Heroes 5: Reborn is a non-commercial fan project to remaster Heroes of Might and Magic V on Unreal Engine 5[1][1]. It will not be a separate game: the team plans to release it as a global mod or patch for the original, so a copy of Heroes V will be needed[1]. Work has been public since October 2024[1]; as of the July 2026 update the first test build was still being prepared, and no release date has been announced[1][1].
Goals
- The main goal is to improve player-versus-player play and the technical state of the game; improving the visuals is meant to come gradually after the gameplay is done[1].
- Planned additions include an arena mode, where players put together a build and go straight into battle without the adventure map, new and more varied map generation, and the team's own multiplayer server with a rating system that needs no third-party software such as Radmin[1].
- The project is not open source and is not meant as a base for other mods[1].
Development
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 16 July 2024 | Telegram channel created; renamed "Heroes 5: Reborn" on 23 August 2024[1] |
| 6 October 2024 | first public video: "we are rewriting Heroes of Might and Magic 5 on Unreal Engine"[1] |
| 31 October 2024 | basic support for maps from the original game[1] |
| 9 November 2024 | the team asks the HeroesWorld modding forum about exporting the game's models and animations[1] |
| 11 December 2024 | adventure-map prototype[1] |
| 16 March 2025 | development report #1[1] |
| 12 August 2025 | move to Unreal Engine 5.5[1] |
| 5 October 2025 | report after one year of development[1] |
| 6 December 2025 | work begins on the Inferno faction[1] |
| 6 February 2026 | random map generator prototype[1] |
| 28 March 2026 | development report #3: the Haven faction fully working[1][1] |
| 15 May 2026 | skill wheel integrated into the game[1] |
| 13 July 2026 | almost all content planned for the first test build is in; work starts on Necropolis and Sylvan[1] |
- By the 13 July 2026 update, the abilities of all Haven and Inferno creatures were done, and the first test build is to include four factions together with most of the magic, artifacts and skills[1].
- To bring the game's models into Unreal, the team used Archangel and 3ds Max 2008 with SMD and GR2 plugins, and discussed the process on the HeroesWorld forum[1]. In August 2025, reporting fixes to many model and animation problems and a faster way to add animated models to Unreal Engine, the team thanked the HeroesWorld forum member vova2112[1][1].
Funding and channels
The team publishes news on Telegram and YouTube and has a Discord server[1][1]. It collects donations on Boosty; one funding goal is to pay freelance VFX artists for spell effects[1][1].
Coverage
Russian gaming sites have followed the project: iXBT.games wrote about it in August and October 2025 and in March and July 2026[1][1][1][1], and Shazoo covered the third development report in March 2026[1].
See also
- Heroes 5.5 — a community mod for the original game
- The Reborn team's thread on the HeroesWorld forum