Heroes 6 - News

Erwan le Breton: Before you is the spirit of the Heroes series, which we tried to preserve in Heroes 6. We are still in this wonderful fictional world—epic and charming, as they say—with beautiful places to visit and plenty of valuables to collect. We call this the "Christmas tree spirit." The game has many resources, artifacts, glittering gold, and creatures you can interact with to get a quest or simply kill to gain access to treasures. But overall, it is still a turn-based strategy with RPG elements. These are true Heroes. However, Heroes 6 has many differences from the 5th and 3rd parts. The main one is, naturally, the graphics. If you look closely, you will see a new tileset that we call "jungles." It is a tropical island. Heroes 6 is the most detailed game in the series to date. Our main artistic goal was to move away from the comic book feel or, I would even say, the cartoonishness of the 5th part toward something darker and grimmer—like an artistic step from Scooby-Doo to Spawn. That was exactly the idea. We wanted the Necromancers in Heroes 6 to look scarier, not funny. Changes also affected some of the core game mechanics. The first thing shown here is the controlled area. Perhaps you have already read about this. This means that the global map is divided into several areas. Each has its own city or fort. Right now, we see a fort that controls the area and all resource production buildings belonging to it. I mean gold mines, sawmills, crystal mines, as well as dwellings of various creatures. They are all linked to one building, and if you want to seize these structures, you will have to capture the main one—the fort or city. If you simply go to the mines and place your flag, as in previous Heroes games, you can still steal resources from there, but every time your hero moves away, the mine will return to the control of the main building.

The main question, I think everyone has: why did you abandon 6 resources and remove 2 resources?

There were many reasons for that. I will make a list. The main fact was that when we discussed interest in rare resources, everyone said it is interesting to upgrade fighters or build higher-class buildings. So a rare resource must be present—something more expensive, harder to find than wood, ore, or gold. But why so many different ones? Each faction had its own resource that was unique to its development. Sometimes there were maps with sulfur and mercury mines. One player needed sulfur, while another needed mercury. As a result, they didn't fight over the mines. They only captured the mine that interested their faction, while the other was useless to you. Ultimately, stealing mercury was done only for exchange for gold, or you could leave it for another player. It wasn't a strategic objective; at most, it could hinder another player's development, which was a hostile tactic. And we decided it would be more interesting if all factions competed for the same rare resource. If you look at the difference between management games like Settlers and strategic ones like Starcraft, there are games with many resources. Mostly, these are games about management, development, and building. But if you look at games with fewer resources, tactics decide everything in those games because you fight for strategic reasons.

Are you not afraid that players might be outraged? They are already outraged by the number of resources—specifically what changed in the 6th part.

I was just about to answer this question. They are already outraged by this change. But most arguments boil down to one thing: it was like this in all Heroes, so why change it? Fine, but what about the interest of the gameplay itself? With the reduction of resources, other interesting changes occurred. First, the interface was simplified. Training for beginners became easier because there are fewer things to master. There is less micromanagement. Map makers found it easier to create maps because they don't have to think as much about which mines to place depending on the playing factions. This mainly concerns multiplayer maps. It speeds up game time on the map. So there were many pluses. And in terms of costs, it is easier for us to make a game with fewer resources. So the arguments were like "a step backward in the Heroes series." It's a pity, of course, to lose this detail. Please try to understand. But for us, this is a minor correction because the principle of mines and rare resources is still in place. So the spirit is present; only the appearance has changed. Another argument was that strategically: the more resources, the better. But again, this concerns development or trade strategy, not fighting for vital nodes. From the earliest days of the project, we had many discussions with fans on the VIP forum. And their first reaction was exactly this: why did you change it?! This sucks! We told them the same thing I am telling you now. Then they had a chance to play one of the maps. And they began to reflect on the development system and other gameplay features, like controlled areas and city changes. And they said: you know what? In the end, we think there was sense in reducing the number of resources. But I believe only time will tell. I think fans will be happy to get the game into their hands. They'll play two or three maps—and it will become irrelevant to them that there are only 4 resources.

Which of the Heroes games is your favorite?

For me, it's the 3rd. I played the 3rd, 4th, and 5th. I didn't play the 1st and 2nd. But I prefer the 3rd because I like the system more where the hero is a commander rather than fighting on the battlefield. Because playing the 4th, I had the feeling that I was playing an RPG with strategy elements, not vice versa. And I prefer the 3rd over the 5th because, even though I worked on Heroes 5 (at that time I was assistant producer and then producer), there were many things in the game that seemed unfinished, which could have been polished if we had spent more time. You know, it was more a question of contributing all efforts and considerations into the game, and sometimes this was rushed. That is something I would not wish for Heroes 6. But Heroes 3 had time for polishing, especially with expansions. So there was a feeling of perfect balance, which I feel when playing Blizzard games. A game that is truly finished—that is what I want to make with Heroes 6.

What would you choose as the best and worst idea in the 5th part of Heroes?

The best idea in the game for me (and we kept it in Heroes 6) was the faction ability. The fact that each faction or race has a special ability that distinguishes it from others: "Gate Opening" for demons, "Necromancy" for necromancers, etc. We kept this (and even developed it) in Heroes 6. And I consider this a good idea. What I liked least (or what I hated most) in Heroes 5 was probably the skill system. I know many players like it. Let them. But personally, I like to manage my character's development, especially in a game where RPG is second after strategy. It felt wrong to play as a knight of Haven who is offered Dark Magic spells. That was incorrect. That wasn't the hero I wanted to play. But I had no choice but to say "yes" because the choice had already been made for me instead of me choosing my hero's path myself.

