Heroes of Might and Magic 3

15:24 Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is New World Computing's turn-based strategy game, published by 3DO on Feb 28, 1999, in which heroes lead armies of creatures across the adventure map, build up towns and fight on a hex grid. The clip shows the HD Edition: a Castle hero crosses the adventure map, visits a mercenary camp, then engages a band of Orcs, places the army in the Tactics phase and wins on the hex grid. Its maker spells it "Heroes of Might and Magic III" (players shorten it to Heroes 3 or HoMM3). Each day a hero rides across the map flagging mines, picking up treasure and fighting wandering monsters; each week a player's towns breed new creatures to recruit; and when two armies meet, the battle moves to a battlefield of hexes where creatures act in order of speed and heroes cast spells. Its expansions Armageddon's Blade (1999) and The Shadow of Death (2000), the Complete edition that bundles them, and the 2015 HD Edition are all still played, and Ubisoft is rebuilding the game in 3D as Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Remake for 2027. This viki covers both: the game people play today, and the Remake on its way.

Quick facts

What it is

Heroes 3 is the third game of the Heroes of Might and Magic series, which New World Computing began in 1995 with Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest. The official strategy guide calls it "a turn-based game of strategic conquest set in Erathia, a land of myth and legend" (Prima, p.1). It mixes three games in one: exploring a map in turns, building an economy and an army in towns, and fighting tactical battles, with role-playing heroes who gain levels, skills, spells and artifacts along the way. Ubisoft's Remake team calls those "three core pillars: Adventure map exploration, Tactical combat, Town management" (Ubisoft on Steam, Aug 27, 2026).

0:02 The 1999 release, titled "Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia", tells of Queen Catherine Ironfist returning home after her father, King Nicholas Gryphonheart, is assassinated, to find Erathia overrun by its neighbors (Story); the Remake's Reveal Trailer opens on the same moment: "The great king of Erathia is dead. And the enemies of the kingdom are scrambling to feed on its remains." It shipped with seven linked campaigns (three good, two evil, one neutral and a secret one), dozens of stand-alone scenarios and a map editor (Prima, pp.1, 287). Armageddon's Blade added a ninth town and a random map generator; The Shadow of Death, a prequel, added combination artifacts; both added new campaigns and maps.

How a game plays

The adventure map

Every turn is one day: each player moves in turn, then the day ends (Prima, p.2). Heroes cross the Adventure Map on land, by boat and through underground tunnels, and how far they go depends on their slowest creature and the terrain: a road costs half, a swamp almost twice (Prima, pp.97-98). The map holds seven resources (gold, wood, ore, mercury, sulfur, crystal and gems), each with a mine to flag, plus creature dwellings, shrines that teach spells, places that raise a hero's skills, guarded treasure banks and wandering monster stacks. A Gold Mine gives 1,000 gold a day (Prima, p.100). Somewhere on many maps the Grail is buried, found by visiting Obelisks that uncover a puzzle picture; built into a town, it becomes a powerful Grail structure. A scenario sets its own goal, from defeating every enemy to finding an artifact or holding a town; a player with no town for seven days in a row is out (Prima, pp.2, 100). Maps come in four sizes, from Small (36 by 36) to Extra Large (144 by 144), with an underground level or not (Maps).

Towns

3:17 A town builds one structure a day; the Remake's gameplay overview frames the choice as rushing a Capitol for extra gold, adding a Mage Guild level for spells, or building a new dwelling before an enemy strikes. Its hall raises gold income (a Capitol makes 4,000 a day, one per kingdom), its fort, citadel and castle add walls and raise creature production, its Mage Guild teaches spells, and each of its seven creature dwellings can be upgraded to a stronger creature (Prima, pp.3, 106-110). New creatures appear at the start of every week, and unrecruited ones pile up. Every town type also has special buildings of its own, and a Grail structure that adds 5,000 gold a day (Towns).

Heroes

6:11 A player can field up to eight heroes, hired in a town's Tavern. The 1999 game has 16 hero classes of eight heroes each, two classes per town, one leaning to might and one to magic (Prima, pp.11, 28). A hero carries up to seven creature stacks, has four primary skills (Attack, Defense, Spell Power and Knowledge) and learns up to eight of 28 secondary skills at Basic, Advanced and Expert level, such as Logistics, Wisdom or Necromancy. Each level adds a point to a primary skill and offers a choice of two secondary skill advances. Heroes also wear artifacts in body slots, and The Shadow of Death let full sets merge into combination artifacts. Specialties make heroes distinct: the Remake's gameplay overview names Solmyr's Chain Lightning, Galthran's Skeletons and Luna's Fire Wall.

