Beloved turn-based strategy series Heroes of Might and Magic underwent a name change after six games, with the final two installments officially called Might and Magic: Heroes 6 and 7, only to rearrange the library. However, publisher Ubisoft relented and returned to the HoMM naming convention for the next installment in the series, the recently announced prequel Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era.
It’s being developed by Unfrozen, the studio behind Iratus: Lord of the Dead. That game showed they could recreate Darkest Dungeon with a bit of finesse, so the studio seems like a good choice to recreate HoMM 3, which at first glance resembles Olden Era the most.
One thing that sets Olden Era apart is its launch strategy. The game will be released in Early Access to allow time for community feedback (of which there will certainly be a lot) and for balancing. While it promises to be a single-player story campaign set on the continent of Enroth, Jadame, before the events of the first game in the series, the focus is on multiplayer, with the classic multi-hero mode as well as a single-hero mode for shorter games. If you want to play an even shorter game, there will be an arena mode, which is a bit like drafting in Magic: The Gathering, except instead of choosing cards from boosters, you choose a hero, units, upgrades, and artifacts from a random selection.
Olden Era will have six playable factions, with more to come as DLC, as well as a map editor. Local multiplayer hasn’t been mentioned yet, but I hope it’s included, as the Hot Seat games were my gateway to the series a long time ago. The release date is currently set for Q2 2025, and the game can be wishlisted on Couple.
