Might & Magic: Heroes VI

 PC
  • Publisher: Ubisoft
  • Release Date: Oct 13, 2011
User Score
5.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 681 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 258 out of 681
  2. Mixed: 218 out of 681
  3. Negative: 205 out of 681
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  1. adler
    Oct 18, 2011
    5
    Good graphics, quite nice AI, but the rest of game feels like its in pre-beta stage. No town screen, just some pop up window, it kills a good feeling of building city which all previous HoMM games had.Music is meh, they should look at HoMM 2 music as guide. Recruiting units is lousy done, you don't have much clue about unit stats. Technical issues are quite annoying, blinking cursor,Good graphics, quite nice AI, but the rest of game feels like its in pre-beta stage. No town screen, just some pop up window, it kills a good feeling of building city which all previous HoMM games had.Music is meh, they should look at HoMM 2 music as guide. Recruiting units is lousy done, you don't have much clue about unit stats. Technical issues are quite annoying, blinking cursor, locking of screen, then heroes , towns and resources randomly disappear. Everything feels like its half-baked, and you will have a feeling like developers wasn't really into this game, its not total disaster, but it does leave a bitter taste.… Expand
  2. rollercoaster
    Sep 17, 2013
    7
    Firstly, why I gave an 7, not a 8/ 9 or 10:
    1) town count is too low for the sixth game of the series, it should be growing, not decreasing, to me 6+2 was the best option till now, but I would be happy for 8 towns on the original game, as well :D
    2) No racial abilities. I mean, what the hell? that is what basically made each town special aside from units! 3) NO MAGIC GUILDS! WHYYYY?    Firstly, why I gave an 7, not a 8/ 9 or 10:
    1) town count is too low for the sixth game of the series, it should be growing, not decreasing, to me 6+2 was the best option till now, but I would be happy for 8 towns on the original game, as well :D
    2) No racial abilities. I mean, what the hell? that is what basically made each town special aside from units!
    3) NO MAGIC GUILDS! WHYYYY? Could have just expanded the magic guilds so that more spells could be obtained, but now you have to lose an ability point to learn a spell. Does not make sence to me.
    4) A lot of small things that keep on bugging me through the game, like almost all units having magic defence. How can a simple squire have some sort of magic defence??? How can a dragon have less speed than simple melee units??? Why the hell you cant look around your town???
    5) ONLY FOUR RESOURCES!!!! an so on and so on. BUT:
    1) graphics are great, story is interesting, campaign is captivating,
    2) the huge skill tree is awesome no randomness anymore),
    3) no bugs for me surprisingly, so I dont get what is the big fuzz about that one.
    4)great job creating Sanctuary, but still can be improved!!!
    5) The music is ok, does not bother me, keeps the mood, but could be improved.

