The Quest for Truth

I completed the campaign (original) in 202 days. I played on "hero" difficulty, but it felt like I was playing on "recruit." I downloaded the campaign because of the stream of positive reviews, and I greatly regret giving in. I liked it less than I disliked it. I played, stopped, tried to continue, stopped again – I barely managed to get to the end. The campaign is not a strategy game, but rather an excursion and sightseeing simulator. (I think I've written something similar before). But, at the same time, it's a perfect fit for the modern audience of the 5th installment. For most of them, a turn-based strategy is something akin to interactive television. The main efforts were focused on creating secondary visual and audio effects, rather than developing the gameplay. It's like developing a passenger car: a lot of time is spent on the ergonomics of the controls, the quality of the car audio, and the upholstery of the seats, while the engine is a 5 hp engine.

The dialogue scenes are beautifully made, and the texts in them are well-written – it's clear that a lot of work was put into them. The voice acting of the videos is a great technical achievement, but I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't read the forum. (all sounds are turned off in the settings). It's much faster to read the text with your eyes than to listen to it. And you only watch the videos once, unless you're a hardcore aesthete or haven't yet discovered the magical properties of the "next" button.

Regarding the maps themselves. The first and fourth maps are, in my opinion, more or less normal. On the fourth map, the time to capture Mythgard should be reduced by about half. On the second and third maps, there are supposed to be active and formidable opponents, but they only exist for show. They are more difficult to catch than to defeat. However, the logistics of the maps are poorly designed: there are no teleports to shorten the running around, there is no way to move the hero with travel spells, it is difficult to gather caravans, and to combine the available forces. All the key opponents stand like posts and wait for the player to come, having gathered everything possible and with a huge army. These maps are a dreary swamp. It's clear that you win almost immediately, but you have to run around for a long time like an elephant chasing fleas. The quests are poorly designed and executed. On the one hand, they don't give anything useful, and on the other hand, you can only remember them if you play without interruption. The information about the quest requirements is not properly written in the task menu. On the third map, you don't immediately understand how to remove the yellow tent.

The battles are practically organized poorly everywhere. In most cases, the opponent casts some kind of single spell or simply attacks with their fists. Even the orc (for whom the AI performs well on its own) from the end of the 2nd installment is put in such conditions that it is very easy for him to lose. The dwarf on the 3rd map is deprived (almost) of magic and runes, and he will never be able to overwhelm the necromancer with brute force. The last map is entirely built from battles and is therefore the most depressing of the entire campaign.

Markel, whose special ability has been changed, leaving only "leadership," looks like a grandmother-ballerina.

Thank you for your work, I at least dusted off the "Heroes" icon, but if the cream is bad, then what about the milk?

P.S. From the first map: "Obtain the relic (artifact)" - "obtain" jars on the eye, it does not correspond to the general style of the texts. Perhaps, "take," "grab," or simply "get" would be better.