Over a decade of silence. One launch day. Number one on Steam.

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, the first new entry in the legendary turn-based strategy franchise since 2015, crashed straight to the top of Steam’s charts on April 30 with 34,372 concurrent players and a Very Positive rating — 95% across 160 reviews. Developer Unfrozen and publisher Hooded Horse didn’t reinvent the wheel. They just built a really good one.

The numbers tell the story of a publisher that understood the assignment. A 25% launch discount bringing the price to $29.99/€29.99 until May 13. A Steam Featured Win spotlight. A 1.5 million wishlist count that had the game sitting in Steam’s Top 10 most-wished titles before a single copy sold. This wasn’t a surprise hit — it was a coordinated layup, and Unfrozen barely touched the rim.

What Fans Are Loving

The player reviews read like a masterclass in what a nostalgia-driven launch should sound like. No one’s confused about what this game is trying to be.

One player with 1.5 hours logged praised the single-player mode as “a full-version roguelite game” and called it “a really satisfying experience, despite playing on the highest difficulty,” adding they encountered zero technical issues. For an Early Access launch — a category not exactly famous for stability — that’s a statement.

The professional critics agree. IGN’s Early Access review called Olden Era’s combat system “pretty savvy and interesting” and praised the faction design as “an expressive joy to field and play.” GamesRadar+ went further, declaring it “the best entry since the iconic Heroes 3” and noting that for the first time, going back to Heroes 3 made them yearn for the new features instead.

That’s the sentence that should make every competing strategy developer nervous.

Six Factions, Zero Duds

Olden Era launches with six playable factions — Temple, Dungeon, Schism, Grove, Necropolis, and Hive — and the reviews suggest every single one has a distinct identity worth learning. Temple brings classic holy warriors and angels. Hive replaces the demonic Inferno with insectoid nightmares that IGN described by asking “what if Hell was somehow worse?” The Schism, a brand new faction of elves who delved too deep and brought back extraplanar horrors, earned particular praise.

Each faction runs seven unit tiers, and every unit can branch into two upgrade paths. Combined with the focus-point ability system and hero spells that actually matter — IGN notes that movement-altering spells like Web and Ice Bolt are far more impactful than in older titles — and you have a combat engine with real teeth.

What Fans Are Asking For

The launch isn’t flawless. The player reviews reveal two clear requests: more castles and better multiplayer team configuration.

“The game so far is so great,” wrote one player with 2.5 hours played. “I hope there will be much more castles in the future.” Another, barely 24 minutes in, was already trying to set up 2v2 or 3v3 matches and couldn’t figure it out — though they still left a positive review.

IGN noted that the campaign’s first act comes with “unskippable cutscenes” and renders some interesting systems inert. The full campaign won’t land until the 1.0 release. A Spectator Mode, more map templates, and further premade scenarios are all planned during Early Access. Unfrozen says a full development roadmap is coming once “the initial dust has settled.”

A Franchise That Refused to Stay Dead

Let’s put the stakes in context. Heroes of Might and Magic is one of the most influential turn-based strategy series ever made. Heroes 3, released in 1999, still maintains an active competitive scene and mod community. The franchise has been effectively dormant for over a decade — a lifetime in strategy gaming.

Unfrozen, a studio whose previous title Iratus: Lord of the Dead sold over 500,000 copies, clearly studied what made the classics work. Published by Hooded Horse — the same publisher behind Manor Lords and Against the Storm — and backed by Ubisoft, Olden Era had the institutional support to aim high.

The Early Access package is hefty: Classic, Single Hero, and Arena modes in both single-player and multiplayer. Ranked play with leaderboards. A random map generator. Hotseat mode for local play. A map editor in beta. Localized into 15 languages. Available on Steam, the Microsoft Store, and PC Game Pass simultaneously.

This is not a skeleton crew shipping a proof of concept. This is a contender.

34,000 players showed up on day one. Most of them are already asking for more. For a franchise that spent ten years in the ground, that’s not just a comeback — that’s a coronation.

Sources