Combat

4:31 When armies meet, the fight moves to a battlefield of 15 by 10 hexes, attacker on the left (Prima, pp.162-170). Creatures act in order of Speed; shooters fire from afar but do half damage in melee, flyers cross obstacles, and most creatures strike back once a round. A hero lends the troops Attack and Defense and casts one spell a round from the four schools of Air, Earth, Fire and Water (Spells and Magic), and war machines such as the Ballista join in. Sieges add walls, arrow towers and a moat, breached by the Catapult. Morale and luck can give a creature an extra turn or double damage. In the Remake's gameplay overview the same rules play out in 3D: Armageddon cast over spell-resistant Black Dragons, Elven sharpshooters wearing down slow undead, and a siege won with Earthquake and boulder-throwing Cyclops. The rules and the tactics that win are on Combat.

The nine towns

Each town recruits seven creatures, each with an upgrade, and is home to two hero classes. The 1999 game has eight towns; Armageddon's Blade added the Conflux (Prima, pp.3, 105; Armageddon's Blade manual, p.13). Every creature, with its stats, is on Creatures.

The guide's verdicts give a feel for them: "The Tower is the game's most expensive town", Rampart is "stunningly dependent on a ready supply of Crystal", and "The Fortress is a real bargain" (Prima, pp.114, 117, 119). The Necropolis turns the dead into Skeletons with its heroes' Necromancy skill, and the Conflux is built on elementals.

Versions you can buy today

Three versions are sold in 2026, and they differ in more than their looks; the full comparison is on Heroes 3 vs Remake vs HD Edition.

• The Complete edition is the 1999 game with both expansions, nine towns and the random map generator. GOG sells it as "Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Complete" (DRM-free, $9.99 list price), and since Aug 25, 2026 Ubisoft sells the same game on Steam as the Complete Edition for $9.99. Ubisoft's FAQ says the two "contain the same core game content and expansion files" and that the Steam version supports the fan-made HD mod and Horn of the Abyss (Ubisoft on Steam, Sep 18, 2026). The Steam launch went wrong: the first download was a 23.49 KB placeholder file with no game in it, and Ubisoft apologized for releasing "the wrong package" and fixed it within about a day (VideoCardz, Aug 26, 2026; Ubisoft on Steam, Aug 27, 2026). Its Steam reviews read "Mixed", 48% positive of 243, on Oct 21, 2026 (Steam).
• The HD Edition (Ubisoft and Dotemu, Jan 29, 2015) redraws the base game for widescreen screens and adds a Steam online lobby and achievements, but it holds only The Restoration of Erathia: no expansions, no Conflux, no random map generator, and no support for Horn of the Abyss (Steam; PC Gamer, Aug 26, 2026). It costs $14.99 and has a Metascore of 65, while 79% of its 25,119 Steam reviews are positive (Oct 21, 2026).
• The Remake comes in 2027 and can only be wishlisted so far.

Which one to start with, and how to set it up on a modern PC, is on How to Play Heroes 3 Today.

Horn of the Abyss and the HD mod

Most people who play Heroes 3 online today play it with two fan-made, unofficial projects, neither made nor endorsed by Ubisoft.

Horn of the Abyss (HotA) is a free fan-made expansion by a volunteer team, the HotA Crew, that adds towns, creatures, artifacts, heroes, campaigns and maps along with bug fixes and interface improvements (h3hota.com). Its first release, on Dec 31, 2011, added the Cove, a town of pirates and sea creatures; version 1.7.0 added the Factory on Dec 31, 2023, and 1.8.0 the Bulwark, a town of the frozen island of Vori, on Dec 31, 2025 (h3hota.com; CD-Action, Sep 3, 2026). The latest version, 1.8.1, came out on Aug 25, 2026, the day HotA also got a free listing on Steam; it is on GOG too. HotA installs over The Shadow of Death or the Complete edition, never over the HD Edition (HotA FAQ).

The HD Mod is a fan-made, unofficial patch by Alexander Barinov (baratorch) that runs the original game at modern resolutions, fixes old bugs and adds interface conveniences without changing the gameplay (HD mod). It also runs the online lobby that HotA players meet in, added in version 5.0 beta 1 on Aug 19, 2017 (HD mod changelog). It is not the same thing as Ubisoft's HD Edition.

Multiplayer and the competitive scene

The 1999 game supports up to eight players, "sitting at a single computer (called a 'hotseat game') or at multiple computers connected via a network" (Prima, p.2). Hot seat play on one computer, and simple graphics that ran on cheap or old PCs, helped keep the game popular in Poland (Android.com.pl, Feb 28, 2024). Today online games run through the HD mod's lobby, and the HD Edition has its own Steam lobby (Multiplayer).

