Recent reviews by Zh4z0r

It started out better and stronger then Kingmaker, but when i reached Drezen and the fighting had stopped.
I was in for a nightmare again like in Kingmaker, same micro-management of Events/Army/Outposts..

Owlcat really cannot make a RPG, without f**king it up..
- First parts of this game is a nice RPG.
- Mid part becomes a micro-management nightmare where you end up using more time on Events in town, speaking with people that before you & army's then going around exploring or doing actual RPG stuff..

Who though it was a good idea to make an "RPG" where you move 3 days away from Town, "Hey Event in Town someone want's to speak to you".. Go back.. Someone on the road...repeat..repeat..repeat...
At this point its not even RPG & Roleplaying it's just annoying..

Not A Great Game.
Really feel like you need to read a 5000 pages lore book, to get into the whole setting..

Choices you make amount to ZERO! changes..

Ending is not even a ending, just a confusing mess.

Also expected some voice acting since it's 2016, if i wanted text only i go back to 2002 NW or Dungeon Siege..

1 hour Timer on a Demo... pff

And stop with the "You don't own anything EULA" & Ubisoft Connect.

Went into Olden Era with low expectations but hoping.

I did like the classic sound's in the game & art-style is great loved the animations in city's.
And the world look's like HoMM should.
But there is just something about these newer HoMM that i can't quite place, the "soul" of the older games is gone.
So many things have been changed in favor of Easy Quick Combat, no strategy anymore. Yes i can say "Battle" but there's no fun anymore because it say's "Easy Battle".. i know outcome & enemy unit size before i even start..

Maybe for newer kid's audience that need an Extreme Easy HoMM and wanna be guided with help through-out the game, that don't like battles, don't take chances nor can think about outcome.. In other words playing a game with 100% handicap on always.

I played some against AI's on the Fair'n Square Map with the Dungeon City on 125% & 150%, there where a few things.:

- Too Easy money "Town Hall" + Bank? in Two city's and you have 0 to worry about..

- Like WAY to many portals 1-2 at each city.
Matches are to fast this way just jump from portal to portal destroying enemy players.

- Had like 10 or so Tier 1,2 & 3 Unit Recruit buildings in my start territory why?
This makes game way to easy. Each week 50-100+ units to recruit for about 10K gold..

- Fancy UI is not really for me, trying to beautify something don't make it good..
Take HoMM3 had everything in one column, now it's spread all over.
(Spell book over here, new "law system" over there, Hero's in the left but city in the right side).

- Kept trying to right click enemy to see creature info.. But nothing happens :)
(Cannot see enemy unit's stats like HP, Att, Def).

- Always able to see enemy's size and threat without skill perk nor rogue's ruined it, feels like playing a game for 5-8 year old's game is holding your hands to much.

- The Auto Resolve battles don't have a place in this game.
The entire game is about strategy battles..

- Don't like the "Law" nor the Alchemical Dust. (Should be removed).

- Just building new tier Mage Guild/Tower should be enough but now you can Upgrade Spells that feels weird.

- All those gutted Units from HoMM history?.:
Bone Dragon, Monk, Black knight, Beholder, Harpy, Manticore
(And NO Dread Knight is not Black Knight).

- I understand changing a few units but this is to much the new Units that are replacing them don't even look good.

- Hero Path Movement don't seem to matter as my Hero constantly kept going of the trails making me wonder about terrain penalty.. (there's a damn Paved Path between my city's use it to avoid movement penalty).

BUGS.:

- Ran into a bug where suddenly even after going to next day, game kept telling me "I already build" this was across all 9 city's at the time (In-game reported).
Just curious if anyone else had this?

- Also over 50% of the time Upgrade Unit function in City would not display Unit Model/Texture. (in-game reported)

ABSOLUTE TRASH!!

Intro movie to "Campaign" was irritating could not skip..

"Campaign" is holding you'r hand so much there's barely any gameplay! Or Story to the campaign it's just a small map
"do the req. tasks" done on to next..

"Power/Backup Generators" has been changed in JWE2 to require Fuel.... annoying micro-management point.. need "auto"
Just give me another Power Option.

Repair Fence has to find the Ranger Jeep and drive to Fence... Just let us click on it and say repair COME ON!

Don't Buy not worth it.

RPG, Shooter, Spy, Choices, Great Single Player Story, Replayable, Your playstyle play how you like..

The Story is great put together with your interaction responses and conversations, really makes this game stand out.
The timer on your interactions with others makes more sense and a more natural response when you speak with people because your reacting to what they say not thinking what the best thing to say.
It drives the story and outcomes in different ways so you can play again and experience something else.

Even just replying to email's mostly has 3-4 options makes it fun, now it not just a email but an opportunity to gain reputation negative or positive. Or maybe you just wanna sell some intel to blackmarket..

Gun customization is fine nothing major, you get decent selection.
If guns fail your can always go hand-to-hand or do Takedowns :)

Combat can be hit & miss for people but this game is not young anymore, i do like the way to get to customize "Thorton" in the sense of do you wanna go stealth or guns blazing..

Graphics are still fine i think to this day.

Did encounter a bug of sort, i stealthed "Embassy Mission" only to get the post result screen text "Went in guns blazing"

But beyond that had 0 crashes or other gamebreaking bugs or glitches.

Great game just like XCOM 1..

But when released was so poorly optimized it ran like sh*t.. Now in 2025 runs much better :)

But RNG Still hates me 90% Hit Chance and still unit misses 3 times in a row..
My dice chances in a Casino is better then this..

Go buy Alice: Madness Returns instead.

Absolutely wonderful story a masterpiece!

But Story is Great.
Gameplay can get boring.
Quite a few of your choices dont matter.