Ubisoft recently invited me to a remote preview session for the upcoming Heroes of Might and Magic III remake, giving me an opportunity to see the game ahead of its official reveal and, more importantly, spend almost two hours playing it myself.

The session started with a presentation of the game and its gameplay, followed by a trailer that we were able to watch ahead of its public release, as well as another short video introducing us to what the team has been working on.

After the presentation, it was finally time to play.

We were given almost two hours of hands-on time with the remake, and there is something important I should mention before getting into my impressions:

I had never properly played Heroes of Might and Magic III before.

And surprisingly, that ended up making this preview even more interesting.

My First Proper Heroes III Experience

Heroes of Might and Magic III is obviously one of those games with an enormous legacy. For many players, it’s not simply another strategy game — it’s a title they’ve been playing for more than two decades.

I don’t have that nostalgia.

Instead, I approached the remake almost entirely as a newcomer, and one of my biggest takeaways from the preview was just how easy it was to get into.

Despite initially expecting a relatively complicated old-school strategy game, I rarely felt lost. The game does a very good job of introducing its mechanics and guiding you through what you need to do without overwhelming you with information.

Within a surprisingly short amount of time, I understood the basic gameplay loop, exploration, combat, recruiting units and managing my town.

Honestly, despite never playing the original properly, it didn’t take long before I actually felt like I was pretty good at it.

For a remake of a game originally released in 1999, that’s a pretty impressive achievement.

Old-School Gameplay With Modern Quality-of-Life Improvements

What stood out during my time with the game was how the remake attempts to preserve the identity of Heroes III while making the overall experience more comfortable for modern players.

There are numerous quality-of-life improvements, but they don’t appear to fundamentally change what Heroes III is supposed to be.

That’s an important distinction.

Rather than turning the game into something completely different, the developers seem focused on removing some unnecessary friction while keeping that classic, old-school strategy feeling intact.

As someone coming into Heroes III for the first time, I found that approach extremely effective.

There were still moments where I would have appreciated slightly more practical guidance, particularly regarding town upgrades and some of the mechanics that aren’t immediately obvious to beginners.

At the same time, I’m not entirely convinced that everything needs to be explained.

Part of the enjoyment came from experimenting and investing some time into understanding how the systems work. Instead of simply following markers and instructions, I gradually started figuring things out myself — and that made learning the game surprisingly rewarding.

One mechanic I would potentially like to see made more accessible is spell usage. Having a quicker way to access frequently used spells, perhaps through customizable quick slots or favorites, could make that part of the experience even smoother.

A Complete Visual Overhaul

Of course, the most immediately noticeable difference is the presentation.

The Heroes of Might and Magic III remake has received a substantial graphical overhaul, but rather than simply increasing the resolution of the original assets, the developers have created a noticeably different visual style.

The remake combines 3D elements with beautiful 2D artwork, giving the world a modern appearance while retaining the fantasy aesthetic associated with Heroes.

I particularly enjoyed seeing how the graphical overhaul translated across different environments and factions.

Areas such as Castle and Inferno have completely different identities, with environments, structures, units and visual details making each part of the map immediately recognizable.

The amount of visual variety was one of the things that impressed me the most during the session.

It looks modern, but importantly, it doesn’t feel like the original game’s identity has simply been thrown away in pursuit of better graphics.

There Are Some Familiar Ubisoft Heroes Connections

Despite this being a remake of Heroes III, I also noticed several elements that reminded me of Ubisoft’s later Heroes titles.

There are certain similarities in presentation and some of the modernized elements that should feel familiar to players who experienced the more recent Ubisoft-era Heroes games.

That creates an interesting combination.

Underneath everything is still the recognizable Heroes III formula, but the remake isn’t afraid to borrow some ideas and conveniences from what came afterward.

For newcomers like me, that makes entering a game with more than 25 years of history considerably easier.

Two Hours That Went by Surprisingly Fast

The biggest compliment I can give the Heroes of Might and Magic III remake after this preview is actually very simple:

I wanted to keep playing.

I went into the session without nostalgia for Heroes III and without decades of experience telling me how the game should feel.

Instead, I experienced it almost entirely as a new strategy game.

And it worked.

I’d genuinely like to be more critical after an early preview session, but during almost two hours of gameplay, I simply didn’t encounter anything that left me with a major negative impression.

Of course, two hours isn’t enough to properly judge a strategy game with this much depth, and longtime Heroes III players will undoubtedly notice details and differences that someone experiencing it for the first time simply won’t.

But from the perspective of a newcomer, my first impression was extremely positive.

The game caught me by surprise, and I couldn’t be happier that I had the opportunity to be part of this early preview.

If the goal of this remake is to introduce Heroes III to a new generation without losing what made the original so beloved, then based on what I’ve played so far, the team seems to be heading in the right direction.

Watch Five Early Gameplay Videos

During the preview session, I was also able to capture gameplay from several parts of the game.

You will be able to watch five separate early gameplay videos on the OverHyped Gamer YouTube channel, giving you a much closer look at the remake, its combat, exploration, environments and overall presentation.

For someone who had never properly played Heroes III before this session, I certainly didn’t expect to leave wanting more.

But that’s exactly what happened.

Thanks once again to Ubisoft and the development team for inviting me to the remote preview session and giving me the opportunity to experience Heroes of Might and Magic III ahead of its wider reveal.