I am a very happy man right now. First, MENACE combat turned out to be quite incredible and left me very hungry and anxiously waiting to see how its grand-strategic side is going to turn out. Now, after spending several afternoons toying with the much-anticipated Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, I am glad to report that, if these games come in close succession to one another, I’ll have a hard time prioritizing which one to play first.

Small disclaimer right out of the game: In my entire life, I have only played one game of Heroes of Might and Magic, and that was the one that came on the Gameboy Color. I have very fond memories of playing the game, and I can very clearly recall the time I spent with it. So while I’m not coming into Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era with a very deep knowledge of the series, I’m no green-banana either, and my comparisons will be made having that frame of reference in mind.

Color me surprised when, after I booted up the game, what I found in Golden Era was exactly like the game I remembered playing more than 20 years ago. The simplicity of the concept, in design, and the freedom to play at your own volition are all here.

The tutorial is fine, and will teach you the basics of the game, familiarizing the players with how things work, what button does what, and how battles play out. The true meat and potatoes of this preview build is, however, in its classic mode. You start up a game, pick your faction (there are 4 at the moment), and then you are set free on the world to explore, build your armies, conquer and upgrade your cities, and then fight in a final showdown against the computer-controlled opponents.

The 4 factions I have seen so far are fairly unique, and each of the existing units for those has special stats and traits that synergize (or not) with other troops, making them more effective in certain situations, and not so much in others, etc. There’s a ton of depth to the way army building works, and I have no doubt that those who enjoy min-maxing their army composition are going to have a blast doing so.

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The map is, as expected, filled to the brim with things to do, and the flow of rewards is constant. Cleared out some dungeon? Here is some gold and XP. Defeated a tough enemy? Here are a couple of special units. Beaten up some undead? Here’s a new recruiting station. I think you would be hard-pressed to complain about an empty map. Of course, most of these things aren’t necessarily unique or have something special to them. They’re just fights against neutral mobs that net you something.

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I think it’s fair to say that the turn-based combat has some depth to it. Quite possibly, a lot more depth than you might be expecting from a game that has the Ubisoft logo attached to it. From the army composition and unit stacking, to each of the individual units’ special traits and types, which all have an impact on the way the unit behaves and interacts with other units, there are a lot of numbers to crunch and consider before you even begin a battle. Unit placement matters a ton, with some being able to do area of effect attacks, some being able to engage exclusively at a close range, while others possess a wide array of ranged options (even including one unit that deals damage the further away it is from the enemy it’s trying to hit). The creatures, humans, and undead also have alternative attacks, so that’s something to take into account when laying out your battle plan.

While the battlefields might not be massive, unit placement does matter a lot. In my last paragraph, I mentioned ranged and AoE effects, but you must also take into account the area of some of your spells (you don’t want to place a debilitating debuff on the unit stack that’s serving as your main meat shield, now would you?). Having to mind unit counter-attacks is also a big deal in the game (every unit can counter your attack once every turn, so you’re constantly deciding who’s going to be taking that it, and if you can take or not). Point being, there’s a lot in here, and I had my fun with it.

The spell system in the game is just what you would expect: buffs and debuffs, single-target and area of effect spells, and summoning. All that good stuff.

To round things off, visually the game looks very good; it has a sort of hand-painted art style that translates very well into the fantasy setting of Heroes of Might and Magic. Animation-wise, things are okay, same for sound. The game is clearly finished, as there are missing UI elements and tooltips, some explanations on how things work, and even some animation delays, but nothing game-breaking.

With the demo being free for you to try and giving you unlimited access to the already available content, there’s no reason for you to not go and check the game for yourself. In my opinion, I think Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is shaping up to be a worthy addition to the franchise, with a very solid foundation that had me constantly wanting to go one more turn, so that’s a good thing.

Now, will the game be able to live up to the legacy of legendary titles like Heroes of Might and Magic 2 and 3? I guess we’ll answer that sometime soon. The game is slated to come out in 2025, to Early Access.

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