Heroes 3 has a competitive scene of its own, which grew around the online lobbies of the fan-made mods (CD-Action, Sep 3, 2026). Poland's Marek "Szopa666" Szczepański won a World Championship of over 1,000 players reported in January 2022, taking 1,000 euros (Instalki.pl, Jan 18, 2022), and the 2026 Polish Championship drew a record 518 registered players, with Ubisoft as a strategic partner (CD-Action, Jun 1, 2026). Ubisoft's Remake team notes that players still "create maps, develop mods, analyze strategies, and organize tournaments" (Ubisoft on Steam, Aug 27, 2026).

The Remake

0:37 Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Remake was revealed at Gamescom Opening Night Live on Aug 25, 2026, and comes out in 2027 on PC (Steam, the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Connect), PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and on Ubisoft+ (Ubisoft, Aug 25, 2026; Ubisoft press release, Aug 26, 2026). Ubisoft's studios in Chengdu and Shanghai lead it in the Snowdrop engine, with Paris and Montpellier as associate studios. It holds the whole 1999 game and both expansions, all nine factions from day one, rebuilt in 3D with a free camera, 4K, dynamic lighting, weather and seasons; it weaves the campaigns into one story with a new prologue and epilogue, adds voice acting and cinematics, online play for up to eight with simultaneous turns, and keeps Hot Seat, the Random Map Generator and an editor that imports old maps (What's New in the Remake).

Not everyone liked the look. Reactions to the reveal trailer "leaned critical" (GameDaily, Aug 25, 2026), and PC Gamer, which played it, found the art detailed but wrote "I fear the soul might be lacking" (PC Gamer, Aug 26, 2026). On Oct 7, 2026 Ubisoft said it had "already begun refining several creature models" and is exploring "Playstyles", options to adjust object scale, color, lighting and the interface toward a classic or modern feel (Ubisoft on Steam). Ubisoft says the Remake "is not intended to replace the original game", and it will keep supporting the Steam Complete Edition (Aug 27, 2026).

Ubisoft has given no release date, price or editions as of Oct 21, 2026, only "2027" (Remake Release Date). A Closed Playtest runs in November 2026, with sign-ups open since Oct 19. Ubisoft has not said whether Horn of the Abyss content will come to the Remake; its brand director told GRYOnline.pl that Ubisoft is in regular contact with the HotA team (GRYOnline.pl, Sep 9, 2026).

The series and Olden Era

Heroes 3 followed Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest (1995) and Heroes 2: The Succession Wars (1996), and was followed by Heroes 4 (2002), Heroes 5 (2006), Might and Magic Heroes 6 (2011) and Might and Magic Heroes 7 (2015) (Wikipedia). 3DO, which had bought New World Computing in 1996, filed for bankruptcy on May 28, 2003, and Ubisoft bought the Might and Magic rights for $1.3 million (WorthPlaying, Aug 8, 2003).

In 2022, Ubisoft says, it decided "to reinvest in the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise", which produced two games: the Remake and Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, a new game by Unfrozen published by Hooded Horse and Ubisoft (Ubisoft on Steam, Aug 27, 2026). Olden Era entered early access on Apr 30, 2026 and is expected to reach 1.0 in 2027; PC Gamer calls it "obviously a spiritual successor to HoMM 3" (Aug 26, 2026). The whole family is on Heroes of Might and Magic Series.

Development, reception and legacy

New World Computing, led by Jon Van Caneghem, made the game; David Mullich, hired in 1997, led its development team, and Paul Romero, Rob King and Steve Baca wrote the series' music (Wikipedia). GameSpot gave it 9.1, "Superb", calling it "an excellent sequel and a first-rate strategy game in its own right" and praising its orchestral themes for each castle (Greg Kasavin, Mar 1, 1999). It entered PC Data's weekly chart at No. 3 and sold 185,553 copies in the US by September 2000, by PC Data's count; Armageddon's Blade won Computer Games Strategy Plus's 1999 Add-on of the Year.

More than 25 years on, it is widely held to be the series' high point: PC Gamer wrote in 2026 that it "has long been considered the pinnacle" of the series and is "still the gold standard" (PC Gamer, Apr 30, 2026). The HD Edition alone averaged 1,287 players on Steam in September 2026 (SteamCharts), and that count misses everyone playing the Complete edition with Horn of the Abyss outside Steam. The full story is on Reception and Legacy, and the basics for a first game on Beginner's Guide.

Frequently asked questions

Is Heroes 3 still played? Yes: Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is still widely played, much of it through the fan-made Horn of the Abyss and its online lobby, and its HD Edition averaged 1,287 players on Steam alone in September 2026 (SteamCharts). Tournaments still run, such as the 2026 Polish Championship with 518 registered players (CD-Action, Jun 1, 2026).

