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Heroes of Might and Magic III

Heroes of Might and Magic III, often written Heroes 3, is a turn-based fantasy strategy game by New World Computing, released for Windows on February 28, 1999, in which heroes lead armies across a map, build up towns and fight tactical battles.[^2][^1] With its expansions Armageddon's Blade and The Shadow of Death it is still sold and played, much of it through the fan-made Horn of the Abyss, and it has a busy tournament scene.[^3][^22][^24] Ubisoft, which has owned the series since 2003, is rebuilding it in 3D as Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake, due in 2027 with no date or price as of November 7, 2026.[^7][^10][^28]

A day and a battle in the HD Edition In HD Edition footage, a Castle hero rides across the adventure map, stops at a mercenary camp, then attacks a band of Orcs, sets out the army in the Tactics phase and wins the fight on the hex grid.

Overview

Heroes of Might and Magic III, often written Heroes 3 or HoMM3, is a turn-based fantasy strategy game made by New World Computing and released for Windows on February 28, 1999.[2][4][16] It is the third game in the Heroes of Might and Magic series, the strategy offshoot of New World Computing's Might and Magic role-playing games.[1] Players guide heroes across an overhead map, collect resources and treasure, develop towns that produce creatures, and fight turn-based battles between armies.[1] Two expansions followed, Armageddon's Blade in September 1999 and The Shadow of Death in March 2000.[4][5] Ubisoft, which bought the Might and Magic rights in 2003, released an HD Edition of the base game in 2015.[7][9] As of November 7, 2026, the original game with both expansions is sold on Steam and GOG, and Ubisoft is rebuilding it in 3D as Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake, due in 2027 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.[3][15][10]

A day and a battle in the HD Edition In HD Edition footage, a Castle hero rides across the adventure map, stops at a mercenary camp, then attacks a band of Orcs, sets out the army in the Tactics phase and wins the fight on the hex grid.

Setting and story

The base game, subtitled The Restoration of Erathia, is set in the kingdom of Erathia.[3] Its king has been murdered by traitors and raised by necromancers as an undead lich, and he sends the kingdom's neighbors to take it.[3] His daughter Catherine, Queen of Enroth, comes home to defend Erathia, find her father's killer and free him from his undead body.[3] GameSpot's 1999 review described the campaigns as the war for Erathia told from the sides of good, evil and mercenary leaders, many of them with underground caverns as well as a surface map.[1] In Armageddon's Blade, Catherine invades the demon kingdom of Eeofol to stop its king, Lucifer Kreegan, from forging the weapon that names the expansion.[3] In The Shadow of Death, the lich Sandro hunts two combination artifacts that would let him rule the continent of Antagarich, and four heroes search for the Angelic Alliance sword to stop him.[3] Ubisoft's 2026 reveal trailer for the Remake opens on the original premise, the death of Erathia's king.[27]

The king of Erathia is dead The Remake's reveal trailer opens on the story of the 1999 game: a narrator announces that Erathia's great king is dead and that the kingdom's enemies are moving to carve it up.

Gameplay

Each turn, heroes travel an overhead map filled with resources, treasure, magical artifacts, landmarks and monsters.[1] The resources pay for buildings in the player's towns, which then produce stronger creatures or more resources, while heroes gain experience, skills and spells and command the armies.[1] Ubisoft describes the design as resting on three pillars: exploring the adventure map, tactical combat and managing towns.[12] When armies meet, the view changes to a battlefield where creature stacks act one at a time in order of their speed, and a hero's attributes and spells can decide the fight.[1] A hero can lead up to seven types of creature, up from five in the earlier games, and each of the eight original towns offers seven creatures, all of which can be upgraded.[1] Many creatures have special abilities: Archangels can revive fallen allies, and Cavaliers deal more damage after a charge.[1] The game shipped with a map editor and supports several players on one computer or over a network.[1][8] Armageddon's Blade added a ninth town, the Elemental Conflux, and a random map generator.[4]

A battle on the hex grid In the HD Edition, a Castle army that includes Angels is placed on a grass field against Walking Dead, then the stacks take their turns in order of speed.

