Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era

The pitch

Olden Era is an official prequel to the Heroes of Might and Magic series, developed by Unfrozen (previously known for the dungeon-management roguelike Iratus: Lord of the Dead) and published by Hooded Horse. It's built explicitly to recapture the turn-based hero-and-army strategy that made Heroes III a genre-defining classic: recruit heroes, build towns, march armies across a hex-free adventure map, and resolve battles on a separate tactical grid.

The core loop lands, according to almost everyone

This is the least contested point in the corpus, across both recommendation columns. "I've been chasing the Heroes III feeling for more than 20 years, and honestly, Olden Era gets way closer than I ever expected. It has that 'one more turn' magic," reads one of the most-upvoted positive reviews. Even the most-upvoted negative review — 1,393 votes, from a 60-hour player — opens by calling it "a great successor to Heroes 3" before explaining the reasons for the thumbs-down. Sales back this up at scale: Unfrozen and Hooded Horse announced 1,000,000 copies sold on 28 May 2026, less than a month after Early Access launch.

The AI problem

Set against that goodwill is a specific, widely repeated complaint about the single-player experience: the AI. "AI" appears in over a third of the 100 most-helpful negative reviews. Several describe outright cheating rather than mere weakness — one May 2026 review reports "AI cheating is insane in Campaign mode... they got 100x more units and spawn as many as they want while completely ignoring the rules." Others frame it as under-tuned rather than deliberately unfair: "the AI is STILL horrendously underbaked," months after launch, in one detailed review. Whichever framing is right, the effect reviewers describe is the same — the single-player and campaign experience suffers specifically because of how the computer opponent behaves, not because of the underlying systems.

Where the development effort has gone, and the reviewers' own read of it

The most substantive negative review in the corpus — the 1,393-vote one — makes an argument worth quoting directly, because it isn't a complaint about quality so much as a complaint about priorities: "In the months since launch, the patches have been almost entirely focused on competitive PvP... I have never met a single person who cares about competitive Heroes of Might and Magic. I know a great many people who enjoy it for single-player or co-op... but months after launch, the AI is STILL horrendously underbaked, the map editor is a joke, and you can't even form a team with other players! These issues have been raised over and over again and co-op is by far the #1 most requested feature, and yet all it gets is a distant, vague 'Q3 2026' callout on the roadmap." A separate July 2026 review puts the same tension more bluntly: "99% of players want a PvE game. 99% of development goes on PvP."

Checking this against Steam's own patch history for the game supports the general shape of the complaint: of the twelve numbered patches and several hotfixes between launch and this review, most titles reference balance passes, skill reworks and competitive-focused fixes (Patch #8 "Skills Rework, Balance Pass," Patch #11 "Necromancy Update... Balance Changes"). Worth noting in fairness: the most recent news post before this review, dated 28 July 2026, is titled "Community Feedback #5: Upcoming PVE Content and Events" — the developers do appear to be responding to this specific criticism, even if it took several months of vocal, highly-upvoted reviews to get there.

The campaign specifically

Beyond the AI, the campaign's writing draws unusually sharp criticism from reviewers who otherwise like the game. One puts it starkly: "I was very hyped for the game, especially campaign which turned to be worst sh[**]t I ever seen. Honestly the dialogues doused my hype." This isn't the majority complaint in the corpus, but it's specific and consistent enough to flag for anyone buying primarily for a story-driven single-player experience.

Recent sentiment and how far people get

Recent English review sentiment — the 100 most recent, 1–10 August 2026 — runs 76% positive, a real step down from the 86.8% lifetime figure but still comfortably in "Very Positive" territory; this reads as ongoing, specific frustration rather than a collapse. Achievement data shows the normal shape of an Early Access strategy game: the top milestone sits at 54.5%, and the median across 22 achievements is 13.2% — unremarkable given the game is only a few months old.

Value and monetisation

At NZ$59.99 with no DLC and no in-app purchases, this sits at a fair price for what's already a substantial, actively updated strategy game, even accounting for the gaps reviewers describe. Monetisation is a clean strength here regardless of where anyone lands on the AI or priorities debate.

Verdict

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era earns its commercial success — the turn-based strategy core genuinely delivers the Heroes III feeling that's been largely absent from the genre for two decades. But its own community, in its most-upvoted critical reviews, makes a specific and well-documented argument that the developers have prioritised competitive PvP polish over the single-player AI, campaign writing and team co-op feature the majority of that same community says it actually wants. Buy now if PvP or solo skirmish is your focus. If you're here for campaign or co-op with friends specifically, the July "PvE content" roadmap post is a reason for optimism — but check back before buying if that's the whole reason you want the game.