Heroes of Newerth

 PC
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 242 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 152 out of 242
  2. Mixed: 43 out of 242
  3. Negative: 47 out of 242

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  1. Mikester7
    Dec 11, 2011
    7
    Heroes of Newerth is a seriously solid transition from DotA for people that feel it is too old and/or don't like the engine limitations (of hero design, leavers, lag interruptions, lack of features). It adds new heroes as well as total copies from DotA. Originally Heroes of Newerth seemed to be made to be a total clone of DotA to give Dota players the ability to try out a "Dota 2.0" asHeroes of Newerth is a seriously solid transition from DotA for people that feel it is too old and/or don't like the engine limitations (of hero design, leavers, lag interruptions, lack of features). It adds new heroes as well as total copies from DotA. Originally Heroes of Newerth seemed to be made to be a total clone of DotA to give Dota players the ability to try out a "Dota 2.0" as such. At first it was a very promising game to totally wipe out DotA with new important features and engine and graphical enhancements. The gameplay itself is extremely solid and stays true to Dota, but now the gameplay is the only thing it has going for it. Heroes of Newerth is a terribly coded game, graphical issues, crashes, connection problems, servers dropping out, annoying bugs and much more stuff added to just be a pain in the backside. To make things worse, the community sucks, but it isn't the games fault for that, it's more the genre... S2 as a company also is pretty damn ordinary and I get the sense that they always take the factor of adding new stuff to the game, rather than fixing the current stuff that doesn't work (most patches will always have a bug that will not be fixed for a long time, for example, simple things like Herodex sorting and the time until you can unpause is still not fixed). Another thing is, if you compare Icefrog's balance change schedule of Dota, to S2's, it is generally pretty disgusting. A GAME LIKE THIS NEEDS TO BE BALANCED REGULARLY, NOT ONCE EVERY TWO MONTHS! When they do finally decide to balance the game it's usually too few and too minor changes to affect anything (did anyone see how Icefrog balanced the game, he was a freaking beast). To size it up, HoN has good points and many bad points, the gameplay is excellent, everything else is pretty damn ordinary. Still a better game than LoL though.… Expand
  2. 400lingrush
    Apr 4, 2011
    5
    HoN is the exact same as DotA, with a few key differences:

    1. HoN is missing about 20? heroes.
    2. HoN doesn't have anything comparable to DotA's "LoD" mode.
    3. HoN is full of 16 year old "pros" that had never even heard of DotA until this one came out.
    4. HoN costs $20.
    5. HoN is going to be dead in a year anyway, DotA players still play DotA, and most new players chose LoL.
  3. LordOFlibertY
    Jun 1, 2011
    6
    Heroes of Newerth is almost the exact product as DoTa but with updated graphics.
    This remains highly controversial as many former-Dota players can pick up HoN fairly easily whilst other players refuse to make the transfer as it offers little to no new ideas. Other then the graphics there is no reason to make the transfer from DotA. Overall, Heroes of Newerth offers nothing new and League    Heroes of Newerth is almost the exact product as DoTa but with updated graphics.
    This remains highly controversial as many former-Dota players can pick up HoN fairly easily whilst other players refuse to make the transfer as it offers little to no new ideas. Other then the graphics there is no reason to make the transfer from DotA. Overall, Heroes of Newerth offers nothing new and League of Legend is obviously the dominate contender of the two's rivalry.    … Expand
  4. Contemptible
    Feb 29, 2012
    6
    To summarize how I feel about this game I'll simply say I like it but the community sucks. It's not very user friendly to new players and the community is horrible to everyone (or just about anyone and everyone who has a bad game). I only play this game with friends because its the only time I enjoy it and will never play it again with randoms. some of the biggest cons which rank below howTo summarize how I feel about this game I'll simply say I like it but the community sucks. It's not very user friendly to new players and the community is horrible to everyone (or just about anyone and everyone who has a bad game). I only play this game with friends because its the only time I enjoy it and will never play it again with randoms. some of the biggest cons which rank below how bad the community is is that the matchmaking is pretty poorly done and you can wait up to 10 minutes to get into some games. This game can be enjoyable and well-balanced however I highly recommend that you play it with people you know so you get the most enjoyment out of it. I am not overreacting to how bad the community is (90% of games I've played have contained flaming and abuse), If the community was better I'd give this game a 9/10.… Expand
  5. vincesz
    Feb 22, 2012
    7
    I'm giving this score as of when it came out in 2010.

    Essentially a dota port, but does a lot of things differently and questionably so. I started playing it in beta back in '09 and have now migrated to Dota 2 after dropping this game in 2010. At the time it came out, it was the best MOBA game out there; it had fixes for everything that made dota clunky and miserable, and some cool new    I'm giving this score as of when it came out in 2010.

    Essentially a dota port, but does a lot of things differently and questionably so. I started playing it in beta back in '09 and have now migrated to Dota 2 after dropping this game in 2010. At the time it came out, it was the best MOBA game out there; it had fixes for everything that made dota clunky and miserable, and some cool new graphics/art. Things like reconnecting to games if your computer crashed, online matchmaking, parties, etc. which dota sorely lacked and still has issues with. One new introduction, that I would argue is incredibly detrimental, is player stats. That is: gold/min, kdr, etc. This REALLY encourages individualistic play over team play in what is clearly a team game. Another downside is that HoN has an incredibly unforgiving and downright mean user base, and hardly anyone is ever banned for abusive language or behavior.