    Overall, you can adapt to all the little minuses, and just try to forget about what you dont like, because nothing is perfect and just enjoy the great Campaign and Multiplayer games!!!! Hopingly they will make a fusion of the HOMM5 and 6 taking the best from both games and making one with many cities to chose, many spells to be learnd at the Magic Guilds, great graphics, RACIAL ABILITIES, huger skill tree, more structural buildings to build, more heroes for each race, MORE towns and races, not less, MORE, and MOVING town screens and unit screens, and finally fix all the little bugs we have been complaining for a decade :D    … Expand
  3. Violett
    Mar 27, 2013
    6
    This game is worse than any HoMM game. I didnt understand resource variety reduction. Plot is weak, AI is stupid. And how the hell they could ruin almost perfect castle screen from HoMM 5
  4. Liquidfoxx
    Apr 27, 2012
    7
    (Google the DRM issue and what happens when your not connected to the internet and want to play issue, I dont feel like talking about it, it has already been talked about so much just know its really... really.. really bad) A great game! But be warned. This game is not for the faint of heart. I know what your thinking, "A seven but the game is great?" Well, even though the combat is fun,(Google the DRM issue and what happens when your not connected to the internet and want to play issue, I dont feel like talking about it, it has already been talked about so much just know its really... really.. really bad) A great game! But be warned. This game is not for the faint of heart. I know what your thinking, "A seven but the game is great?" Well, even though the combat is fun, the interface works just fine, and the approach is decent, there are a few things that are wrong. First off anyone that gives this game a 10, your wrong. Right off the bat the story sucks, plane and simple. I dont care if this game is not about the story (I dont know what makes you think that its not, it is..) but its just not there. Bad voice acting, (even the bird sucks) and its all over the place. That being said, the heart of the game is in the strat. So most people dont flock to this game for the story, and its only cause they know there is not one.. People come to this game for the strategy, but! If you like to build up resources and troops this game is not for you! AS YOU TAKE YOUR TIME! THEY GROW AND GET STRONGER! So if your the, build up your base and troops kind of guy you will only hurt yourself and find out that doing so demands restarting. So! Graphics are pretty good. No complaint there. So.. Now the big debate.. THE DIFFICULTY!. I had trouble in the start... and middle... and end, but hey! You might be much better than me, but to tell the truth, I consider my self quite a strategist. I have played games like this all my life and and my first job (US Army Special Intelligence Operations) required me to go to schools where we did the same thing (seriously, like you have this many, he has that many, here is what your troops have and can do, now take turns on this map). So not only do I consider my self good at it, but im certified. Now it was not impossible, just more challanging than fun at certian points. You probably have experianced games where they are so challanging that the fun seems to excape it (N Gidan or how ever you spell it). So if your someone who does not like playing games on easy, but does not like being beat down on normal this is not the game for you, but like I said, its all about strategy and you might be a far greater player than me, so maybe a demo or watching some of the harder fights on youtube is in order. So all in all its a game that needs some tweeking, or maybe different settings. The lack of a good story makes the game feel more like, "ON TO THE NEXT FIGHT FOR A REASON I COULD CARE LESS FOR SKIP SKIP SKIP SKIP" when lets be honest.. Story should be the easy part of the game. How many writers are there on this planet looking for work? The game seems to have a really tough curve (this is diff for everyone). Pro's: Hard game (pro / con) Great turn base strategy, Good graphics, Cool units, Great design. Con: Hard game (pro / con) Story sucks, DRM (who thought this was a good idea???) And pretty much it. But impacts the game greatly. Could out wiegh the pros for a lot of players.… Expand
  5. Sirik_Matak
    May 24, 2015
    6
    It's really hard to comment on Heroes VI.
    It has both great things and really bad, disgusting things I wish Ubisoft would go bancrupt for.
    The first thing one can see, is the new visual style, that is more than welcome, having in memory a terrible, wowish HoMM5 I always quit after few hours because of. I mean, ghouls from 6 compared to zombies from 5? What sane person would choose    It's really hard to comment on Heroes VI.
    It has both great things and really bad, disgusting things I wish Ubisoft would go bancrupt for.

    The first thing one can see, is the new visual style, that is more than welcome, having in memory a terrible, wowish HoMM5 I always quit after few hours because of. I mean, ghouls from 6 compared to zombies from 5? What sane person would choose Nival's abominaiton over that tasty piece of art design Heroes VI offers?
    Heroes VI is absolutely beautiful, with an every single element drawn/rendered into perfection that comes together with everything else, creating the stunning game world you don't really want to leave. Every single thing has its own unique character and in addition to a tasty soundtrack (that borrows from classic HoMM titles) and sounds assets there's really nothing to criticise.

    The core gameplay is fine, too. I know some people criticise ditching most of the resources. I was concerned about it too, but it's not a game breaking change. The resources are there to manage and force players to think strategically (what do I need to build, in what order and what should I conquer to make it all work) and since in Heroes VI you will almost never encounter having virtually endless resources (unless you play on the easiest settings of course, but that's how it works in previous games as well), it's tolerable. The resources serve their purpose. Same with the heroes progression. Yeah, HoMM 4's progression is still supreme, but VI's ain't bad as well. Your heroes still will vary a lot depending on what kind of character you want to have.
    Same with tactical combat which is way, way, way better than 5's. I think that tactical combat in VI's is th best in the whole series. To play against your friend is pure fun (the AI is - still - pretty bad).

    The campaigns are hit'n'miss with a terrible design choice of forcing player into rushing them through, since bosses tend to grow their armies into infinity. The campaign is simply not possible to finish on hard difficulty if you even try to waste one turn on secondary objective.

    But then you hit Conflux. Jesus. It makes you want to quit and kill yourself. It's so bad, it mostly kills all the joy from the game, with a terrible mechanic of your "dynasty", dynasty weapons, heroes and treats. Jesus Christ, it's impossible to accurately describe the horror Conflux is.

    If they try to implement it in Heroes VII it really can kill the series definitely.    … Expand
  6. fadeinlight
    Jan 5, 2014
    7
    **Disclaimer: I've been a fan of the HOMM series since the mid '90's, so this review is a bit biased.