Why did the game change its name? Previously it was "Heroes of Might & Magic", now it is "Might & Magic: Heroes".

This is a general revolution at Ubisoft. Now we treat our brands as umbrella brands. In the sense that each brand has several games belonging to it. For example, the Tom Clancy series, where there is Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. And we did the same with Might & Magic. Because now we have Might & Magic: Heroes, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, Might & Magic: Kingdoms. One thing unites them—the world in which events take place. The world of Might and Magic, which is now associated with this world and the brand itself. And this means it's unlikely that a game simply called "Might & Magic" will appear in the future. This doesn't mean there won't be more RPGs with the label "Might & Magic". It will be "Might & Magic: something". Like, "Might & Magic: Adventures", Might & Magic... whatever.

Can you tell us a bit about the combat system? Has it changed? What is new that wasn't there before? And what repeats previous games in the series?

As for battles, they are very similar to those in other Heroes. We know that battles are the main key to the series' success. We all love them. And we didn't want to ruin them. But we made a few changes. Small refinements. The turn order bar came from Heroes 5, but we returned to a system closer to Heroes 3, where there was a first turn, second, third... Each creature can be used only once per turn unless there is a morale bonus or a spell that allows moving twice. The hero can intervene at any moment. He does not fall under the turn order. He can be played at any time during your turn. But only once. Again, you can use the hero twice if there is a special ability. We kept the special abilities from Heroes 5, as I mentioned earlier. But we made them more powerful. And now they are used to their full potential during battle. For example, necromancers still have necromancy, which allows them to resurrect fallen soldiers. But now this ability can be used during battle, not after. So it becomes a tactical ability. Also, the game has new power levels. There are 4 level ranks. There is an indicator that fills up during battle, allowing you to move to level 1, 2, 3, 4. In general, the longer the battle lasts, the stronger the ability becomes. And each faction has certain conditions for filling this indicator. Necromancers, since they honor death, must kill people, and their own soldiers must die. That is, sacrifice your fighters, kill enemies, fill the indicator—and resurrect the army.

Siege battles, as far as I know, will change slightly. What exactly are the changes?

There are two changes. But again, they are small. Only to make everything more interesting. First: all creatures can smash the wall. Absolutely all creatures. That is, your workers can go and try to break through the gates with their little fists. This wasn't in previous games. Creatures stood and waited until shooters killed them or until the gates broke. Another difference is that each faction has its own catapult, which differs visually and also has a second special ability unique to each faction. But otherwise, everything is the same.

A question about multiplayer mode. Are you planning to change anything in multiplayer compared to previous parts? And in general, what will multiplayer look like?

For now, we are not talking about multiplayer mode. This will be discussed in the future. There were many questions. And the only thing we said was about the presence of a hotseat function for several players on one computer. Such an opportunity will be in Heroes 6. But other modes and details about multiplayer will come later.

Will there be new war machines during battle?

No. Only catapults, which I mentioned earlier. Faction catapults.

Is there any special, interesting new magic? And will there be any features in global magic on the global map?

We discussed this during development. The presence of some kind of global nuclear weapon or something like that. In Heroes 6, there is no such thing. This doesn't mean it won't be in another game or Heroes 7. No, the magic is traditional. The main difference is only in how you get spells. You no longer need to visit schools of magic. You simply have skill points—and you can buy spells with them in spell schools when your level increases. This is a more classic RPG development.

We heard that there will be bosses in the game. What will they look like and how will battles with them be implemented?

When we talked about battles and their similarities to Heroes 5 or 3, we didn't want to change anything radically. But we wanted to make battles more diverse. In connection with this, we changed the battle conditions—or rather, victory conditions. By default, they are the same: defeat the enemy army. Then the enemy either flees or surrenders. But in the campaign, there will be many battles with special victory conditions. For example, holding positions. When the enemy army obviously overpowers you or is too strong, but for victory you only need to hold out for three turns and survive. Also possible is the task of eliminating a specific unit in the opponent's regiment. Ignore the rest. All fire is concentrated on one unit that is your target. There are also opposite situations where you must protect one of your own units, which needs to be healed and protected so the enemy cannot attack it. Protection of a certain part of the map is also possible, like a building that can be destroyed, such as a Temple. And you need to protect it from the enemy. And boss battles are exactly part of that variety of combat. There will be about 10 bosses in the game who will be unique creatures. Much larger than even the biggest creatures in your army. We are talking about sizes 3 or 4 times larger. This means they will take up a huge space on the battlefield. And each requires its own approach. The usual method of fighting them will not work. You'll have to understand how they behave, what their weaknesses are, what they want to do with your army and how to avoid it, etc.

Last question. Will there be a map editor? And will there be a map generator?

We worked a lot on the map editor. We hired a fan named Marzini, Julian Piru, into our Ubisoft team. He is French and known in the community for refining Heroes maps, creating maps, and even a campaign called "The Legend". He was hired into the team to work on several parts of the game. Naturally, this is level design—helping Black Hole create maps for the game. He is also a community moderator because he knows everyone well and is an immediate part of it. And when we talk to the community, we often use Julian as our messenger, our voice. Also, one of his tasks was studying the map editor and explaining to Black Hole how to make it more user-friendly. Our ideas consist of distributing the map editor as early as possible, if possible even before the game's release. So that people can rush to edit maps and create their own. And we want to add a map generator to it, but for now, I cannot promise that it will be ready. I hope so, but we still have so much to do...