Heroes of Might and Magic 3: HD Edition
General Information | ||||||
Genre | Original developer | Originally released | Current developer | Remade in | MP amount of players | Characterization |
Turn-based strategy | 3DO | 1999 | Ubisoft | 2015 | 2-8 for offline and online, same as original | Remake |
Specific Information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Category | Specifics | Sources / Comments |
Purchase | Copy purchase | Subscription | Free to play | $14.99 on Steam (2018) |
Cut Content | Graphic | Character | Gameplay | Expansions | Other | Armageddon's Blade and Shadow of Death expansions are not included in this remake. |
Censorship | Language | Violence | Nudity | Nothing to censor. |
DRM | uPlay | Steam | Denuvo | Origin | Other | DRM-Free | HOMM3 Complete is available DRM-Free on GOG. |
In-game purchases | Cosmetics | Boosters | Items | Characters | Maps | Other | Couldn't stick much in there. |
Paid DLC | Cosmetics | Boosters | Soundtrack | Items | Characters | Maps | Expansions |
Free DLC | Cosmetics | Boosters | Soundtrack | Items | Characters | Maps | Expansions | No DLC, since the game is just a redraw of the original. |
Modding support | Banned | None | Limited | Full | Map editor, same as the original. |
False advertising | No | Yes | Blatant - used enlarged map sprites from the original game, pretending them to be battle sprites. See here |
Demo availability | No | Yes |
Bugs at launch | None | Insubstantial | Moderate | Heavy | The same ones the original had. |
Multiplayer | Local | Official server | P2P | LAN | User servers | Unofficial | In addition to the original's options, online through Steam is available. |
Moderation (online) | None | Insubstantial | Moderate | Heavy |
Comparison to originals / fanmade mods | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Category | Included in HD Edition | Included in fanmade mods | Sources / Comments |
Expansions | No | Yes | HD Edition IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR EXPANSIONS. Fanmade HD Mod works with Shadow of Death. |
Higher resolutions | Yes | Yes |
Online multiplayer | Yes | Yes |
Adventure screen enhancements | No | Yes | HD Mod has 8 heroes and 7 towns visible at once, unlike 5 and 5 in Ubisoft's remake. Transferring full army and artifacts. Additional buttons in the menu for quicker access. Many other enhancements, https://sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/eng/description/extended-ui, which Ubisoft's HD Edition lacks. |
Combat enhancements | No | Yes | HD Mod has a bigger spellbook so you can see more spells. Pressing Shift over a unit shows you how far it can go. See above link for the many other enhancements. |
Bug fixes | No | Yes | A lot, see here. Ubisoft's remake just leaves them all in. |
Translations | Yes | No | The only thing Ubisoft's remake has over the fanmade HD Mod. |
New content? | Nothing whatsoever | Lots! | Horn of the Abyss adds a new town, artifacts including combination ones, a campaign, bunch of maps and map sizes (up to 256x256 vs 128x128 in the original), more neutral creatures, map objects, balance improvements, etc. Probably more content than the official Shadow of Death, and for free! What about Ubisoft's HD Edition? Literally nothing. |
Gamer's Opinion
Blatant cash grab. You're paying for a 16 year old game with redrawn sprites and some new languages. If you want to play HOMM3, you could get it from GOG with all the expansions (which HD Edition lacks) for less, but that money would still be going to Ubisoft, so find it in a sea somewhere. Then get HD Mod and Horn of the Abyss (which totally outclass this remake), so you can play online without hassle.