Between the hammer and the anvil.

There is a feeling that the scenario is unfinished. Don't play it until the author makes further revisions.

Yes, the second part is a boring exploration without Castles, with two strong heroes and weak neutrals. But in its defense, I want to say that the first part (up to passing the dwarf outpost) is very interesting and replayable. It has everything you need: tension regarding the economy, the danger of attacks, and tricky situations on the adventure map and in battles.

I also remember this map because it was the first time I saw the non-scripted AI (demon) use the "Regeneration" spell in battle.

The crashes, either during the demon's turn or when capturing a Castle, also happened. It was fixed by replaying (although not very effectively) the last few turns. I don't remember the details exactly; it seems that you can't capture an empty Castle, but you need to make the demon settle there.

I also remember another interesting scenario, Slovo o polku for the Orcs (the one with the funny boss "Tsar-ballista" in the middle of the game). There, too, crashes start to occur from a certain point when the AI is thinking; sometimes, "dancing with a tambourine" helps. But nevertheless, I occasionally replay it.

I also can't find a map like this; maybe someone will remember the name: the starting Castle is in the lower right corner, we play against demons, there are archer dummies in the mountains, and during the passage along the mountain paths, an animation of archers shooting at you is launched directly on the adventure map.

We are unlikely to wait for revisions of old maps. Unless, after the release of Heroes 8 (in a year?), all single-player players will be disappointed in it and return to reminisce about Heroes 5. We'll see. For me, the determining factor is the strength of the AI on the map and in battles. I have played all parts from 1 to 7 (my favorites are 2 and 5, but there are advantages in all of them). Still, Heroes 5 is unmatched in the strength of its AI.

Here, let's reminisce (the images of artifacts are taken from Heroes 2, but they were the same in Heroes 1).