Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era Unveiled at Gamescom

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era brings the turn-based strategy franchise back just in time for its 30^th anniversary. Releasing on PC in Steam Early Access in the first half of 2025, Olden Era is set before the events of the first game, and will take players back to the world of Enroth and the continent of Jadame. Featuring new factions, biomes, and creatures, Jadame has been referenced but never explored in the main Heroes of Might and Magic series.

Developed by partner studio Unfrozen, Olden Era's turn-based gameplay is split between exploration, with players taking control of a hero to find resources, build towns and castles, and gather armies of mythic creatures; and tactical battles, in which players pit those armies against opposing forces. Expanding on the classic fundamentals of the series, Olden Era will introduce a number of new features: Players will have more control over how they level up heroes and their factions, for example, with faction-specific abilities, new systems for learning skills and magic spells, and artifacts that now impart bonuses if players equip more than one piece from a set.

Additionally, the units players command during battles now have secondary abilities that can be activated when a new energy meter fills. "Graverobbers can summon Skeletons, Dungeon units have unique battle stances, and Sylvan Druids are casters whose array of spells may rival a beginner hero," says Narrative Lead Alexandra "Alphyna" Golubeva at Unfrozen. "That's a lot of options to explore in battle!"

In a nod to the series' history, these skirmishes trade the rectangular grids of more recent Heroes of Might and Magic games for a battlefield of hexagonal spaces. This - like much of Olden Era - is inspired by fan-favorite Heroes of Might and Magic III (which still retains an active player base and community after 25 years).

"Heroes of Might and Magic III is a cult classic and one of the greatest strategy games of all time, perfecting and refining the already great formula established in Heroes I and II," says Brand Director Eric Damian-Vernet at Ubisoft, adding that Olden Era also takes inspiration from other highly regarded installments, including Heroes of Might and Magic II and V. "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."

"Heroes of Might and Magic III's systems are robust and complex, yet not unapproachable; they're the definition of 'easy to learn, hard to master,'" says Golubeva. "A vast selection of factions, abilities, and units allow for various playstyles. The three layers - strategic exploration, tactical battles, and RPG-lite character building - support different playstyles, whether one wants to focus on exploration or vicious battles against friends."

Multiplayer Modes and More

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era will feature multiple ways to play, including a story-driven campaign as well as single maps for solo players, and classic multiplayer matches (which support one-on-one duels, but will allow up to eight players in the lobby and enable players to set custom rules). In addition to pre-made maps , Olden Era will also be able to randomly generate new ones, ensuring players can always have something new to discover. Players can also create their own maps and campaigns with an in-game editor.

Players looking for a more streamlined combat fix can also tackle Arena, a new multiplayer mode in which two players draft heroes, artifacts, skills, and creatures before jumping straight into a tactical battle.

"While drafting a legendary artifact and steamrolling your opponent can be fun, it's not fun to be steamrolled by an opponent who drafted a legendary artifact," says Golubeva of Arena's drafting system. "So we ensure that both opponents will have choices of similar power level. If you got a chance to draft a legendary, so did they. The fun, then, lies in drafting the skills, artifacts, and troops that synergize well and support one another, so your victory will depend on skill rather than randomness."

No matter the mode, Olden Era will let players tweak the speed of different gameplay aspects, says Golubeva. "While we are proud of our cool and memorable animations, we'll give players the option to speed them up - we all know how frustrating it may be to watch a unit walk... slowly... across the battlefield," she says. "Secondly, autobattles are available in all fights against the AI - players who want to focus more heavily on exploration, strategy, or story may easily skip battles, and even experienced players can save time on simpler battles."

Olden Era, New Story

"By setting the game in the past," says Damian-Vernet, "we wanted to give the Unfrozen team the freedom to create a fresh and unique story that would stand on its own two legs and could be played separately from the rest of the franchise. One that would be a perfect introduction for newcomers to the world of Heroes of Might and Magic, while giving insights on the origins of some beloved characters for longtime fans and lore aficionados."

Olden Era's nonlinear story campaign will let players choose from six new and returning factions, each with their own heroes, creatures, aesthetics, and playstyles: the knightly Temple; the Sylvan fey folk and forces of nature; the dark elves and subterranean dwellers of Dungeon; the vampires and undead of Necropolis; the demon-corrupted insectoids of Hive; and another faction that will be unveiled later.

"All campaign missions have nonlinear events that allow hero choices, like encouraging a cowardly knight to fight alongside you or letting him flee," says Golubeva. "These choices will have consequences down the line. But the grander non-linearity comes from choosing the missions themselves - some of them are mutually exclusive. Do you support Sylvans or Temple in a conflict? Your choice will change the map of Jadame, the standing of factions, and fates of certain characters."

Additionally, Olden Era introduces a system of Faction Laws, which let you level up your kingdom as well as your heroes by choosing perks. Each faction has a specific set of Faction Laws to choose from, however, and these won't change even if you conquer castles or recruit creatures from other factions during a match.

New Heroes (and Ways to Improve Them)

Heroes are central to every Heroes of Might and Magic game: they're the protagonists you control while exploring the world, and each faction has several. While they don't necessarily take an active role on the battlefield, they can intervene with spells and special attacks, and impart passive buffs to certain kinds of troops.

"With every hero, we have several goals," says Golubeva. "Each must represent their specialization: if a hero grants bonuses to hydras, they probably look different from a diplomacy specialist or an arcane mage! We also want the heroes to look different from one another even if they share a faction or a specialization - each needs to be memorable, so we avoid making all attackers hulking brutes.

"Some players may choose to only engage with Olden Era in multiplayer, so the heroes, castles, and units will be their only glimpse into the setting," adds Golubeva. "it's on us to make sure the heroes represent concepts crucial for their factions and the world. Blind Troglodytes are an important race in Dungeon - would a blind human feel at home among them? Can a renegade from Temple find a place among Sylvans? These questions create little stories that become the foundation for character bios and their images."

Heroes will level up as maps unfold, battles are won, and bonuses are discovered, and Olden Era gives players new ways to fine-tune their hero's build. Artifacts - weapons, pieces of armor, and other items that can be found throughout the world and equipped on your hero - return in Olden Era, and now impart extra bonuses if you equip more than one item from a set; the more pieces from that set you equip, the more bonuses you unlock. You can also adjust your build with subskills, a new addition that can augment a hero's "main" skills (once those are unlocked) with passive buffs and perks. 

"The benefits of subskills can be very powerful if you think carefully about your build and find the right synergies, but you can also lean towards a jack-of-all-trades playstyle," says Golubeva. "For example, one subskill of Daylight Magic grants more daily mana restoration - obviously useful for a dedicated mage - while another gives more move points, which are helpful to heroes who picked this skill merely for support. Some skills provide unique spells that can't be obtained in any other way, or grant powerful but situational bonuses, like making critical hits deal plus-50% damage."

Heroes will also have a new way of learning spells, which in Heroes of Might and Magic III were available randomly through the Mage Guilds players build up in their towns. "It might be a fun challenge in single-player, but becomes an issue in multiplayer," says Golubeva. "It's neither fun nor fair to lose because of a random number generator."

Mage Guilds return in Olden Era, she says, but their randomness will be smoothed out a bit, ensuring players have better opportunities to grab the spells they need to complete a build, while still not being able to learn everything. More about magic and Olden Era's other new features will be revealed in future developer blogs from Unfrozen, so stay tuned.

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era will release on PC in Steam Early Access in the first half of 2025, with a full launch to follow at a later date. During Early Access, players can expect to see a new faction, as well as new modes, features, and regular updates. Click here to wishlist it and be notified when it's available.