Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era
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About this game
Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era brings the series back to Enroth and shifts the conflict onto the continent of Jadame. Studio Unfrozen has kept the familiar: a hero walks the map, collects resources, captures mines, develops a town, and brings an army into turn-based battles on a separate field. The formula is recognizable, but the game does not boil down to a rerun of the third installment. In early access you get six factions, the first act of the campaign, ready-made scenarios, a random map generator, hotseat, a map editor, and online modes.
The plot is built around the threat of the Hive — a faction of insect-like creatures backed by a demon lord of Inferno. The other sides of Jadame band together against it, each with its own roster of creatures, heroes, and combat habits: some lean on disciplined infantry and support magic, others crush opponents with expensive units or play a war of attrition. If you want to download Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, it is worth keeping the early access status in mind: the foundation is already playable, but the campaign, editor, and balance are still going to shift.
- Release date
- April 30, 2026 (Early access)
- Developer
- Unfrozen
- Publisher
- Hooded Horse, Ubisoft
- Platform
- PC (Windows)
- Multiplayer
- online PvP, local PvP on shared or split screen
- Version
- 0.80.66 (September 6, 2026)
- Languages
- English, Hungarian, Spanish (Spain), Italian
Show all languages (15)
Language support Language Interface / Subtitles Audio English Hungarian Spanish (Spain) Italian Chinese (Traditional / Simplified) Korean German Polish Portuguese (Brazil) Russian Turkish Ukrainian French Czech Japanese
The value of Olden Era comes from the map, army development, and tactical decisions in combat.
- The map makes you count steps again — the hero’s movement is limited by turn points, so a junction, a mine, a chest, or a guarded artifact turns into a choice several turns ahead. A routing mistake can hand a resource node or a convenient passage to your opponent.
- Towns set the pace of the match — settlements unlock buildings, creature upgrades, and an economy. Town development shapes army recruitment and how quickly a player can hold a front.
- Six factions play differently — every side has its own pace of army recruitment, useful creature synergies, role of magic, and a preferred way of pressuring the opponent. Two factions appear in the series for the first time, and their armies feel different from those familiar from previous parts.
- Battles have become denser thanks to active abilities — fights take place on a hex field, and units use more than basic attacks. Focus builds up while taking and dealing damage, then unlocks summons, dashes, healing, buffs, or control.
- Modes are designed for different matches — Classic keeps the familiar heroes-towns-map loop. “Single Hero” hinges on the survival of one leader, “Arena” gets to the direct fight faster, and “Hotseat” is built for sharing a single PC.
- Editor and generator extend the life of the game — random maps mean no two matches run the same route, and a preview version of the editor lets players build their own scenarios. For early access, this toolkit helps players surface balance issues sooner.
- The RPG side does not step aside — heroes gain experience, skills, spells, and artifacts, and good equipment can noticeably strengthen even a modest army. This side of the series keeps Olden Era interesting for old-school fans.
Trailer:
Downloading Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era on PC makes sense for players who enjoy slow strategic matches with scouting, economy, and a fair price for mistakes. Early access is not equal to a full release yet, but it is already clear what the return of the series rests on: the map, the towns, the magic, and battles where one good move sometimes matters more than a numerical advantage.
Minimum:
- OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
- Processor: Intel Core i3-10300 / AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- RAM: 8 GB
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4 GB / AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 4 GB / Intel Arc A580 8 GB (DirectX 11)
- Disk space: 8 GB (SSD required)
Recommended:
- OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
- Processor: Intel Core i5-12400T / AMD Ryzen 5 5500
- RAM: 16 GB
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB / AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM 6 GB / Intel Arc A750 8 GB (DirectX 12)
- Disk space: 8 GB (SSD required)
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Reviews
“Nostalgia is one hell of a drug” – Sseth
I grew up with Heroes 3, and have been playing it for most of my life. I understand the nostalgic part very well. But life goes on, and instead of feeling bitter that nothing can (or will) ever create the miracle that Heroes 3 had created, please give Olden Era a chance, with a wide open hand, you will be pleasantly surprised by how well made the game is. Team Unfrozen has done a beautiful job to recreate some of that glorious past, while still maintain all the best features from Heroes games into one quality product.
You can always go back to play Heroes 3, but the franchise shall move on with Olden Era.
EDIT: since a guy said I’m the dev or some nonsense. I did receive a key to play before the release date to make a review for Vietnamese gaming community (thanks Hooded Horse!), hence the early review with hours played.
We live in difficult and dangerous times. There are many wars, peoples want to kill each other for money and power. There is youth who commit suicide, there is social media with much fake information. We enter an area of AI we cannot handle as stupid humans and we can fly around the moon or further.
I am 46 years now. I live in a peaceful country named Holland. When I was 18, I bought my first PC in an electronic shop. Games were delivered by CD-ROMs. When I bought my PC, the shopkeeper let me choose a game as a gift. I choose Heroes of Might and Magic III because of the colorful art on the paper box and the promising text on it about never-ending random worlds with fantasy characters and objects on it.
My first PC and Homm III were a perfect match. 20 years later and look at my Steam account. I can say I like games. Strategy games, fantasy games. Mostly turn-based games. Disciples, Heroes, Age of Wonders, Thea……. I played them all.
There are numerous schools of thought on what a new Heroes of Might and Magic game should be. Everyone has their own favorite entry in the franchise and hopes this will be an extension of that specific golden age. In fact, it has become a trend to shamelessly taxidermy the beloved corpses of old games and parade them around in exchange for a big sack with a dollar sign on it.
Thankfully, that is not the case here. The game is a great blend of nostalgia and innovation, familiar enough to feel like Heroes, but with enough new ideas to stand on its own two feet.
I’ve been chasing the Heroes III feeling for more than 20 years, and honestly, Olden Era gets way closer than I ever expected. It has that “one more turn” magic, the kind that makes you look at the clock, realize it’s 2 a. M., and somehow feel like it was worth it.
This game feels like it was made by people who actually love Heroes, not just people trying to imitate it. The map exploration, town building, army management, and battles all hit that sweet spot between nostalgic and fresh. It scratches the exact itch I’ve had since Heroes 3, and that’s not something many games can say.
Is it perfect? No. But does it make me smile like a kid discovering Heroes all over again? Absolutely. If you grew up with Heroes III and have been waiting forever for a worthy successor, this is the closest I’ve felt to that old magic in years.
Great ressurection of old HOMM3, all in all amazing and refreshing but there’s one big downside.
There is no real RMG and all the preset templates are made for an obsessed competitive market that wants everything to be perfectly balanced and equal so every template map feels like you’re forced to play by a strict ruleset of do only this do only that, by week 2 you need to have x and y otherwise the game is already lost mentality.
You can’t really actually sit and slowly enjoy a normal game where you make mistakes or play what army composition you like, the map forces you to use exactly this spell or this unit combo within this exact time frame to be able to advance further.
I hope they get out of this nonsense mentality and give us a true RMG for casual nostalgics to enjoy multiplayer outside the “ladder” market.
