Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era hits Early Access with six factions and a 25% launch discount

Early Access starts with six factions

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era became available in Early Access on April 30. The launch version includes Temple, Dungeon, Schism, Grove, Necropolis, and Hive, plus an in-game tutorial and the first act of the campaign.

Unfrozen also bundled more than a barebones test build. Launch-day Early Access includes premade scenarios, Classic, Single Hero, and Arena modes in both single-player and multiplayer, plus matchmaking, ranked play, leaderboards, hotseat, puzzle-style challenges, a pre-release map editor, and a wide spread of Random Map Generator templates.

Launch discount and roadmap pressure

• 25% Early Access release discount for the first 2 weeks
• 1.5 million wishlists before launch
• Top 10 wishlisted spot on Steam, according to the studio

The shape of the launch is notable because many Early Access strategy games open with one mode and a promise. Olden Era is trying the opposite approach: multiple rulesets, public matchmaking, and creation tools right away. That raises the risk of rough edges, but it also gives the community far more to stress-test immediately.

Unfrozen says the next few weeks will be a hotfix cycle rather than a victory lap. It plans to ship fixes continuously after launch and publish a broader roadmap once early player feedback settles. For a strategy game going public with multiplayer balance, ranked play, and replay systems on day one, that promise matters.

The Reddit thread in r/Games sat at 452 points and 93 comments at crawl time. The tone mixed old-school Heroes nostalgia with immediate questions about balance, missing campaign acts, and how quickly post-launch fixes will arrive.

Source: Steam news · Reddit thread