Ubisoft Entertainment recently delighted (or alarmed) some players with the announcement of Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake. After viewing the debut promotional materials, concerns were raised in the fan community that the game might be ruined.
An IGN journalist was able to speak with Jean-Felix Monin, the creative director of Ubisoft China. Monin discussed the developers' approach to the project.
According to him, the team wants to "do everything right," so the developers worked closely with the Heroes fan community:
We reached out to some key figures in the community – people we had already worked with on other projects, such as the board game, those we trusted and who were sufficiently representative and well-known – and they came in and acted as consultants.
Even at an early stage of development, the creators of the Heroes 3 remake decided not to interfere with the gameplay – it will remain as fans of the original game remember it:
Our goal was to first clearly define the gameplay. The gameplay is considered a masterpiece. And it's true: when you play, you really think, "Oh, wow, this is something magical." We made a decision very early on: don't touch the gameplay. That is, all systems, all balance had to remain exactly the same. We felt that this would also answer the question: "You didn't destroy my favorite game?"
The original Heroes 3 lacked a tutorial, so the remake's creators decided to create a special prologue campaign:
Tutorials had been done before, but they weren't very good. So we felt there was a real need to teach newcomers.
Also, there were unresolved plot points in the narrative, for example, "it's not entirely clear what happens before Catherine arrives in Erathia and Antagarich." The remake's creators decided this would be a good way to tie both aspects together: the player would simultaneously learn the gameplay and get acquainted with the story.
You can add Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake to your Steam wishlist via the following link. The project does not yet have a specific release date, but the release window is already known: if nothing changes, the Heroes 3 remake will be released in 2027.