Ubisoft just revealed a remake of 1999’s Heroes of Might and Magic 3 at Gamescom, and one look at the trailer shows it goes far beyond a simple polish and port. Set to release in 2027 across console and PC, the new game will swap the original’s isometric 2D view with a 3D world and add new content – a fresh prologue campaign and some fancy cinematics – and tweak the original mechanics to make the game more accessible, without diluting the gameplay.
IGN spoke to Jean-Felix Monin, Creative Director at Ubisoft China, about the project and how the still very dedicated Heroes of Might and Magic 3 fanbase has been a key part of shaping this new version.
“I would say for us, the intention behind this game was really, there’s this community, there’s this great game that people have been kind of asking for a remake of for years now, and so we really want to do right by them,” he said.
“We had contact with some key people in the community, people that we had worked with on other transmedia stuff, such as the board game, people that we knew we trusted and were quite representative and well-known, and they came and did some consulting.”
This helped the team navigate some of the big changes, like the huge change from 2D isometric to 3D, complete with dynamic weather and seasons, and served as a north star for any gameplay changes. “So, the goal for us was to be really clear on the gameplay first. The gameplay is considered a masterpiece. And it’s true that when you play the game, you really realize that, oh, wow, it’s magical,” said Monin.
“We took the decision really early on to not touch the gameplay. So, all the systems, all the balancing, had to stay exactly the same. We thought that through that, that would actually also address the question of, ‘Okay, did you destroy my favorite game?'” he explained.
“We couldn’t destroy it because we didn’t touch it. That part we really didn’t touch. And then on top of that, it was really, ‘What can we do without touching this to make sure that we bring more value?’ So the graphics, obviously, and also some quality of life features that we’ve added to make sure that modern players wouldn’t feel too lost, because it’s still kind of a unique type of gameplay, and so it might be a bit of a gap for people to get into it.”
He also explained the decision to add a new prologue campaign. “There were kind of two reasons why we came with this idea,” he said. “One was there was a lack of a good tutorial, so the original game just like threw you in. So you have the manual, so I guess people in the day were okay to read the book to understand about the game, but this is not something people do too much now.”
“And there had been a tutorial made before, but that wasn’t great. So we really thought there was a real need to teach this game to new players. So, this is something we needed to take the time to create. At the same time, there were a bit of loose ends, I would say, that are non-clear in the narrative about what happens before Catherine gets to Erathia and to Antagarich, and we thought that could be a good moment actually to mesh both together, because it’s the first thing you play, and so that kind of eases you into the story and the gameplay at the same time.”
The original Heroes of Might and Magic 3 scored a 9 on IGN when it was released, with our review calling it a triumphant return for the series and urging players old and new to give it a shot. “If you’ve already bought and played Heroes of Might and Magic I and II, you’ll definitely be happy with 3. And if you’re new to this series, pick this one up and give it a try.”
Monin had a similar hope. “I think the goal is for us to really talk to the fans with nostalgia, to really get the feeling that they had 20-plus years ago,” he said. “And then from there, we think by proxy, there could be a lot of new people coming in.”
Rachel Weber is the Head of Editorial Development at IGN and an elder millennial. She’s been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, Red Dead Redemption 2, and her Love and Deepspace boyfriends.
