Ubisoft announced Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era at Gamescom 2024 on Thursday, and it will indeed bring things back to an “olden era” when it hits early access in the first half of 2025 on Steam.
Heroes of Might and Magic is a beloved, long-running, fantasy-themed turn-based strategy game franchise that started out in 1995. Players explore a map, form armies made out of fantasy creatures, capture towns to gather resources, and go to war against other armies. Olden Era is both the first new addition to the series in almost a decade, and a 30-year celebration of the series’ existence that specifically takes a lot of inspiration from Heroes of Might and Magic 3.
Ubisoft and developer Unfrozen added new features that modern players might be used to, including the addition of multiple online multiplayer modes alongside a single-player campaign. It’ll support one-on-one matches and lobbies of up to eight players that can battle on premade maps, generated maps, or ones made with the in-game editor, which will be available during early access. There’s also a new arena mode where players draft weapons and creatures and then go up against each other.
“With Olden Era, we go back to the origins of the series, aiming to recapture the same sense of magic and wonder of traversing a vibrant adventure map full of dangers and mysteries for the first time, building mighty faction towns, and assembling massive armies of mythical creatures,” company brand director Eric Damian-Vernet said in a Ubisoft blog post.
Just from the first images and trailer, Olden Era looks very much like a throwback, with battlefields made up of hexagonal shapes in a top-down, isometric view. They’re mostly void of assets beyond the battling armies, but they’re surrounded by moody, textured environments.
Other additions include character improvements. OK, these aren’t “characters” per se — rather, players can choose to play one of six factions, and then select from “several” heroes from within those factions. There’s also the new Faction Laws, which have you level up your faction and upgrade them with perks. Your hero can also provide buffs to the rest of your army and engage in battle with special attacks, so you’ll want to upgrade them with artifacts you find while exploring the world. The new gameplay mechanic here is subskills, which you can unlock by upgrading your main skills and can give you even more ways to strengthen your hero and army. All this adds up to more customization in how you level up your character and grow into your preferred playstyle.
And if you don’t want to put the “turn-based” in “turn-based strategy,” there is an autobattler here, too.
