Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is an upcoming turn-based strategy game developed by Unfrozen studio with support from publishers Ubisoft and Hooded Horse. The game will feature the turn-based system traditional to the Heroes of Might and Magic series, as well as additional role-playing mechanics that were not present in previous installments of the franchise. In addition to a single-player mode, the game will support Multiplayer and co-op. Early Access (Steam) is scheduled for 30 April 2026.
Plot
HoMM: Olden Era is a prequel to the first four parts of the series — the action takes place once again on Enroth (unlike later games in the series, where the setting was Ashan), on the continent of Jadame. The primary antagonist faction will be the Hive — a union of insect-like creatures striving to conquer the world (their design is inspired by the giant wasps from Might and Magic VIII).
Factions
At the time of Early Access, six playable Factions will be presented, each with its own unique gameplay style:
- Temple (humans);
- Sylvan (forces of nature and fairies);
- Dungeon (dark elves and underground creatures);
- Necropolis (undead and vampires);
- Hive (demonic insects — likely the Krigans from the original games of the series);
- Schism — a new faction for the game series, whose visual style is based on creatures from the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
In the future, there are plans to add DLC with new factions.
Gameplay
The new installment will preserve classic Gameplay while introducing a number of innovations:
- Active abilities for all creatures and heroes (heroes will be able to attack).
- Unique mechanics for each faction — so-called "laws" that affect the development of the entire kingdom.
- Alternative upgrades for creatures, similar to Heroes of Might and Magic V: ordinary skeletons can be turned into either skeleton warriors or skeleton archers.
- Economy and city management in a new form: the Capitol, the highest economic building which could only be built in one city, has been removed.
- Composite artifacts that can be upgraded using a new resource replacing sulfur.
- A map generator with templates for both classic games and new modes.
- AI will simulate human player behavior, including the use of courier heroes.
Heroes will traditionally be divided into mages and warriors. At each new level, the player can choose one of three special abilities. A redesigned skill system in a simplified version is borrowed from Heroes V: five additional passive effects have been added to each skill, and many unpopular skills have been moved to passives. The game will also feature spells that cannot be obtained in the Mages' Guild.
During battles, creatures will have a health point indicator and an active counterattack. Troops and artifacts can be transferred using Outposts and the "General Assembly!" travel spell — the caravan system from Heroes IV will not be present.
Discussing balance, the developers stated that they "plan to strengthen elements rather than weaken them."
Multiplayer Modes
In addition to a non-linear single-player campaign and several scenarios, the project will contain three multiplayer modes:
- Classic — a random map for long matches.
- Single Hero — there is only one hero; their death means defeat.
- "Arena" — fast battles with a "draft": the player chooses one of three heroes, a specific ability, artifacts (out of three), spells, and an army, after which the battle begins (against a human or AI).
Each mode will have a separate rating system (with ranks — silver, gold, platinum) and a leaderboard. The project is initially oriented toward esports. A simultaneous turn system in Multiplayer is planned, similar to the Horn of the Abyss mod, where players can play simultaneously until they appear within each other's line of sight. There will be seasons with rating resets, an observer mode, and the ability to view replays.
Development
Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era was announced on 22 August 2024. The project has been in development for about four years and is inspired by the II, III, and V installments of the franchise, as well as games from the King's Bounty series. A new visual style was chosen to ensure good performance across different configurations; according to the developers, a realistic style puts more load on the system and ages faster. The studio emphasizes that they have been granted full creative freedom and the new game is being made for fans of the series.
On 23 August, early version gameplay was published by the PC Games portal. On 31 October 2024, an overview video of the Necropolis faction was demonstrated: hero portraits (Necromancers and Death Knights) were shown, as well as units with two upgrade options — in addition to the familiar vampires, liches, ghosts, skeletons, and dark knights, gravediggers and dead hounds have been added. On 13 December, the developers shared news about the Dungeon: heroes will be Warlocks and Lords, and among the units are troglodytes, scouts, minotaurs, medusas, hydras, and black dragons.
At the end of December 2024, it became known that Paul Romero (who worked on music for all parts of the series) and a composer who contributed to Mass Effect 2 and Bloodborne would serve as composers. On 14 February 2025, the Hive faction was presented: insect-like creatures serving as common enemies instead of demons. On 20 August 2025, the new Schism faction was presented.
On 9 October 2025, the developers announced the postponement of Early Access to 2026, but simultaneously released a demo version on Steam. Subsequently, the exact date was announced — 30 April 2026. In 2026, series creator Jon Van Caneghem joined the team as a creative consultant.
Based on materials from the free encyclopedia "Wikipedia" ( ru.wikipedia.org )