    It began to diverge from dota and try to claim a new identity of its own when the devs caught wind of dota 2. Now, the game is in a weird place where League of Legends has a far larger user base, and is making more money off of them, and Dota 2 is coming in with Valve's full force behind it. HoN is trying to play both sides by adding unique heroes and go free-to-play.

    To be honest, if I had to rate this game today, it would get a 5; Dota 2 just blows it out of the water and there's no reason to stick with this game.    … Expand
  6. oblivion2011
    Jul 3, 2011
    7
    Compared to its competition, it revives DotA better than the rest. But for 30 bucks, I could have spent it on (a) better game(s). And regardless of its revival, you might want to stick with the original DotA, as you might spent endless hours grinding for the "extra" stuff in this "full version" game.
  7. Seraphix
    Nov 11, 2013
    5
    Enjoyed playing this game before it went free to play. Was an easy move from Dota 1 to HON. Main issues were new heroes coming in and being powerful. Then they introduced the feature to buy access to those heroes before the general public would get access. Would suggest Dota 2 or LOL over HON.
  8. Atr0s
    Jul 14, 2012
    5
    A valid DotA-clone, with new interesting features and content. However, S2 Games is not keen on what makes or breaks a game, prioritizing on releasing new content (which helps a lot on their income, considering their new, and criticized, business model) than fixing the current problems. While you may find HoN very attractive for a experience while Dota2 is in beta phase, you'll findA valid DotA-clone, with new interesting features and content. However, S2 Games is not keen on what makes or breaks a game, prioritizing on releasing new content (which helps a lot on their income, considering their new, and criticized, business model) than fixing the current problems. While you may find HoN very attractive for a experience while Dota2 is in beta phase, you'll find yourself at odds with the community it attracts. Lots of obnoxious players and no way to curb them may make your experience on a multiplayer team-focused game very unpleasant.… Expand
  9. Watersson
    Feb 23, 2014
    6
    I think that HoN is a pretty good copy of DOTA 2 Similarly the same map and heroes. The sound effects are different (but this is not no innovation). The game has an extremely hopeless optimization. Developers should seek their own ideas and not copied from competitors.
  10. Larux18
    May 19, 2012
    6
    When I tried this game 3 months ago I was extremely unfamiliar with this genre, I just couldn't find myself to like it, it was unforgiving and all the games lasted a very long time. It took me a lot of time to adapt, after I did it became a little bit better but not much. It is good S2Games took the world of Savage 1 and 2 and expanded it much more than before but this is not a game forWhen I tried this game 3 months ago I was extremely unfamiliar with this genre, I just couldn't find myself to like it, it was unforgiving and all the games lasted a very long time. It took me a lot of time to adapt, after I did it became a little bit better but not much. It is good S2Games took the world of Savage 1 and 2 and expanded it much more than before but this is not a game for everyone and it wasn't for me, I'd rather be playing Savage 2 that apparently has way more people than this. Graphics are good, sound is decent, story doesn't exist, and the gameplay is tedious. It may get repetitive in a short time the only thing that varies is the heroes, once you figure out the different types it becomes the same thing over and over. I didn't enjoy this, the best part of this game though it that its free, so try it and take the verdict yourself.… Expand
  11. nictimus
    Jan 6, 2013
    6
    From all mobas I got to say this game is the hardest not only in skill and learning but in fitting the community... This game have the worst community of all, your only chance of success in this game is to ignore all the critics from your teamates, above this, this game have great graphics and a high skill cap. I give this game a 6.
  12. AdderTude
    Apr 3, 2013
    6
    This is an updated review after I had originally written some scathing criticisms about Heroes of Newerth.

    Since writing my original review, I discovered that the game was updated a few months ago with bots and other improvements. The addition of bots piqued my interest and I downloaded Heroes of Newerth again. I was actually quite impressed with the changes that adding bots did to    This is an updated review after I had originally written some scathing criticisms about Heroes of Newerth.

    Since writing my original review, I discovered that the game was updated a few months ago with bots and other improvements. The addition of bots piqued my interest and I downloaded Heroes of Newerth again. I was actually quite impressed with the changes that adding bots did to the game. Although there were still a lot of rude people (mostly from Europe, therefore I permanently avoided using those servers after games with guys who cussed repeatedly over the voice chat at mistakes teammates made), I enjoyed the updated tutorial (thank goodness!) which better introduced me to the game than the original did last summer. I also liked the AI of the bots to a certain extent. The number of bots are very limited. Developer S2 only made a handful of bots internally, leaving the rest of the bots for the community to create. Other than that, predicting the bots' behavior after a few rounds helped me settle into the steep learning curve a lot easier than the first time I played. Since Co-op vs. AI was added, the player community overall improved a lot, especially after I learned that vote-kicking outright was replaced with vote-kicking AFK players only.