    This game might have scored a 9, if it weren't for a couple of issues. I've owned this game for about a week now, and this is the second night in a week that I've been unable to connect to the Conflux servers (which give access to more content than is generally available). While I    **Disclaimer: I've been a fan of the HOMM series since the mid '90's, so this review is a bit biased.

    This game might have scored a 9, if it weren't for a couple of issues. I've owned this game for about a week now, and this is the second night in a week that I've been unable to connect to the Conflux servers (which give access to more content than is generally available). While I can still play custom games, I can't continue on in my campaign--the only option I have is to start a separate, presumably offline-mode one.

    I understand that companies are interested in protecting their properties via online requirements--but if they should decide to do so, at the very least they should have their servers up on a regular basis so that you can -actually play the game-.

    Besides that, the game is fine. I was skeptical at most of the changes, but I've found some of my fears to be unfounded. For instance, dropping down to four resources hasn't really bothered me as much as I thought it might...and having to take over forts/cities in order to control mines just changes the dynamic so that you've got to focus on said properties--basically, it's harder to change ownership, but once you get it, it's harder to lose ownership as well.

    I'm missing some of the vast variety of buildings, plus the ability to have heroes learn spells by visiting some of those buildings and cities as well. I miss running heroes around and getting them uber-powerful.

    The storyline is old-hat fantasy stuff, with orcs that don't use connecting words, heroes that all have British accents and the like. There's a handy little "skip" button that I like to use for the cut scenes, but unfortunately there's no way to automatically skip the little animation that plays when one of your stacks gets a critical hit. Seeing it two or three times is fine--the fortieth time gets a little bit weary.

    On the positive side, the graphics are light-years beyond anything that they've been before, the maps are huge, the sound is atmospheric, and beyond the ridiculous Conflux issues, I would argue that this is a suitable advancement of a series that has devoured as many hours of my life as any other.    … Expand
  7. GreenMenace
    Oct 3, 2022
    5
    It’s the black sheep in the Heroes family (it even changed its name). Ubisoft got way too confident after Heroes V’s popularity and promptly drove the beloved series into the ground by trying to monetize the game like it was some sort of Moba.

    Pros Best looking Heroes game to date Strategy Different from the standard Heroes formula. Cons Grinding for meaningless achievements No    It’s the black sheep in the Heroes family (it even changed its name). Ubisoft got way too confident after Heroes V’s popularity and promptly drove the beloved series into the ground by trying to monetize the game like it was some sort of Moba.

    Pros
    Best looking Heroes game to date
    Strategy
    Different from the standard Heroes formula.

    Cons
    Grinding for meaningless achievements
    No RMG
    Lack of neutral monsters

    So there it is, the game looks great, and it plays great—but it doesn’t feel finished. Five factions come with the base game. It’s like the developers didn’t pay any attention to what players liked about the Heroes entries. It’s the diverse strategy and replay-ability, not the cheesy campaigns, that drive this game’s popularity. Even so, the five factions are very different from one another. This game aims to shorten the length of Heroes games by allowing players to choose the talent trees for Heroes, adding a fun element of Blood or Tears to really make four different types of heroes per faction. You can convert conquered towns to match your faction as well. It’s very different, but I didn’t mind that aspect since it made the game feel like a “Risk” board game. The changes made in the game allowed players to customize their hero.

    I didn’t mind the idea of rewarding the multiplayer aspect, but then a lot of fun features were locked behind a grind—some of which require well over a hundred games to unlock. If the game had an RMG, that maybe could have worked, but there weren’t many maps to choose from to begin with. And with less factions, there’s less kinds of troops, but somehow the developers thought it was good idea to cut back on neutral monsters as well. As a result, you’ll feel like you’re fighting the same fights over and over again. There were other cut corners in the original game, but the fanbase rallied and convinced the developers to add towns.

