Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era Shared Hive Faction Overview

The developers of the upcoming turn-based strategy Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era have shared the Hive Faction overview. Unlike the previous strategy installments that featured the more classical demons, Olden Era is tapping into their insectoid identity. Prepare your mandibles!“For as long as the Heroes of Might and Magic series has been popular, it drew heavily from mythology, folk legends, alchemy, and botany to create a unique blend of flavours, biomes, and realms that we all love to this day. For the past 25 (soon to be 26!) years, the Inferno faction — consisting of demons and its various allies — have been often acting as one of the villains of the story or the agents of discord working in the background of the plot. Some of the other very well known threats were King Archibald, Sandro or Kilgor, whom you should be familiar with if you played the campaigns of the previous Heroes games. However, the Inferno faction has its own background story and timeline, and as we chose to return to the world of Enroth, we were fully aware that we could not present the demons exactly in the same way, as seen in Heroes III.”

For their reasoning, the devs have stated the following:

• The event that kickstarts the Inferno presence in Enroth and Antagarich — Night of Shooting Stars and subjugation of Eeofol — happens centuries after the events of Olden Era;
• As seen in the RPGs Might and Magic 6 and 7, the primary focus of the invasion were the continents of Enroth and Antagarich, with no notable information about its moves in Jadame;
• By the time of the RPG Might and Magic 8, there’s no devil presence left whatsoever on Jadame, indicating that they were completely wiped out across the continent (if they have ever been there at all).

Thinking about all of that and using the inspiration from the half-sentient tribes of wasps found in Might and Magic 8, the developers from Unfrozen have ended up with a mixture of occultism, body horror, and heavy lore references combined into one well-oiled machine. Hive’s playstyle is intended to act as a monofaction, encouraging you to play with an army consisting primarily of Hive units.

About Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era:

Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era promises a return to the origins of the legendary saga, inviting both veterans and new players alike to explore Jadame, a mysterious continent in turmoil.

The game will be coming into Early Access in Q2 2025, featuring six factions: Temple (Classic Knights), Necropolis (Undead and Vampires), Sylvan (Nature and Fey Folk), Dungeon (Dark Elves and Underground Creatures), Hive (Demonic Insectoids, you are here!), and a sixth mysterious faction that will be revealed later. The devs plan to expand the list in the future updates and DLC.

Olden Era will offer three single-player modes: Campaign, Randomly Generated Map and Skirmish. There are also three multiplayer modes to enjoy: Classic Mode, One-Hero Mode & Arena.