Ubisoft Announces New Back-to-Basics Heroes of Might & Magic Game With Iratus Developers at the Helm

Ubisoft has announced Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era, a new installment in the long-running turn-based strategy RPG series that originated on New World Computing in 1995. The new game will “return to the world of Enroth and the origins of the legendary saga,” inviting “veterans and new players alike” to embark on a quest to Jadame, “a mysterious continent in turmoil.” Expect new factions, biomes, and creatures, as well as M&M staples like castle management, army clashes, hexagonal maps, and maybe even a few heroes.

The game includes a new single-player campaign, the ability to fight one-off battles on individual maps, and a map generator capable of “unlimited” scenarios. I can fall in “unlimited ways,” Ubisoft, and I'm not spending my time writing press releases about it. Hmmm, maybe I should?

There's also co-op and competitive multiplayer (each mode has its own matchmaking system, leaderboards, and leaderboards), as well as a map and campaign editor. It's all nicely decked out in a revamped visual style that “recalls the series' vibrant, magical beginnings.” The AI ​​has also been overhauled, and you can expect difficulty levels designed for both those steeped in Might & Magic and newcomers like me who aren't at all powerful or magical.

New mechanics include active abilities for heroes and creatures, as well as a faction-based perk system, faction laws, for more accurate modeling of playstyles. Currently announced factions include the old-school knights of the Temple, the bloodsuckers and brain-eaters of Necropolis, the hipster faeries of Sylvan, the gruff dark elves and other underground stinkers of Dungeon, and the horrifying demonic insects of Hive. There is at least one more faction waiting to be revealed.

The Hive are the big bad guys in this iteration. “On Jadame, a continent in turmoil, rival factions must forge a fragile and uneasy alliance to face the Hive, a swarm of insectoids corrupted by a demon lord of Hell bent on subjugating the world,” the press release comments.

This will be the first Heroes Of Might & Magic game to launch in Early Access. It runs on the Unity engine and is developed by Unfrozen, the creators of Iratus: Lord of the Dead, which was one of Sin's Unknown Pleasures in 2019.

Frivolous closing note: I find “Olden Era” quite funny in that they could have subtitled it “Old Era,” but that would have just made the game sound old, even though “old” is a modern usage, while “olden” is an archaism. Language is a delicious beast. Perhaps this is the next conversational fallback position for people who insist they are “middle-aged” even after they hit 60? I’m not old, you cheeky insolents, I am old! If you’re over 60, feel free to split hairs the next time you talk to a grandchild or a medical professional.