Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era hits early access today with the start of a narrative campaign, six factions, a map editor and multiplayer

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is out in early access today, April 30th. It’s taken just over a decade for Might & Magic Heroes VII to get a mailine follow-up that’ll keep things heroic, mighty, and strategic, with Hooded Horse/Ubisoft-backed devs Unfrozen doing the honours.

HOMM: Olden Era’s a strategic empire builder with turn-based fights and some RPG trimmings, pushing you to get off your fantasy bum and conquer both procedurally generated and hand-crafted maps to stave off the “impending doom” its campaign baddies threaten.

Both Julian and Edwin have given its early access version a go and reckon it’s a strong reboot, but could stand to do a better job of helping you keep on top of what’s happening as beasts, mages, and warriors flood your screen.

“Potentially a touch harshly I’m going to say its six legendary creatures out of ten for me,” was the former’s verdict. “I’m enjoying myself and starting to get a sense there is more under the surface than meets the eye, but I’m not yet sold on all the busywork of running back and forth across the map to collect piles of logs and recruit small gaggles of units.”

“I give it seven griffons, which is easily enough to butcher a few upstart peasants, even peasants brandishing piglets,” was Edwin’s grading. “My main concern is that having to tend to my cities might drag more and more as I become more invested in my hero squads. Another argument for Olden Era is that there aren’t many directly comparable games, even though it’s been 10 years since the last proper HOMM – Songs of Conquest, I guess? Heroes of Might and Magic is very much its own style. I’d say Unfrozen are off to a good start with this comeback project.”

Unfrozen’s current plans are to have Olden Era early access run for a year, but this could change depending on the sort of feedback they get and how that influences the game’s direction. As of right now, the goal’s for the full release version to include “additional scenarios and map templates alongside improvements to the map editor and an additional Underground map layer”, plus the acts of the campaign which follow the opening chapter that’s available out of the early access gate.