Olden Era’s Jumbo Demo Brings Heroes of Might and Magic Back From the Void

As someone who still boots Heroes III for a dopamine drip of turn-based perfection, this caught my eye immediately: Unfrozen released a hefty demo of Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era on October 9, 2025 during Steam Neo Fest. It’s pitched as a prequel with unapologetic HoMM III DNA-hex battles, seven-unit stacks, resource routes, and a proper spellbook-and the “demo” is so stacked it reads more like a soft Early Access. Full Early Access is slated for 2026, but there’s a lot to unpack already.

Key Takeaways

• This leans hard into Heroes III-style design: hex grids, seven creature tiers, resource-driven exploration, and a classic spellbook.
• The demo is massive: four factions, 18 heroes, multiple modes (including a new Arena), and a deep tutorial-it feels like Early Access in all but name.
• Rough edges pop up: hero perks are recycled across factions, the story campaign isn’t in yet, and long-term balance/AI are unknowns.
• 2026 Early Access suggests a long runway; the real test will be faction identity, campaign quality, and whether it nails that elusive “just one more turn” loop.

Breaking Down the Demo: What You Actually Get

Olden Era drops you into the vintage loop: build your town, recruit up to seven tiers of units, send a hero to hoover up resources and artifacts, then clash on a hex battlefield that rewards timing, positioning, and spell economy. The demo offers four playable factions out of the six planned for Early Access: Temple (the clear Castle analogue), Necropolis, Dungeon, and Schism. Each has its own lineup of seven creatures and its own town aesthetics that skew brighter and more heroic than the darker tones some fans associate with the franchise.

You also get 18 heroes with polished artwork. The catch? Too many share similar passives and bonuses across factions. A couple of heroes have faction-flavored perks, but most offer generic boosts you’ve seen elsewhere. For a series where heroes often define your run—the way a Logistics specialist or Necromancy savant can shape your entire strategy—that sameness blunts faction identity in a way I hope gets addressed before Early Access.

Story players will need patience: the promised 20+ hour campaign isn’t in the demo. What you do have is a thorough tutorial and three modes. Classic is what you expect. Single Hero limits you to one commander for the whole session—an interesting pressure cooker for movement and risk management. Arena mode is the standout newcomer: draft a hero from three options, pick skills up to level 8, choose artifacts, spells, and an army, then add a positive modifier. It’s basically a buildcraft sandbox for the combat system, and it should become the go-to lab for theorycrafters.

Why This Matters to HoMM Fans Now

It’s been over a decade since the last mainline entry, and the community’s been sustaining itself on a cocktail of mods, fan expansions, and spiritual successors like Songs of Conquest. Those projects are great, but none carry the exact feel of Heroes III—the map flow, the resource pacing, the spell swings that can flip a battle in two turns. Olden Era is the first new release in years that openly aims for that center mass. You can see it in the map objects, the recruitment cadence, and the way spells anchor tactical identity rather than serve as garnish.

Unfrozen, for their part, aren’t rookies. Iratus: Lord of the Dead showed they understand turn-based systems and dark fantasy vibes. Olden Era’s art direction goes brighter and more high-fantasy than I expected from them, which will divide the fanbase that prefers grimmer tones. I’m fine with it if the clarity of units and animations helps tactical readability. The bigger question is whether Unfrozen can bottle that HoMM magic: AI that pressures without cheating egregiously, maps that tell micro-stories through layout, and a soundtrack that burrows into your brain for 20 hours straight.

The Good, the Cautions, and the Wish List

Good first: scope. Four factions and a robust Arena in a demo is generous. The tutorial is meaty without being condescending. Hex combat returns with enough space for blockers, shooters, and spell timing to matter. The resource game pushes you off the couch early—classic HoMM tension between greedy scouting and castle growth.

Cautions: hero perk overlap dilutes replay value. If every faction hero plays like a stat stick with the same meta bonuses, you flatten the decision space and make army picks more important than commander identity. The campaign being absent is understandable at this stage, but it will make or break Early Access reception; HoMM is half skirmish sandbox, half cozy war story delivered via map design and escalation.

Open questions I want answered before 2026: How competent is the AI on bigger maps? Are there simultaneous turns or any multiplayer plans? What’s the cadence for adding the two missing factions? Will there be strong mod support? And the big one: can the team keep their balance philosophy consistent as content scales, so Arena doesn’t become a two-build meta graveyard?

Looking Ahead

The demo is available on Steam for an undetermined window, and Early Access is targeting 2026. If you’re a lapsed fan who still hums Heroes III town themes, this is worth a download. For Olden Era to truly land, Unfrozen needs to push harder on faction and hero differentiation, deliver a memorable campaign, and tune the AI to feel crafty rather than clairvoyant. If they nail those, we might finally have a modern, official-feeling answer to the question: “What if Heroes III came out today?”

TL;DR

Olden Era’s demo is a big, confident swing at the Heroes III formula: four factions, hex battles, and a brilliant new Arena mode. It’s promising but not finished—hero perks need more flavor, and the campaign will decide its staying power. Keep your expectations measured, but if you love classic HoMM, this is the most exciting thing to happen in years.