BLUF: Art bad, game good, demo available.
With the Winter Sale now live, I’m sure many folks are looking at their wishlists and browsing for new games to pick up. I was doing the same last night, when I came across the store page for the forthcoming HoMM title. I must admit, my first impressions were hugely negative. HoMM2 is in contention for my favorite game of all time, and fans of the series will know that the early games had a rather, distinct, art style. The character portraits in particular are of a piece with the painterly, roccoco stylings of fantasy book jackets, such as those that decorated the initial printings of the Wheel of Time series. The style of The Olden Era is, well, decidedly, not, that. Charitably speaking, the style seems to be aping the post-Ubisoft acquisition, 3D entries moreso than the early games (odd, for a title which is openly courting nostalgia in its name). Less charitably, it looks like a mobile game. I don’t quite know how to articulate the qualities which give that impression, but I’m sure that anyone looking at those screenshots will understand my intent.
Despite my trepidation regarding the game’s presentation, I noted that there is a demo available and figured it was worth checking out. That was at 7:30 PM. Around 1:30 AM, I finally tore myself away from the “just one more turn” loop in which I had been locked all evening. The gameplay proved completely compelling in all the ways that made me fall in love with HoMM2, while adding loads of wrinkles and minor variations that could result in lots of replay value.
To be clear, I’m not an expert on the series or other SRPGs. For example, I am aware that HoMM3 is typically viewed as the apex of the series, but I can’t speak on that, as I’ve never played it. With that in mind, veterans of the genre may be less enthused about the offerings in the demo than I, as I’m sure some of the new-to-me stuff was pillaged from other entries (like the law system, or the varying upgrade paths for units). All I can say is, wherever the ingredients were sourced from, I found they made quite the tasty soup.
Admittedly, the generic artwork never stopped annoying me. Quality-wise, I think it’s mostly fine, and there are elements that I quite like, such as the upgraded versions of troops being totally different models, not just pallette swaps. Additionally, I actually think the game map looks quite nice, if, again, a touch generic. Sort of like if you let a DM who is proficient with Inkarnate go hog wild while building a map. At least it hearkens to the colorful, dense maps of the early games.
At any rate, I can thoroughly recommend the demo. They’ve got, I think, 4 factions ready to go, with another to be introduced when the game officially hits Early Access. Additionally, there are 5 different map templates of various sizes and play styles. For those that aren’t familiar with the series’ schtick, there is also a tutorial, but I decided to just dive in, so I can’t speak to its quality.
It’s interesting you are disappointed in the art style - it makes more sense, though, if you haven’t played HOMM3. Because the map art style and layout feels very HOMM3, moreso than the other 3D modernization attempt in HOMM5 (which I hated). My guess is you would have really enjoyed HOMM3, if this one plays how it looks.
Thanks for putting this on my radar, it really looks like a return to the HOMM gameplay I enjoyed.
As a HOMM3 player I like the art style but many do not I’ve noticed.
I wanted to mention that the developers have been patching The Olden Era demo based on player feedback which has really impressed me so far.
That’s a great sign.
I am certain that I would love HoMM3, but it’s just one of those games that I’ve never gotten around to sampling. As a kid, it was purely an access thing, but, as an adult, it’s a case of wanting that sweet nostalgia sauce drizzled over the meat and potatoes HoMM gameplay. Therefore, when the SRPG urge strikes, I find myself reaching for 2. I’ve heard nothing but good things about 3 though, so perhaps it’s high time to advance a little. Besides, I can only betray Roland for that sweet Archibussy so many times before it gets a little old.
My reservations about the art style aside, I think fans of the series would do well to check out the demo. I don’t pretend to be an expert, but, the price is right, and the gameplay feels very solid to me.
If you do play 3, consider looking up the VCMI project.
I checked out their FAQ, and it seems like the HoMM3 version of the fheroes2 project (or maybe vice versa, I’m not sure which came first).
I noticed that one of the features of VCMI was a totally reworked AI. Do you have insight into how that feels vs base game AI? A minor concern I have about these sort of fan projects is that the contributors tend to be among the most passionate and knowledgeable fans of the base game around, and their tweaks are balanced around that level of game knowledge.
That art style makes it look like a very uninspired, cookie-cutout of a generic RPG you’d find on mobile.
I agree. That’s why I felt compelled to write this post. The gameplay is far better than its wrapper makes it appear.
Been playing since HOMM3 hotseat in the late 90s.
Stopped playing when they left HOMM6 a buggy ruin. Inferno’s core racial ability didn’t even work at the beginning. And it took a while for them to patch that fix, IIRC. I still get irked seeing the list of bugs left they’ll never fix.
Ubisoft hasn’t gotten a single dime from me since, and likely won’t ever again.
Me personally the franchise peaked at HOMM5 Tribes of the East. Played a lot of that earlier this year again. Still need to give the 5.5 mod a try.
I’m happy with playing the Game Boy Color versions of the games (and King’s Bounty on Gen/MD). Though I have to admit that Enroth is my least favorite M&M world. I still love Xeen.
Was Xeen the M&M setting with the explicit science-fantasy inclination? I’ve never played any of the straight RPGs, but I’ve trundled through enough wikis to discover some bonkers concepts in those games. Like, one ends with your party fighting through a dungeon only to discover that the dungeon is actually a buried space ship or something like that?
Yup, it’s very clearly science-fantasy. Not just a buried space ship (there’s another one in either 6 or 7 on Enroth). Xeen is a flat world with two sides - The Clouds and the Darkside. It was launched by the Ancients and there are two AIs / robots who are the real power players in the plot, even though they aren’t as prominent.
This unlocked an ancient memory of finding a space ship in MM7
Yup, with the pits and the passwords that are the TOS crew.
