HoMM 4 is a major rehaul of Heores gameplay, making this game unique as even the fifth installment to the series is more closely related to the third game than this one. So when I see a franchise try to reinvent itself I have to give it credit. Somehow I get the feeling that most games I play nowadays are just clones of each other. Video games turned into board / card games.

Post-launch updates have added online multiplayer capabilities. Heroes no longer have individual specialties, and only differ in town allegiances and whether they specialize in might or magic - towns of similar affinities can hire heroes from neighboring towns in an affinity graph, with the exception of Stronghold (Might) which can hire might heroes of any faction but never magic ones, as they do not have access to a magic guild.Īs before, the game can be played in hot seat mode with other players, and comes with a map editor. However, multiple heroes can be present in a single unit stack. Heroes fight side by side with other units and are used for combat as if they were a standard unit, which restricts their spellcasting only to times when it is their turn. The game is now entirely displayed in an isometric view, and the battlefield is split to small square tiles instead of large hexes. Individual units can now traverse the map without heroes (including neutral ones, if such a setting is enabled), and heroes who perish in battle can be resurrected if their body is taken to a friendly town, while those who are defeated by an enemy player can be taken to a prison. Towns now also have caravan buildings, which can transfer units and resources between towns and allied players. Units are now split to 4 levels, with each town having two buildable unit types per level however, after the first level, each town has to decide which dwelling to construct, discarding the other unless another town of the same type is found. Towns and interracial alliances have been redone. There are six new and large campaigns and 24 single scenarios to play, all set in the Axeoth world to which many have escaped after the world-ending disaster in Enroth known as the Reckoning, shortly after the events of Heroes Chronicles: The Sword of Frost. The game still is about exploring huge maps with heroes and armies, collecting treasures, building up cities, fighting monsters and defeating foes. As the fourth installment of the series, Heroes of Might and Magic IV brings many new features to the game while retaining the old interface design and gameplay.

Heroes of might and magic online