Ubisoft's Plans for Heroes V

On March 30th, Ubisoft announced a new game under the Might and Magic brand, Heroes of Might and Magic V. The game is developed by Nival Interactive, the Russian company responsible for the Etherlords, Blitzkrieg and Silent Storm series. Ubisoft has opened an official teaser site as well as forums. Details about the game are still scarce at this point, but you will find below a summary of what has been revealed until now.

An extensive collection of artwork and screenshots can be found on the screenshots page and in-depth commentary can be found for a number of these shots at the Heroes V section of the Heroespedia. The site is updated all the time by fans, so keep an eye on it!

Features

• Beta Test: scheduled for this Summer, with a limited number of seats. The game has been playable for several months already;
• Campaigns: six single-player campaigns will deliver a unique storyline, with faction switching and linked stories;
• Combat: expect a hex grid, stacks, dragons, upgrades and other basic concepts from the previous games. Combat is tactical, with some real-time elements included, such as a time-limit;
• Creatures: considering upgrades and addons, the number of creatures will exceed the one from Heroes III. Many creatures will have spells of their own, such as angels that can perform healing;
• Demo: there will be one someday, featuring the two towns shown in the screenshots (life and, presumably, demons);
• Diplomacy: not a major part of the game, but creating alliances during missions will be possible;
• Editor: will be available;
• Expansion: already planned;
• Graphics: the game will use a 3D engine;
• Genre: the game will lean more towards strategy than RPG;
• Heroes: will not participate in combat as in Heroes IV, but will cast spells. All heroes from the previous games are gone;
• Multiplayer: the focus is on Internet play, but Hotseat and LAN will be included as well. Five different multiplayer modes will be available;
• Music: created by Rob King;
• Simultaneous Turns: considered, but only as a mean to speed up the early parts of the game;
• System Requirements: will remain low, and offer some scalability -- the rumor about high system requirements was denied;
• Storyline: "The demons kill the recently crowned king of the humans, Nicolai, whose wife Isabel seeks revenge. To defeat the demons, she makes an alliance with the undead followers of the necropolis -- a fatal decision..." Dragons will play a major role in the game.
• Towns: there are six of them, including Humans, Demons and Undead, and elves and orcs will be in the game. Note that demons and the undead form separated factions again, and that the new factions have nothing to do with those of Heroes IV. Towns will feel more alive than before;
• World: the events of the new game take place in a brand new world.

Interviews : A short Q&A with Fabrice Cambounet about Ubisoft's plans for the Might and Magic series, and some tidbits about the early development of Heroes V. In a longer interview at Heroric Corner, Fabrice answers questions about the two Heroes mods, and discusses the artwork that has been released so far. Finally, in the second Celestial Heavens interview, Fabrice talks about the rumored system requirements, the reactions from the fans, the towns and creatures included in the game and more.

Official Discussion Threads: Upon the request of Ubisoft, Celestial Heavens has gathered feedback from the players in a series of discussion threads based on specific themes.

1. Story (Discussion | Summary)
2. Implementation of 3D Graphics ( Discussion | Summary)
3. Favorite Sketch Poll ( Discussion | Summary)
4. Role of Heroes in Combat ( Discussion | Summary)
5. Map Editor ( Discussion | Summary)
6. Technological Advance ( Discussion )
7. Towns and Creatures ( Discussion | Summary)
8. Creature Structure ( Discussion)
9. Strategy and RPG Elements (Discussion)
10. Skills (Discussion)
11. Magic System (Discussion)
12. The Battlefield (Discussion)

Important Forum Posts: There are dozens of forum threads dealing with the new Heroes game, but these are the ones you should read first:

• Your Questions to Ubisoft: Got a question for Ubisoft and wish you could ask them directly? The producer of Heroes of Might and Magic V invited Round Table members to put their questions together in a single thread, and he will try to answer them. Look for a post by MuadDib in that thread.
• Answers from Ubisoft: all the direct answers from the "Questions to Ubisoft"-thread.
• So Sayeth Ubisoft: The breaking news about Ubisoft working on a new Heroes game.
• First Artwork from Ubisoft: The first impresssions of the fans as pieces of preliminary artwork were distributed to various fan sites.
• Answers from Ubisoft: a Summary: a collection of all questions answered by Fabrice Cambounet, should you feel reluctant to browse the rather large question thread.
• Discussion about last news from Fabrice: Discuss the latest revelations about the new Heroes game. The thread was created shortly after the release of the demon artwork in April.

Fan Proposals: Countless ideas have been submitted for a new Heroes game. Some fans went even further and wrote down detailed plans that include creature lineups, new gameplay features and hero classes. Here are some of the best articles to appear on the Round Table forums:

• Realism in HoMM: How Far to Go by Pitsu;
• Heroes by White Wizard;
• Compilation of ideas found on The Quill created by Jörgen Linde;
• Compiled Proposals by PeteusMax;
• Heroes of Might and Magic V proposal by Marelt Ekiran.

Archives: The description of New World Computing's plans for Heroes of Might and Magic V can be found here. Included are the first ever interview with Jon Van Caneghem and the Christian Vanover farewell message.