Before buying this game, you have to understand the state it is in. Things not to expect,
- Animated cutscenes
- UI with decent usability
- Character models worthy of 2015
- Character animations worthy of 2015
- Progressive campaign
- Character customisation during campaign


Cutscenes are "animated", but show frozen models, with speech laid on top.


Using the game feels clunky, you will often accidentally stop your hero mid stride because you accidentally clicked twice on the target, when you should have clicked once. Or your hero doesn't move, because you should have clicked twice when you clicked once.


It doesn't seem that there has been a User Experience designer involved in the development of this game, there are too many basic usability issues. Such as that you can't bring up a town screen by clicking on a town. It took me nearly 10 minutes to figure out that you need to double click the little town name on the bottom left to do that. Ridiculous. That's just one example, expect a lot more like that.


The character models and animations certainly look dated, and many look like they are reused directly from Hereoes VI. Most of the time, you'll notice that Heroes VI had much better character models though. Models are small in battles, so you don't see the details (maybe this is for the best, as the details are not that great). The entire game has a washed, grainy feel to it that takes away from the "Heroes feel". Heroes should be lush, with powerful colors, to immerse you into this fantasy world with its multitude of colorful, odd beings. This is not the case. You get sort of the same feel as when opening a spreadsheet or something. The delightfulness is clearly missing. There's a sparse, somewhat empty feeling to it.


The animations are clearly a step down from Heroes VI. For example, the Centurion will bash his shield at the opponent, then stick his spear in it, and only about half a second after BOTH attacks are completed does the target react and make some kind of motion. Not immersive.


The campaign is not progressive. I. e., it doesn't build a story for you to follow, but rather it's just a few short stories that you can play through in any order you want. Personally, I would be fine with this, if everything else had been good.


Same with character customisation, you start out with predesigned characters, sometimes at level 0, for other scenarios at level 30, which may annoy some people, but would have been fine if the game was otherwise up to snuff. Of course it isn't.


The good things are: It's a new instalment of Heroes! For people like me, who grew up with it and love it, this is great. The maps have depth to them visually, which is fun. Castles can be in valleys and so on (but the washed out, derelict feeling that I mentioned earlier detracts from this). Skills feel slightly more useful than in the last Heroes. They've taken some time to groom the skill set. On the other hand, it's not the glory that was Heroes V.


If you're fine with all this, then this game might be for you. The truth is however, that Ubisoft again is trying to get away with minimum effort. What I don't get is, do these people take no pride in what they do? Does it feel good to crank out one half-assed effort after another? Is it a matter of competence, do they not have the right people? Is everyone working on the game too junior? Or is it a conscious strategy from the management?


Don't they want praise from the fans? Why aren't they creating it with "game of the year" firmly fixed in their minds? I simply don't get how someone could be satisfied with creating something with this level of indifference. That can't be a satisfying way to live your life. If you don't like the series, for ♥♥♥♥♥ sake, sell it to some studio who DOES love it.

It comes down to this: those who grow up with this game now, as I grew up with the original series, are NOT going to love it. It is not loved by its developers, and that transmits through to us, loud and clear.

Before buying this game, you have to understand the state it is in. Things not to expect, - Animated cutscenes - UI with decent usability - Character models worthy of 2015 - Character animations worthy of 2015 - Progressive campaign - Character customisation during campaign Cutscenes are "animated", but show frozen models, with speech laid on top. Using the game feels clunky, you will often accidentally stop your hero mid stride because you accidentally clicked twice on the target, when you should have clicked once. Or your hero doesn't move, because you should have clicked twice when you clicked once. It doesn't seem that there has been a User Experience designer involved in the development of this game, there are too many basic usability issues. Such as that you can't bring up a town screen by clicking on a town. It took me nearly 10 minutes to figure out that you need to double click the little town name on the bottom left to do that. Ridiculous. That's just one example, expect a lot more like that. The character models and animations certainly look dated, and many look like they are reused directly from Hereoes VI. Most of the time, you'll notice that Heroes VI had much better character models though. Models are small in battles, so you don't see the details (maybe this is for the best, as the details are not that great). The entire game has a washed, grainy feel to it that takes away from the "Heroes feel". Heroes should be lush, with powerful colors, to immerse you into this fantasy world with its multitude of colorful, odd beings. This is not the case. You get sort of the same feel as when opening a spreadsheet or something. The delightfulness is clearly missing. There's a sparse, somewhat empty feeling to it. The animations are clearly a step down from Heroes VI. For example, the Centurion will bash his shield at the opponent, then stick his spear in it, and only about half a second after BOTH attacks are completed does the target react and make some kind of motion. Not immersive. The campaign is not progressive. I. e., it doesn't build a story for you to follow, but rather it's just a few short stories that you can play through in any order you want. Personally, I would be fine with this, if everything else had been good. Same with character customisation, you start out with predesigned characters, sometimes at level 0, for other scenarios at level 30, which may annoy some people, but would have been fine if the game was otherwise up to snuff. Of course it isn't. The good things are: It's a new instalment of Heroes! For people like me, who grew up with it and love it, this is great. The maps have depth to them visually, which is fun. Castles can be in valleys and so on (but the washed out, derelict feeling that I mentioned earlier detracts from this). Skills feel slightly more useful than in the last Heroes. They've taken some time to groom the skill set. On the other hand, it's not the glory that was Heroes V. If you're fine with all this, then this game might be for you. The truth is however, that Ubisoft again is trying to get away with minimum effort. What I don't get is, do these people take no pride in what they do? Does it feel good to crank out one half-assed effort after another? Is it a matter of competence, do they not have the right people? Is everyone working on the game too junior? Or is it a conscious strategy from the management? Don't they want praise from the fans? Why aren't they creating it with "game of the year" firmly fixed in their minds? I simply don't get how someone could be satisfied with creating something with this level of indifference. That can't be a satisfying way to live your life. If you don't like the series, for fucks sake, sell it to some studio who DOES love it. It comes down to this: those who grow up with this game now, as I grew up with the original series, are NOT going to love it. It is not loved by its developers, and that transmits through to us, loud and clear.