Development and release

New World Computing, best known for its Might and Magic role-playing series, developed the game, and The 3DO Company published it.[1][4] David Mullich directed it, and its music was composed by Paul Romero, Rob King and Steve Baca.[6] GameSpot singled out the score's orchestral themes for each town, while noting that the operatic vocals of Heroes II were gone.[1] Armageddon's Blade reached stores on September 29, 1999, with six new campaigns, a total of more than 73 new maps including ones built for multiplayer, the Conflux town with two new hero classes, and an advanced campaign and map editor.[4] The Shadow of Death began shipping in North America in the week of March 21, 2000, as a stand-alone game containing the full original plus seven new campaigns and 38 more maps and scenarios.[5] A Complete edition holding the base game and both expansions followed in North America on October 2, 2000.[6] Between 2000 and 2001 the studio also released Heroes Chronicles, eight stand-alone campaign packs built on the same game.[6]

Reception and sales

GameSpot's Greg Kasavin scored the game 9.1, Superb, on March 1, 1999, calling it "an excellent sequel and a first-rate strategy game in its own right".[1] He found that the more serious, 3D-rendered creatures at first lacked some of the charm of the earlier games, but judged the series' humor intact and its multiplayer improved, since players could study the map while others took their turns.[1] By September 1999, 3DO reported, it had reached No. 3 on PC Data's list of top-selling games and won an Editors' Choice award from Computer Gaming World.[4] PC Data counted 185,553 copies sold in the United States by September 2000.[6] The game kept an unusually strong following in Russia and Poland, where it was translated in 1999, rare for a Western game at the time, and where only 2% of Russian and 7% of Polish households then had internet access.[6] In 2026, PC Gamer wrote that it has long been considered the high point of the series and is still the gold standard nearly 30 years on.[26] On Steam, the HD Edition alone averaged 1,282 concurrent players in October 2026, down from 1,639 in October 2025, by SteamCharts' count.[25]

Ubisoft and the HD Edition

The 3DO Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 28, 2003, and Ubi Soft was named lead bidder for its Might and Magic assets at a price of $1.3 million.[7] Ubisoft released the Heroes of Might and Magic III HD Edition, developed by Dotemu, on Steam in January 2015.[9] It redrew the base game for widescreen displays and added a Steam online lobby, but holds only The Restoration of Erathia, without the expansions or the random map generator.[9][8] PC Gamer's review put the omission down to the source code having been lost long before, scored the edition 71 and summed it up as "a great game, unimpressively updated".[8] The same review pointed out that the complete original was sold on GOG for half the price.[8] Ubisoft wrote in 2026 that player reception of the HD Edition had shown that better graphics alone are not enough for a game like Heroes III.[12] As of November 7, 2026, the HD Edition costs $14.99 on Steam, where its user reviews are rated Mostly Positive.[9]

The HD Edition launch trailer Ubisoft's 2015 launch trailer presents the 1999 game in HD under its subtitle The Restoration of Erathia, counting its campaigns, its eight factions and its scenario maps.

Horn of the Abyss and competitive play

Much of today's play relies on unofficial fan projects. Horn of the Abyss, made by a fan team called the HotA Crew, describes itself as an add-on that extends and, where needed, fixes the classic gameplay, and it adds three new towns along with artifacts, creatures, objects, campaigns and maps.[29][22] Its first version came out on New Year's Eve 2011 with the Cove town, version 1.7.0 added the Factory on December 31, 2023, and 1.8.0 added the Bulwark, a faction from the icy island of Vori, on December 31, 2025.[22][23] Version 1.8.1 followed on August 25, 2026, the day the add-on was also listed on Steam for free.[23][30] It installs over The Shadow of Death or the Complete edition, not over the HD Edition.[23] CD-Action credits its online multiplayer lobby with turning Heroes 3 into a true esports game.[22] Poland's national championship returned in 2026 with 518 registered players, its largest field in six years, organized by the H3gg group with Ubisoft as a strategic partner.[24]

Never meant to be an esport The Heroes 3 creator Norovo closes his tips video by remarking that the game was probably never intended to be played as an esport, and that having fun matters more than playing perfectly.

