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The popular turn-based strategy series Heroes of Might and Magic has been renamed after six games. The last two installments were officially called Might and Magic: Heroes 6 and 7, just to mess up the order of your library. However, publisher Ubisoft has 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 is being developed by Unfrozen, the studio behind Iratus: Lord of the Dead. That game proved their ability to recreate Darkest Dungeon with a twist, so the studio seems like a good choice for the remake of HoMM 3, which Olden Era is most reminiscent of at first glance.
One thing that’s different about Olden Era is its launch strategy. It’s coming in Early Access to allow time for community feedback (of which there will surely be plenty) and balancing. While it promises a single-player story campaign set on Enroth’s continent of Jadame before the events of the first game in the series, the focus is on multiplayer, with a classic multi-hero mode as well as a 1-hero mode for shorter games. If you want an even shorter match, there’s a mode called Arena, which is a bit like drafting in Magic: The Gathering, except instead of 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 be added as DLC, and a map editor. Local multiplayer hasn’t been mentioned yet, but I hope it’s included, as I got into the series through hot-seat play back in the day. The release date is currently set for Q2 2025, and you can wishlist it on Steam.
