P.S. To avoid being unsubstantiated, I'm posting a very rough draft (just a sketch) of how I envision the main theme of the Academy.
Attachments
File type: zip Academy (strings intro).zip (964.5 KB, 19 views)

It turned out to be a very gloomy and solemn academy. It's like a "TU-104". IMHO =)

Mages - if it's Indian mythology, then let there be Indian music.

And who else from Indian mythology is there besides Rakshasa? Djinns are from Arabic tales. Gremlins are from Western Europe. In my opinion, Arabic motifs correspond well to the architectural style of the city and the appearance of the units. (Besides, the Rakshasa from the game and the Rakshasa from mythology essentially only share the name).

Undoubtedly, the soundtrack from the third game is more memorable and diverse. But both the third and fifth games had the same composer. He couldn't have written music that was identical to the previous games.

The hero cannot participate in the battle, which is strange...
The leader of the army has always been at the forefront of the battle, but now this opportunity has been taken away, allowing him only to cast spells and shoot. But where is the hand-to-hand combat? Because of this, the hero cannot leave the battlefield alone. Supposedly, without an army, he's useless... even escaping isn't possible.

The hero is a commander, the brain of the army, the avatar, and the alter ego of the player. He is not cannon fodder. He shouldn't be on the battlefield! He'll be taken out immediately. Let him stand on a hill, give instructions, and with a regal wave of his hand, bestow blessings on his troops, curses on the enemy troops, and fireballs on the battlefield.

Although even behind the most beautiful graphics at first glance lies the game mechanics of 1999.

You'll laugh, but Tetris is still alive! =)
If you read the developers' diaries, it will become clear that Heroes 5 was conceived as a compromise between the third game, as a classic representative of the series, and the fourth game, which had many innovations. And if version 1.0 was a collection of bugs, a shortage of variety, and a graveyard of ideas, then now we have a good game that did not make a revolution, but steadily occupied its ecological niche in the hearts of gamers. =)