"Faithful Heroes 3 combat, hobbled by AI and a flat campaign"
About
Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is a turn-based strategy game set in the world before the original Heroes of Might and Magic series, exploring the genre's foundational era. You recruit and command armies of fantasy creatures, manage resources across a campaign map, and engage in tactical battles where positioning and spell selection determine victory. Both single-player campaigns and multiplayer skirmishes are available.
Verdict
The battlefield is the real draw here, with concentration costs and skill branching giving every fight a fresh optimisation problem. The campaign writing reads like placeholder text someone forgot to replace, and the AI freezes and balance wobbles mean this Early Access tag is doing real work. Tactically-minded players will find plenty to chew on, but anyone here for a single-player story should wait.
You'll like it if …
- +you treat each battle as a resource puzzle to optimise
- +you happily restart and re-solve the early game across six factions
- +you want tactical depth over a single-player story
You'll dislike it if …
- −you came mainly for a campaign with character development
- −you want handcrafted maps over randomised presets that thin out after a few runs
Breakdown
- +Concentration and law point systems make each battle a genuine resource puzzle
- +Positioning and spell selection create fresh optimisation problems across fights
- −AI turn freezes interrupt combat flow regularly
- −Random-map crashes force restarts mid-campaign
- +Six factions and randomised maps push players to restart and re-solve the early game
- +Faction differences and map variety reward learning systems across multiple playthroughs
- +Plenty of content justified by the asking price
- −Thin map handcrafting and similar faction structures cap replayability depth
- −Balance wobbles undermine tactical decision-making
- +Worldbuilding respects the original lore without contradiction
- −Campaign dialogue reads as filler with no character development
- −Quests rely on jarring surprise moments rather than earned drama
- +Paul Romero's score and chunky combat effects carry the weight the old games had
- +Customisable palettes and clean portraits earn praise from some players
- −Units dissolve into colourful blobs on the battlefield for some players
- −Stability is a coin flip: some players sail through bug-free while others fight 40-minute multiplayer save loads
- −Spells that refuse to cast mid-combat break intended tactics
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