    However, I still have some issues with the game. I've been playing off and on for a few weeks now and I noticed something that the game lacks, and that is balancing. Every single update that comes out, there is only the cosmetic bug fixes to some heroes so their abilities respond better, but overall, I've seen absolutely no hero balancing whatsoever. Therefore, a hero that's fed early can snowball out of control very easily and single-handedly fend off the entire enemy team (or kill them within a second as soon as they spawn at the fountain). Not even the champions of League of Legends can do this sort of slaughter! It's ridiculous.

    Overall, the bots (and a friendly player) brought me back into the game. While it's still not a cakewalk for new players to pick up the game, the overhauled tutorial and new bots will still help rookies get familiar with the game. I'd still recommend League of Legends over Heroes of Newerth due partially to the lack of hero balancing but if you can grasp the mechanics quickly, the game is a fun, fast-paced alternative MOBA to play if you're looking for something new.    … Expand
  13. dpunk
    Jun 23, 2013
    7
    Heroes of Newerth is a second generation arena real-time strategy(A-RTS), also known as action real-time strategy and belonging to the multiplayer online battle arena(MOBA) sub-genre, and is a DOTA-clone. Alongside League of Legends and Dota 2, are the only truly worthy DOTA-clones.

    Heroes of Newerth has a highly technical aspect worth praise and leads the game to having a high replay    Heroes of Newerth is a second generation arena real-time strategy(A-RTS), also known as action real-time strategy and belonging to the multiplayer online battle arena(MOBA) sub-genre, and is a DOTA-clone. Alongside League of Legends and Dota 2, are the only truly worthy DOTA-clones.

    Heroes of Newerth has a highly technical aspect worth praise and leads the game to having a high replay value. The game is also responsive, which is worth noting compared to DOTA and Dota 2, which are known for being relatively unresponsive.

    HoN uses a free-2-play model with a low pay-2-win barring in the form of 'early access' that is currently suspended for an indeterminate amount of time. Therefore, has de facto no pay-2-win aspect.

    The game is not meant for the casual gamer and lends itself to the moderate-hardcore gaming crowd. For those moderate-hardcore gamers, this is definitely worth giving a try. Casual gamers, steer clear.

    All my reviews are given a base of 10 with marks of -1 points for notable negative aspects of the game.

    -1 Extremely critical community. Unfriendly, sometimes even hostile, to new players.
    -1 Developers of the game (S2 Games) historically, consistently implement and reverse major changes.
    -1 Features Region Locks    … Expand
  14. zmmby
    Dec 23, 2013
    6
    Heroes of Newerth is a more advanced and steep learning curve within the MOBA industry.

    Compared to Dota 2 and LoL, i find it more mature (within the game, not the community) and very much more withdrawn from the basic skills. Its very challenging and has it intense moments. When you are fighting 5vs5 in the middle of the wars and your team is winning and raising down their base, its    Heroes of Newerth is a more advanced and steep learning curve within the MOBA industry.

    Compared to Dota 2 and LoL, i find it more mature (within the game, not the community) and very much more withdrawn from the basic skills. Its very challenging and has it intense moments.

    When you are fighting 5vs5 in the middle of the wars and your team is winning and raising down their base, its a pretty good feeling.

    Tho HoN has it downs too. The community is full with alot of self-ego rich kids, or russian idiots who dont even show respect to the others. They prefer to speak russian in the mic and ignore the rest of the team when they queue together as friends.

    If your looking for a good and advanced MOBA game, i'll still recommend HoN over Dota2 and LoL.

    Just get ready to have some patience and pick support alot to raise your MMR.
    When your getting higher rank, (1800+) you'll notice abit change in the attitude of your teammates which is good.

    More people are mature and reasonable, but beyond that is just a freaking disaster. Especially when you start your rank at 1500+. Be ready that people will not communicate, or pick support in the match.

    So aslong your patience, and willing to support with wards and courier alot in the start. You'll get your turn to pick a agi/strenght in time. :-)

    Due to the lack of community, im giving this game a 6. If it wouldnt because of the community, (or the money-grabbing S2 which releases a "once in a lifetime alternative avatar then re-release it the next half year" it would be a 10/10 gameplay.

    Because when you do get a good game, that rush is just incredible.
    Its very challenging and intense. HoN has it moments when its ALOT of fun and very compelling.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

62
#62 Best PC Game of 2010
36
#36 Most Discussed PC Game of 2010
80
#80 Most Shared PC Game of 2010

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. Game Revolution
    83
    The only real compelling argument for getting into the game now comes from that group of friends who spend hours a day playing, telling you how great it is until you finally give in and join the madness with them.
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  2. Gamers.at
    77
    Heroes of Newerth makes a lot of fun. The heroes are cool, you have the typical DotA atmosphere and the matchmaking system ensure fair play. Nevertheless HoN is mainly a game for DotA veterans.
    Read full review
  3. My Gamer
    76
    For anyone who is a super advanced DotA player, Newerth is a must buy, if only to keep up with the tournaments. Everyone else really should stay away due to the terrible community.
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