The Might & Magic Heroes Era of Chaos was part of the Ubisoft Forward’s announcement and finally, the fans of the franchise have a reason to celebrate. The live stream event hosted by Ubisoft celebrated the company’s upcoming lineup of games and content. And what lineup it was. With names like Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Watch Dogs: Legion, Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad, Hyper Scape, Far Cry 6 and Might & Magic Heroes Era of Chaos among the additions.
Yeah, it’s a great list of summer additions, but I’m here for one specific title. No. Not Watch Dogs: Legion. I’m talking about the Might & Magic Heroes Era of Chaos. The game is part of our Ubisoft summer sale and you really shouldn’t miss it. But if you’re not a particular fan of Era of Chaos, we have plenty of other games from the franchise as well. It’s a great deal for all the fans of Heroes Of Might And Magic.
Heroes Of Might And Magic: what’s the history?
Well, to be perfectly honest there’s a whole intricate universe in that particular franchise, that also produced a lot of spin-offs, reboots and anthologies. It’s a franchise that spans more than 3 decades and it originated from one man. Jon Van Caneghem. This is a man that actually grew up on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. But was also inspired by science fiction and fantasy. Most notably Twilight Zone and Star Trek. So, this pre-med student decided to pursue his passion, and got into the then booming gaming industry. With a fanboy’s passion that is.
Van Caneghem even cites the Star Trek episode For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky as main sources of inspiration for the series. So, he graduated from UCLA with a degree in computer science, and in 1983 founded his company. New World Computing. However, it took him a while to produce the first game of the now-iconic franchise. Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum saw the light of the day in 1986. And the rest is history.
Similar to the cult role-playing dame Dungeons And Dragons, the characters in Might And Magic have Characters have “statistics”. Of Might, Endurance, Accuracy, Personality, Intelligence and Luck, while there are six character classes in total. Knight, Cleric, Robbers, Sorcerers, Paladins, and Archers.
Heroes Of Might And Magic: What’s the history?
While the main Might And Magic series spans from 1986 to 2014, there have been several spin-offs from the main series. Including the long-running Heroes of Might and Magic series (since 1995), Crusaders of Might and Magic, Warriors of Might and Magic. There’s also Legends of Might and Magic, Might and Magic: Heroes Kingdoms, and the fan-made Swords of Xeen too. The aforementioned Heroes of Might and Magic spin-off series, however, began in 2000, and the most recent game of the series is set up for release somewhere in 2020. Given the fact that pretty much everything is postponed (due to the COVID-19 pandemic)…. there’s no official word on when it will see the light of the day.
Heroes Of Might And Magic: What’s the gameplay?
First and foremost, the Heroes series is within the genre of turn-based strategy. Next, the titular heroes are player characters who can recruit, move the map, engage in combat and capture resources. Also, heroes gain experience levels from battle. As such the veteran heroes are significantly more powerful than inexperienced ones. Experienced heroes may persist through a campaign, but generally do not carry over between scenarios.
On a typical map, players begin a game with one town of a chosen alignment. The number of different alignments varies throughout the series, but in terms of the setting, Era of Chaos takes place on Enroth. A rather interesting planet in the Spinward Rim, colonized by the Ancients. It’s also the setting of Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest, Heroes of Might and Magic II and so many others. The planet however has three known continents. The first is also named Enroth and is the landing site of the VARN that colonized the planet. The others are Antagarich and Jadame, and it’s pretty fantastic. Also, the game has several protagonists, namely Queen Catherine Gryphonheart, Gelu Sandro, Solmur.
Ubisoft’s Continuity
The series, however, changed several ownership over the years. The original company that first introduced the series to the world New World Computing sold the franchise to The 3DO Company in 1996, while The 3DO Company sold the rights to Ubisoft back in 2003. Indeed since then, the rights to the franchise have been owned by Ubisoft, and because of that Ubisoft presented Might & Magic Heroes Era of Chaos at Ubisoft Forward this month. Ubisoft has been the main publisher of the franchise for 17 years now.
But it was Ubsifot who changed things in the franchise. For instance, The Might & Magic X: Legacy game departs from this continuity and is set in the world of Ashan. In contrast, Ashan is a high fantasy setting with no science fiction elements in its lore. So you can see a big difference there. But regardless of the setting, fans of the franchise have been obsessing over the games. During my research, I found forums and fan pages specifically for the world of Heroes Of Might And Magic. Besides, they were incredibly helpful for me and my writing of this post. So, a big shout out to the community is in order. Thank you for bringing the series closer to this rookie gamer, and of course making it fun.
Your thoughts
What are your thoughts on Might & Magic Heroes Era of Chaos and in the Heroes Of Might And Magic spin-off series? Are you a fan of the cult video games? Tell us in the comment section. We’d love to know all about them.
