New Heroes of Might and Magic!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3105440/Heroes_of_Might__Magic_Olden_Era/

It's in Enroth, my dears!

Yup looks like this is not their usual mobile pay to win shovelware and surprisingly even uses the original HoMM title instead of their usual Ubi style 'Might & Magic: Heroes' name system.

It's probably kinda low budget so they haven't dared put an 8 on the end of the game title and are making it a spin off however it does actually look pretty good. Naturally it's heavily styled off HoMM3 which is kind of the 'HoMM template' these days and interestingly it's apparently set on Enroth as a prequel before HoMM1.

I thought the town screens were simple frozen artworks again however judging by the video they're using a Songs of Conquest and Silence of the Siren like 2D within a 3D plane diorama kind of trick to give it more life so while in the screenshots they look pretty simple they don't look too bad in the video trailer with a moving camera. I could be wrong and they may actually even be full 3D towns, it's kinda hard to tell, if full 3D then that's kind of funny considering the excuses made for HoMM6&7 that 3D town screens are too expensive lol.

Announcement:
https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/62HpoWQkAIVogVkoVk8JuJ/heroes-of-might-and-magic-olden-era-unveiled-at-gamescom

Trailer:


Screenshots:

oooooh nope.. judging by this animation the town screens are indeed full 3D.. I think I can even see people walking around in the Knight one! The classic old man HoMM1 fan in me that always complains about lifeless town screens in nearly all the sequels is pleased lol.

A German PC Games channel has also posted a video with lots of gameplay footage (turn on youtube subtitles for translation). Judging by the footage in this I think my original thought about them using a Songs of Conquest and Silence of the Siren like 2D within a 3D plane diorama/parallax kind of trick for the town screens was correct after all.. they just did a damn good job of it so when the camera moves around like that it can really trick you into thinking it's full 3D lol!

This was a surprise for me to see Ubisoft announcing a new HoMM after the last eight years of complete silence on the HoMM front and only cash grab mobile spin-offs. I am pretty sure the HoMM III Board game's incredible success is behind the motivation for them to make a new HoMM and also explains they heavy empahsis on HoMM III styled game-play (hex battlefield, the classic resources, classic adventure map structures), and that they chose Jadame for the setting. I am glad to see a return to a much more classic, old-school HoMM style of game both in gameplay and setting. However, I am sceptical untill I have given it a try, but I am also seeing a lot of good decisions.

Yeah, I think they used a "pop-up book" effect to make the town screens seems 3D. It is interesting and I am excited to see more of how it looks. I am a bit conflicted on the art style. On one hand it first appeared a bit cheap and mobile-game like, but on the other hand it seems to be heavily inspired by the first three games cartoonish look.

Also, I am putting my bet on the sixth faction to be snowy Vori Elves!!! They could of course also capitalise on the success of HotA's Cove and have already acknowledged it via the board game Link. I do though think they are going for an entirely new faction in Vori elves of Jadame which also gives us a faction for snow terrain which has not yet been seen as far as I know

For the story I am a bit afraid that it won't tie very into the original Enroth lore as they expressed their wish to create a new storyline, but that long time fans can expect familiar names.