HD Edition

0:17 Heroes of Might and Magic 3 HD Edition is Ubisoft and Dotemu's remaster of the 1999 base game, The Restoration of Erathia, released on Jan 29, 2015 with redrawn high-definition graphics for widescreen screens and sold on Steam for $14.99 (Oct 21, 2026). It leaves out both expansions, Armageddon's Blade and The Shadow of Death, and the random map generator they brought, and the fan-made, unofficial Horn of the Abyss does not install over it. Most players who want the full game buy the Complete Edition instead; the differences are laid out in Heroes 3 vs Remake vs HD Edition. Ubisoft's launch trailer sold it as "A legendary game is back in HD", with "7 epic campaigns", "8 iconic factions" and "48 scenario maps", "available now on PC & tablets".

Quick facts

What the HD Edition changed

5:40 Ubisoft announced the HD Edition on Steam on Jan 29, 2015 in a post headed "Now Available on Steam & iOS/Android Tablets", with a note its store page still carries: "Heroes III - HD Edition content is based on the original 1999 game: The Restoration of Erathia." Dotemu redrew the game's art in high definition "with wide screen compatibility", so the adventure map, towns and battles fill a modern monitor instead of the original 800 by 600 window. The YouTuber Norovo, comparing versions in 2023, says it goes up to 1920 by 1080 and looks "a lot crisper" than the original on today's monitors, though to him some redrawn creatures and hero portraits feel rushed.

0:39 The game underneath is the 1999 one. The store lists "7 exciting campaign scenarios, around 50 skirmish maps, a local multiplayer mode and a map editor", meaning the seven campaigns of Queen Catherine's war (see Campaigns) and the standard maps of the base game. What the HD Edition added was online: a lobby built on Steamworks for multiplayer games, and Steam Achievements. A recording of the HD Edition shows the familiar flow: a scenario opens with its briefing on the adventure map, then the Castle town screen and the Citadel being built. Its system requirements now ask for 64-bit Windows 10 and DirectX 10, and the store notes that the game, "Originally released for Windows 7", "can be played on Windows 10 and Windows 11 OS."

What it lacks, and why

2:23 The HD Edition has neither expansion. There is no Conflux town, none of Armageddon's Blade's or The Shadow of Death's campaigns and maps, no combination artifacts, and no random map generator, which arrived with Armageddon's Blade in 1999. PC Gamer summed it up in 2026: the 2015 release "lacked the expansions and the random map generator." Ubisoft's own Remake team wrote in its first dev blog on Aug 27, 2026 that the HD Edition's reception "made one thing clear: for a game like Heroes III, improved graphics alone are not enough. Players want access to the complete content experience."

Why the expansions were left out has never been explained in a Ubisoft statement read for this page. Wikipedia says the source code for those releases was lost, and God is a Geek wrote on Aug 26, 2026 that Ubisoft "could no longer locate usable source code"; both are reports, not Ubisoft's own words. Norovo calls the missing expansions the HD Edition's "number one problem", pointing to the random map generator, the Conflux and the extra maps and campaigns.

7:50 It does not run the community's mods either. Horn of the Abyss's download page says it is "not to be installed on top of" the HD Edition, and its FAQ says there are no plans to support it. Ubisoft's FAQ for the Steam Complete Edition (Sep 18, 2026) agrees: the old HD Edition "does not support the official expansions or community mods." Players who want the fan-made HD Mod, widescreen included, install it over the Complete edition instead (see How to Play Heroes 3 Today).

Tablets: iOS and Android

The HD Edition launched on tablets the same day as on PC. Ubisoft's release post linked an Apple App Store page (tablet only, app 882687823) and a Google Play page (tablet only). Neither answers any longer: the US App Store has no app under that number and the Google Play page is gone, as checked on Oct 21, 2026. When the game was removed is not known. There is no official phone or tablet version of Heroes 3 on sale today; the fan-made VCMI engine, which runs on Android and iOS with the game's original files, is covered in How to Play Heroes 3 Today.

Reception

Critics were lukewarm. Metacritic lists a Metascore of 65 from 30 critic reviews and a user score of 5.6 (Oct 21, 2026). PC Gamer scored it 71 on Feb 4, 2015 and put its verdict in one line: "A great game, unimpressively updated. Get the bigger, cheaper version instead." Wikipedia adds that it launched in a buggy state and was poorly received.

Players have been kinder over the years. On Steam it stands at "Mostly Positive", 19,958 positive of 25,119 reviews (79%) in all languages, 78% of 6,878 in English, and "Very Positive" (80% of 105) for the last 30 days, as of Oct 21, 2026. The criticism is mostly about what it lacks rather than what it does.