The Complete Edition on Steam

On August 25, 2026, Ubisoft put the original game with both expansions on Steam for the first time, priced at $9.99.[3][14] The first download was a 23.49 KB package that showed a dummy executable error, and the store page's user reviews were soon 80% negative.[14] Ubisoft apologized for releasing the wrong package and said the problem had been fixed.[13] Its FAQ says the Steam release holds the same core game and expansion files as the GOG Complete Edition and supports community mods such as the HD Mod and Horn of the Abyss, which the HD Edition does not.[15] Ubisoft also said it would keep supporting this version alongside the Remake.[12] As of November 7, 2026, its Steam user reviews are rated Mixed.[3]

The Remake

Ubisoft announced Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake at Gamescom on August 25, 2026, for release in 2027 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and on Ubisoft+.[10][11] Ubisoft's studios in Chengdu and Shanghai lead the work, with Ubisoft Paris and Montpellier as associate studios, and the game is rebuilt in 3D in the Snowdrop engine.[11] It includes the base game, both expansions and all nine factions from launch, with the original campaigns joined into one continuous story and a new prologue, epilogue and cinematic scenes.[10][12][28] Ubisoft promises online play for up to eight players with a simultaneous turn system, the return of Hot Seat and the Random Map Generator, and a map editor that can import maps made for the original game.[11][12] Ubisoft said its 2022 decision to invest in the series again produced two projects, the Remake and a new game, Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era.[12] It also wrote that the Remake "is not intended to replace the original game".[12]

The Remake's gameplay overview Ubisoft's gameplay overview trailer for the Remake opens by calling Heroes 3 one of the greatest strategy games of all time, then introduces the 3D rebuild by Ubisoft's Chinese studios.

The Remake's reception and progress

Much of the early reaction to the Remake concerned its art.[17] PC Gamer's Fraser Brown, who played the prologue and the Arrogance scenario before the reveal, found it largely the game players remember and praised its detailed units, but wrote: "I fear the soul might be lacking."[16] On October 7, 2026, Ubisoft said it had begun refining several creature models and set out four feature cycles of about a month each: Playstyles, game modes and quality of life, user-generated content, and multiplayer and long-term operations.[17] On October 23 it conceded that its lizard-like Gorgon went too far and is reworking it.[18] On November 6 it introduced Playstyles, three presets (Classic, Strategic and Immersive) and a custom option that adjust color, lighting, camera, object scale and game speed; Classic enlarges creatures and restores the original mini map.[19] A Closed Playtest through Ubisoft Connect begins on November 18, 2026, on hardware matching the game's planned Medium specifications.[20] In September, brand director Eric Damian-Vernet said Ubisoft could announce nothing official with mod makers yet, and asked why Horn of the Abyss balance should not be an option.[21] As of November 7, 2026, the Remake has no release date or price.[28]

Also known as
Heroes 3, HoMM3; base game subtitled The Restoration of Erathia[16][3]
Developer
New World Computing[1]
Publisher
The 3DO Company (1999); Ubisoft owns the series since 2003[4][7]
Released
Feb 28, 1999, Windows[2]
Genre
Turn-based fantasy strategy[1]
Expansions
Armageddon's Blade (Sep 29, 1999), The Shadow of Death (Mar 21, 2000)[4][5]
Editions on sale
Complete Edition ($9.99 on Steam, also on GOG), HD Edition ($14.99, base game only)[3][9][15]
Remake
2027, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S; no date or price[10][28]
  1. Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia is released for Windows.[2]
  2. Armageddon's Blade adds the Conflux town and a random map generator.[4]
  3. The stand-alone expansion The Shadow of Death begins shipping in North America.[5]
  4. The Complete edition is released in North America.[6]
  5. The 3DO Company files for bankruptcy protection; Ubi Soft becomes lead bidder for Might and Magic.[7]
  6. The first version of the fan-made Horn of the Abyss adds the Cove town.[22]
  7. Ubisoft releases the HD Edition on Steam.[9]
  8. Horn of the Abyss 1.8.0 adds the Bulwark town.[22]
  9. Ubisoft announces the Remake for 2027 and puts the Complete Edition on Steam.[10][3]
  10. Ubisoft publishes a community roadmap and says it is refining creature models.[17]
  11. Ubisoft introduces the Remake's Playstyles presets.[19]
  12. The Remake's Closed Playtest is scheduled to begin.[20]
  13. Planned release of Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake.[10]

What we think

This section is Heartipedia’s own opinion, not sourced fact. Each view is reasoned from the facts cited above and from trends we see; it may turn out wrong. A prediction’s words are never changed once made: when the facts are known we add the result under it, right or wrong. Every prediction we have made.

