusing more on the world and characters. People are different —...

steamcommunity.com

 

[St. Leo]

Looks great, though Windows-only is a disappointment for a Mac-head like me. I'll have to see whether it runs in Parallels or Crossover