Unfrozen studio presented the third devlog dedicated to the features of creating a turn-based strategy Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era. The article discusses the challenges faced by authors working on a franchise they did not create themselves, as well as their approach to returning to the world of Enroth.
As the developers note, creating a game based on an existing franchise requires a special approach. On the one hand, fans expect something authentic, true to the spirit of the original, but on the other hand, a new project needs to bring something new so as not to look like simple fan fiction. In the case of Might & Magic, the task is further complicated by the fact that this franchise has a rich and rather complicated history.
The devlog focused on the transition from the early Heroes of Might & Magic series, which shared the same cosmology with the main Might & Magic series, to the later games, starting with HoMM IV. After the third part, an eschatological event occurred, as a result of which some of the inhabitants of Enroth moved to new worlds, and the games from the fifth part were a “soft restart”, more focused on traditional fantasy.
With Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era, the authors return to the roots – to the original world of the series, Enroth. Unfrozen emphasizes that, despite the departure of later games in the series into more fantasy themes, the original Might & Magic universe was always techno-fantasy with elements of science fiction, where demons were representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations and magic was technology.
The team raised an interesting question about how fans perceive the world of Heroes of Might & Magic. Although the original universe of the series was techno-fantasy, many fans of Heroes preferred to see it purely as fantasy without a scientific background. One example is the famous Forge faction, which was supposed to appear in HoMM III and reflect the more technological side of the world, but was met with strong opposition from fans, which led to its removal from the game.
The demons of the Inferno faction, as noted in the article, are in fact alien creatures, but this information is almost not revealed in the Heroes of Might & Magic games themselves – it could be learned from other sources, including from the games of the original Might & Magic series or the Internet. As a result, part of the community was divided: some players value techno-fantasy and consider it an important part of the universe, while others consider these elements unnecessary, which only break the immersion in the world of “Heroes”.
These disagreements raise the question of whether it is possible to create a game that suits all fans. Unfrozen understands that among HoMM fans there are both ers and opponents of techno-fantasy, and recognizes that the developers themselves also have divided opinions.
Unfrozen also decided that in Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era, the different peoples of Jadam would have different ideas about the world, adding layers and conflicts of worldviews to the game. For example, followers of the Temple believe that the Sun is a magical cup into which the souls of the righteous fall, strengthening it with their virtue. Necromancers hate the templars for their views, because they artificially retain souls in the bodies of the dead, depriving them of their sacred purpose.
In the spirit of subjective storytelling, players will be able to see how different peoples interpret the same phenomena differently. For the dark elves, for example, the Sun is just a ball of fire in the sky, and for the satyr from Murmurwood, the dispute between templars and necromancers seems meaningless, because his people believe that souls are sucked back into the world after death.
In Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era, all descriptions of creatures and objects are made by a character within the game – a scientist who, although he tries to be objective, can make mistakes or interpret the culture of other peoples through his own prism. This approach echoes the idea of an unreliable narrator, which was used in the original Might & Magic games. For example, some residents of Enroth believed that the VARN ship was an ordinary sea vessel, although in fact it was a spaceship.
The devlog also discussed the geography and facts of Jadam’s world. The developers shared the first concepts of the world map and described how different regions affect the events of the game. For example, the largest volcano is in the Spire of Shadows, but it is dormant as the volcanoes to the south are active. However, even despite such clear facts, some elements of the game remain open to interpretation: volcanoes could be the cause of a new threat, or vice versa – it awakened volcanoes.
Some of these questions will be answered in the story campaign, but many points will remain unsaid, giving players the opportunity to build their own theories and search for the truth in this complex and multi-layered world.