Horn of the Abyss balance becomes a Remake option

We expect Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake to offer a Horn of the Abyss balance setting, a switch that changes unit and hero numbers to the fan add-on's, either at launch or in its first year. We think no Horn of the Abyss town comes with it at launch.

Why: Ubisoft's brand director asked in September why Horn of the Abyss balance should not be offered as an option, since many people play that way, while saying nothing official could be announced yet. The Remake already promises editing tools that adjust balance, and its Playstyles presets show a team willing to ship switches for veterans. A balance table is cheap to add; a whole town with new creatures, models and a campaign is not, and Ubisoft's launch list names only the nine original factions.

Prediction Confidence: Possible Check by: Dec 2028 Made

The first paid expansion is a new town

We expect the Remake's first paid expansion to be built around a tenth town, and we think it will be one of Horn of the Abyss's towns, made with the HotA Crew.

Why: Ubisoft calls the Remake a long-term commitment, with user-generated content and "Long-Term Operations" among its four feature cycles, and the original game's biggest additions were towns: the Conflux in 1999 and Horn of the Abyss's Cove, Factory and Bulwark since. A remake that already contains every official campaign has little else to sell, and Ubisoft is already talking with the mod makers.

Prediction Confidence: Long shot Check by: Dec 2029 Made

Second half of 2027, after the feature cycles

We expect the Remake to come out between July and December 2027, not in the first half of the year.

Why: Ubisoft has said only "2027". Its October 2026 roadmap puts four feature cycles of about a month each ahead of the game, the Closed Playtest starts only on November 18, 2026, and the creature models are still being redrawn after criticism of the art. Playtest feedback, four months of reveals and then a dated marketing campaign leave the first half of 2027 too tight.

Prediction Confidence: Likely Check by: Dec 2027 Made

Classic becomes the preset most players pick

We think the Classic Playstyle will become the Remake's default view for most of its veteran players, and that Ubisoft will make it the preset the game suggests on first launch before release.

Why: Ubisoft built Playstyles because the first reaction to the Remake's look was about its art and units, and the Classic preset restores the original mini map, enlarges creatures and pulls the camera back. A team that reworked its Gorgon after one round of feedback is listening to the players who wanted the 1999 look, and those players are the Remake's first buyers.

Prediction Confidence: Possible Check by: Dec 2027 Made

The Complete Edition is still the version to buy

We think the 1999 game with both expansions, at $9.99, is still the best way to play Heroes 3 in 2026, and that the HD Edition, at $14.99 for the base game alone, is the version newcomers should skip.

Why: The Complete Edition has all nine towns, the random map generator and support for Horn of the Abyss, where the tournaments are played; the HD Edition has none of them. PC Gamer said in 2015 that the bigger, cheaper version was the better buy, and Ubisoft itself now says better graphics alone were not enough. The Remake may change this in 2027, but only if it keeps what the Complete Edition already has.

Opinion Made

What others predict

Predictions made on video by creators, experts or the subject of this page, in their words, each linked at the second it is said. The one line after each is our view. When the facts are known we add the result, right or wrong.

Frags of War: Horn of the Abyss stays out of the Remake

Frags of War , at 3:00 Check by: Dec 2027

"unfortunately, that doesn't look like it will be brought over to remake. That would be just too big of an undertaking for a relatively small team, at least for now." (YouTube's automatic captions)

Our view: We think he is right about the towns at launch, but that Horn of the Abyss balance can reach the Remake as an option, as we predict above.

Norovo: the Bulwark would take a couple of years

Norovo , at 12:40 Check by: Jan 2026

"I would be very surprised if they go as far as releasing the [Bulwark] town as soon as new year 2026. I'm guessing it will be at least a couple of years." (YouTube's automatic captions)

Our view: We think it shows how much faster the HotA Crew now works than in the twelve years between its first and second towns.

Result (): Wrong. Horn of the Abyss 1.8.0 added the Bulwark on Dec 31, 2025, in time for New Year 2026 (HotA Crew; CD-Action).

