First demo of new title in legendary turn-based fantasy strategy game series now available

Heroes of Might and Magic is a game series that is beloved for its vast and colorful fantasy worlds, role-play elements and tactical richness of the turn-based game mechanics. The first installment came out in late 1995, which means: Happy 30th birthday, Heroes of Might and Magic! Onto 30 more years of putting one-stacks of units on the map to protect your archers and using powerful spells to destroy the units your opponent has spent many turns recruiting.

The franchise has had a history full of ups and downs. Its high-point was no doubt in the late 90s until around the turn of the millennium, with the very successful sequels Heroes II (1996) and Heroes III (1999), the latter of which is still played competitively today. After Heroes IV (2002), the original publisher 3DO and the developer New World Computing closed up shop, leaving new owner Ubisoft to pick up the pieces. Under the new leadership, three new titles were released, made by various developers, of which only Heroes V (2006) can truly be called a success. After Heroes VII (2015), the franchise went on a long hiatus, leading fans to doubt they would ever see another new entry.

With the continued vitality of Heroes III, a title now heavily modded by the fans, however, interest in the franchise was revived. Naturally, this leads us to the newest title of the series, Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era. Announced in 2024, this new strategy game heavily inspired by Heroes III and Heroes V was supposed to come out in late 2025, but the release date has now slipped to 2026. 

However, fans will still get a chance to play the game, right now: Ubisoft has released a demo of Heroes: Olden Era, coinciding with the anniversary celebrations. The new demo is available right now, for free, on Steam. The demo includes a few single-player scenarios, as well as four of the six races planned for the early access, and there is no time-limit for it.