Which version of Heroes 3 should I buy? Buy the Complete edition of Heroes of Might and Magic 3, on GOG or on Steam (both $9.99), if you want both expansions, the random map generator and Horn of the Abyss. The $14.99 HD Edition has only the base game and cannot run Horn of the Abyss.

When does the Heroes 3 Remake come out? Ubisoft has dated Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Remake only to 2027, with no day, month or price, as of Oct 21, 2026. A Closed Playtest runs in November 2026.

Will the Heroes 3 Remake have Horn of the Abyss? Ubisoft has not announced any Horn of the Abyss content for Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Remake; it says only that it is in regular contact with the fan-made mod's team (GRYOnline.pl, Sep 9, 2026). The Remake launches with the original game's balance and the nine original factions.

Is Heroes 3 on Steam? Yes: Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is on Steam as the 2015 HD Edition and, since Aug 25, 2026, as the Complete Edition with both expansions. The Remake can be wishlisted on Steam for 2027.

Is Heroes 3 on consoles? Ubisoft sells Heroes of Might and Magic 3 today only for PC. Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Remake comes to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in 2027.

Does the Heroes 3 HD Edition have the expansions? No: the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 HD Edition contains only the base game, The Restoration of Erathia, without Armageddon's Blade, The Shadow of Death or the random map generator. Both expansions are in the Complete edition on GOG and Steam.

Sources

• Heroes of Might and Magic III: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, Tom Ono, Prima Publishing, 1999
• Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade manual, The 3DO Company, 1999
• Heroes of Might and Magic III Complete Edition, Ubisoft, read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake: Return to Erathia in 2027, Ubisoft, Aug 25, 2026
• Ubisoft Reveals Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake at Gamescom, Ubisoft press release on Games Press, Aug 26, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake news ("Welcome Back to Erathia", Aug 27, 2026; "Community Roadmap, Playtest, and Events", Oct 7, 2026; "Registrations are open!", Oct 19, 2026), Ubisoft on Steam
• Heroes of Might and Magic III news ("Heroes of Might and Magic III is returning to Steam!", Aug 27, 2026; "Frequently Asked Questions", Sep 18, 2026), Ubisoft on Steam
• Heroes Of Might And Magic III, Steam, read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might & Magic III - HD Edition, Steam, read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake, Steam, read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic III: Horn of the Abyss, Steam, read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Complete, GOG, read Oct 12, 2026 (Internet Archive copy)
• Heroes of Might and Magic III HD Edition, Metacritic, read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might & Magic III HD Edition, SteamCharts, read Oct 21, 2026
• Horn of the Abyss, Download and FAQ, HotA Crew, read Oct 21, 2026
• HoMM3 HD description and changelog, Alexander Barinov, read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic III Review, Greg Kasavin, GameSpot, Mar 1, 1999
• Heroes of Might and Magic III, Wikipedia, revision of Oct 19, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic, Wikipedia, revision of Oct 8, 2026
• Ubi Soft going for 3DO's Might and Magic, WorthPlaying, Aug 8, 2003
• Ubisoft launches Heroes of Might and Magic III on Steam but forgets to include the game, VideoCardz, Aug 26, 2026
• Ubisoft forgot to make sure the Steam release of Heroes of Might & Magic 3 included the actual game, Jody Macgregor, PC Gamer, Aug 26, 2026
• I've played Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Remake, and I still can't believe we're getting 2 HoMMs in the same year, Fraser Brown, PC Gamer, Aug 26, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era isn't a reimagining or a divisive reinterpretation, it's just a brilliant strategy game, Fraser Brown, PC Gamer, Apr 30, 2026
• Heroes of Might & Magic III Remake Revealed, Early Reactions Mixed, Franz Christian Irorita, GameDaily, Aug 25, 2026
• Zapytaliśmy twórców Heroes III Remake, jak chcą uspokoić fanów, Przemysław Dygas, GRYOnline.pl, Sep 9, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: najnowsze informacje, Maciej Szymczak, CD-Action, Sep 3, 2026
• To będą największe Mistrzostwa Polski w Heroes 3 od lat, Jonasz Gulczyński, CD-Action, Jun 1, 2026
• Polak został mistrzem świata w Heroes of Might and Magic III, Maksym Słomski, Instalki.pl, Jan 18, 2022
• 25 lat Heroes 3, Szymon Baliński, Android.com.pl, Feb 28, 2024
• Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake - Reveal Trailer, Ubisoft, Aug 25, 2026 (video)
• Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake - Gameplay Overview Trailer, Ubisoft, Aug 26, 2026 (video)
• Heroes of Might and Magic 3 HD Edition - 4K GAMEPLAY, SergiuHellDragoonHQ, Apr 20, 2017 (video)