Moments

  1. A day and a battle in the HD Edition In HD Edition footage, a Castle hero rides across the adventure map, stops at a mercenary camp, then attacks a band of Orcs, sets out the army in the Tactics phase and wins the fight on the hex grid.
  2. The king of Erathia is dead The Remake's reveal trailer opens on the story of the 1999 game: a narrator announces that Erathia's great king is dead and that the kingdom's enemies are moving to carve it up.
  3. A battle on the hex grid In the HD Edition, a Castle army that includes Angels is placed on a grass field against Walking Dead, then the stacks take their turns in order of speed.
  4. The HD Edition launch trailer Ubisoft's 2015 launch trailer presents the 1999 game in HD under its subtitle The Restoration of Erathia, counting its campaigns, its eight factions and its scenario maps.
  5. Never meant to be an esport The Heroes 3 creator Norovo closes his tips video by remarking that the game was probably never intended to be played as an esport, and that having fun matters more than playing perfectly.
  6. The Remake's gameplay overview Ubisoft's gameplay overview trailer for the Remake opens by calling Heroes 3 one of the greatest strategy games of all time, then introduces the 3D rebuild by Ubisoft's Chinese studios.

References

  1. Heroes of Might and Magic III Review, GameSpot, 1999-03-01press
  2. Heroes of Might and Magic III: Complete Edition, Ubisoft, 2026-11-07primary
  3. Heroes Of Might And Magic III, Steam, 2026-11-07primary
  4. 3DO Expands Heroes of Might and Magic III; New Release, the Armageddon's Blade Game, Hits Stores Today, The 3DO Company, 1999-09-29primary
  5. 3DO Ships Heroes III: The Shadow of Death For PC, The 3DO Company, 2000-03-21primary
  6. Heroes of Might and Magic III, Wikipedia, 2026-11-07user_generated
  7. Ubi Soft going for 3DO's Might and Magic, WorthPlaying, 2003-08-08press
  8. Heroes of Might & Magic III HD review, PC Gamer, 2015-02-04press
  9. Heroes of Might & Magic III - HD Edition, Steam, 2026-11-07primary
  10. Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake: Return to Erathia in 2027, Ubisoft, 2026-08-25primary
  11. Ubisoft Reveals Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake at Gamescom, Ubisoft (Games Press), 2026-08-26primary
  12. Welcome Back to Erathia, Ubisoft (Steam), 2026-08-27primary
  13. Heroes of Might and Magic III is returning to Steam!, Ubisoft (Steam), 2026-08-27primary
  14. Ubisoft forgot to make sure the Steam release of Heroes of Might & Magic 3 included the actual game, PC Gamer, 2026-08-26press
  15. Frequently Asked Questions, Ubisoft (Steam), 2026-09-18primary
  16. 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, PC Gamer, 2026-08-26press
  17. Community Roadmap, Playtest, and Events, Ubisoft (Steam), 2026-10-07primary
  18. Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake: Our Unit Redesign Philosophy, Ubisoft (Steam), 2026-10-23primary
  19. Explore Different Playstyles in Heroes III Remake, Ubisoft (Steam), 2026-11-06primary
  20. Heroes III Remake Closed Playtest Starts Nov.18, Ubisoft (Steam), 2026-11-05primary
  21. Zapytaliśmy twórców Heroes III Remake, jak chcą uspokoić fanów, GRYOnline.pl, 2026-09-09press
  22. Heroes of Might and Magic: najnowsze informacje, CD-Action, 2026-09-03press
  23. Horn of the Abyss: Download, HotA Crew, 2026-11-07primary
  24. To będą największe Mistrzostwa Polski w Heroes 3 od lat, CD-Action, 2026-06-01press
  25. Heroes of Might & Magic III - HD Edition, SteamCharts, 2026-11-07press
  26. Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era isn't a reimagining or a divisive reinterpretation, it's just a brilliant strategy game, PC Gamer, 2026-04-30press
  27. Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake - Reveal Trailer, Ubisoft (YouTube), 2026-08-25primary
  28. Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake, Steam, 2026-11-07primary
  29. Horn of the Abyss, HotA Crew, 2026-11-07primary
  30. Heroes of Might and Magic III: Horn of the Abyss, Steam, 2026-11-07primary

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About this page

Drafted by
claude-opus-5-5 on 2026-11-07T12:00:00Z
Checked by
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Reviewed by
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Status
Published and revised continuously; this version is the one described here.
Published
7 November 2026
Last updated
7 November 2026, see what changed
Sources
No Wikipedia source; the sources are listed above.
License
Text CC BY-SA 4.0; embedded videos and thumbnails remain their uploaders’ property, shown under YouTube’s Terms of Service; quotations excluded. Details

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