Players today

The HD Edition is still the most played Heroes 3 app on Steam. Steam counted 1,720 people playing it at 17:47 UTC on Oct 21, 2026, against 114 for the Steam Complete Edition at the same minute. SteamCharts records its all-time peak as 4,598 players in March 2020, and an average of 1,287 in September 2026. The chart at the top of this viki's home page follows this app. Steam's counts include only players who launch through Steam, not the many who play from GOG or disc copies, with or without the fan-made Horn of the Abyss.

Is the HD Edition worth it?

12:10 For most players, no longer. Since Aug 25, 2026 the Complete Edition, with both expansions, the random map generator and support for Horn of the Abyss and the HD mod, costs $9.99 on Steam, less than the HD Edition's $14.99 (Oct 21, 2026), and the same set has long been on GOG. The HD Edition still suits someone who wants the base game's campaigns in sharp, native widescreen with no mods to install, or who wants Steam's lobby with friends who own it. Norovo's advice is the same: buy the HD Edition on sale if you already own the Complete edition, but otherwise the Complete edition "is almost always what you should look to first". The online lobby that Horn of the Abyss players use is a different one, part of the fan-made HD mod (see Multiplayer).

0:37 Ubisoft's own answer to the HD Edition's gaps is the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Remake, due in 2027: its gameplay overview trailer, over footage of the Remake, promises "a remake of the original game and its two expansions rebuilt from the ground up using Ubisoft Snowdrop engine". It is a separate 3D game, not an update to the HD Edition, and Ubisoft says it "is not intended to replace the original game."

Frequently asked questions

Does Heroes 3 HD Edition include the expansions? No: the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 HD Edition contains only the 1999 base game, The Restoration of Erathia, without Armageddon's Blade, The Shadow of Death or the random map generator. The Complete Edition on Steam and GOG has both expansions.

Can I install Horn of the Abyss on the Heroes 3 HD Edition? No: Horn of the Abyss, a fan-made and unofficial add-on, must not be installed over the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 HD Edition, and its makers have no plans to support it. Install it over the Complete edition or The Shadow of Death instead.

Is Heroes 3 HD Edition on Android or iPhone? The Heroes of Might and Magic 3 HD Edition launched on iOS and Android tablets on Jan 29, 2015, but both store listings were gone when checked on Oct 21, 2026, and the date they were removed is not known.

Is Heroes 3 HD Edition worth buying? For most players the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Complete Edition is the better buy: it costs $9.99 on Steam against $14.99 for the HD Edition (Oct 21, 2026) and adds both expansions and mod support. The HD Edition suits players who want the base game in native widescreen without mods.

When did Heroes 3 HD Edition come out? The Heroes of Might and Magic 3 HD Edition came out on Jan 29, 2015, on Steam and on iOS and Android tablets, developed by Dotemu and published by Ubisoft.

What is the difference between the HD Edition and the HD mod? The HD Edition is Ubisoft and Dotemu's official 2015 remaster of Heroes of Might and Magic 3's base game, while the HD mod is a free, fan-made and unofficial patch for the Complete edition that adds high resolutions and fixes. The HD mod does not work with the HD Edition.

Sources

• Heroes of Might & Magic III - HD Edition, Steam (price, reviews, features, requirements), read Oct 21, 2026
• RELEASE: Now Available on Steam & iOS/Android Tablets, Ubisoft on Steam, Jan 29, 2015
• Heroes of Might and Magic III HD Edition, Metacritic, read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might & Magic III HD review, PC Gamer, Feb 4, 2015
• Ubisoft forgot to make sure the Steam release of Heroes of Might & Magic 3 included the actual game, PC Gamer, Aug 26, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Remake Coming 2027, Steam Debut Falters, God is a Geek, Aug 26, 2026
• Welcome Back to Erathia, Ubisoft on Steam, Aug 27, 2026
• Frequently Asked Questions, Ubisoft on Steam, Sep 18, 2026
• Download and FAQ, Horn of the Abyss (HotA Crew), read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic III, Wikipedia (HD Edition background), revision of Oct 19, 2026
• Heroes of Might & Magic III - HD Edition, SteamCharts (all-time peak, monthly averages), read Oct 21, 2026
• GetNumberOfCurrentPlayers, Steam Web API, Oct 21, 2026, 17:47 UTC
• Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake - Gameplay Overview Trailer, Ubisoft, Aug 26, 2026 (video)
• Don't Buy Heroes of Might and Magic 3: HD Edition, Norovo, Jul 9, 2023 (video)
• Launch Trailer - Might & Magic Heroes III HD Edition, Ubisoft, Jan 30, 2015 (video)
• Heroes of Might and Magic 3 HD Edition - 4K GAMEPLAY, SergiuHellDragoonHQ, Apr 20, 2017 (video)