    It's really easy to summarize this game: it’s a fun game, but the cut corners cheated the game out of its own potential.    … Expand
  8. 18Xq8Rtutehc
    Mar 29, 2021
    5
    I played this game recently, some 20hours, after uninstalling and coming back to HOMM 3 and 5.
    My main issue is the difficulty. There is ZERO strategy to be had. HOMM was always a franchise where a good strategy could often turn the tide of battle against an overwhelming force. In this game, no. The AI is dumb, hard difficulties only make the enemies have more armies, and there is no    I played this game recently, some 20hours, after uninstalling and coming back to HOMM 3 and 5.
    My main issue is the difficulty. There is ZERO strategy to be had. HOMM was always a franchise where a good strategy could often turn the tide of battle against an overwhelming force. In this game, no. The AI is dumb, hard difficulties only make the enemies have more armies, and there is no strategy that can really overcome then, other than fine tuning your turns to perfection while being luck to find good artifacts early on.
    For a strategy game to be so reliant on luck, it is disappointing at best.    … Expand
  9. ejikvkaske
    Jan 16, 2013
    7
    Heroes 6 is a solid if somewhat misguided entry in the HOMM series that struggles underneath the weight of it's terrible DRM. The game offers good gameplay, UI, graphics and soundtrack. However, it makes the mistake of being overly focused on the campaign at the expense of custom games. Heroes 6 introduces a vast and completely unnecessary Dynasty system with tons of unlockable content,Heroes 6 is a solid if somewhat misguided entry in the HOMM series that struggles underneath the weight of it's terrible DRM. The game offers good gameplay, UI, graphics and soundtrack. However, it makes the mistake of being overly focused on the campaign at the expense of custom games. Heroes 6 introduces a vast and completely unnecessary Dynasty system with tons of unlockable content, probably in an attempt to justify the terrible DRM. Unlockable content simply does not belong in a 4X strategy game. This is not CoD. Instead the developers should have focused on creating more custom maps, and perhaps a random map generator. Enemy AI is also quite poor and needs improvement. In conclusion I'd like to add that the bugs have been mostly sorted out, and uplay, despite the bad rep, has gotten to the point where it's usable (I still hate it). Oh, and yes, they've added castle view. If you're a fan of the series, or the genre, you will probably enjoy this latest entry.… Expand
  10. turtlenuggets
    Nov 10, 2011
    5
    A very basic & yet deep game. It definitely assumes you have played heroes before. It could do with a tutorial or a decent wiki. Unfortunately though, what is quite a fun experience is ruined by retarded DRM. Waiting half an hour to synchronise your saved games is unforgivable.
  11. Spelledaren
    Oct 19, 2011
    7
    I've been waiting for this game for a long time. I loved 3rd and 5th installment of this game, and I actually played the 4th game quite a bit as well. Mostly I've been playing these in Hot Seat mode with friends. At first glance I wasn't too impressed with this 6th installment, but after spending a little more than 20 hours with the game I'm starting to enjoy it more and more.

    There are    I've been waiting for this game for a long time. I loved 3rd and 5th installment of this game, and I actually played the 4th game quite a bit as well. Mostly I've been playing these in Hot Seat mode with friends. At first glance I wasn't too impressed with this 6th installment, but after spending a little more than 20 hours with the game I'm starting to enjoy it more and more.

    There are some gameplay changes, most notably just one rare resource (Blood Crystal) and zones for resource control. But it all makes gameplay more smooth and in the end just makes the game more enjoyable. The visuals are very appealing and the game seems to be pretty well balanced between the different factions. I like the freedom of choice with the leveling system since it gives you more control over skills and spells, and this is actually one of the main reasons why I like the 6th installment so much.

    I would have wished for Sylvan or Academy (present in the 5th installment) instead of the Sanctuary faction - but I think it's great that they are trying out some new ideas. And hopefully there will be two add-ons wich will bring some old beloved faction back into the 6th installment.

    The game suffers from some bugs, but nothing that can't be fixed and nothing too severe to put me off playing it. I've experienced some crashes due to Conflux (the online Ubisoft profile), the server seems not to be all too stable and I have some troubles with my firewall since the game seems to run on different ports than the game itself (solution was to turn the firewall off). I do like the idea of unlocking game extras through the Conflux though.

    All in all it's a great game, and Hot Seat have been working flawlessly for me and my friend. If you liked the previous games you'll love this one!

    Pros: + Lots of fun + Choosing your own skills and spells when leveling + Gameplay changes help speed up the game

    Cons: - Connection problems with Conflux - Camera control occasionally bugs me    … Expand
  12. Pagrimuha
    Nov 2, 2011
    5
    A lot of flaws in the game discourage the desire to play it. I understand the difference between bugs and flaws of programming code. Bugs is the undocumented features of the programme.But when developers can not test documented skills and weapons it is a carelessly published product.
    Very sad but the developer and publisher has released the crude product.
    There is no reason to trust them more.
  13. theFunkyMan
    Oct 18, 2011
    7
    Quite good heroes game, but contains plenty of bugs(just quickload the game and try searching your hero :)), there are much waiting times between turns, and the story is very boring. The enemy heroes are very computing and coward, but this is common in heroes games. The interface is a bit chaotic, but the square in combat mode are very disgusting? Why couldn't they make something nicer?
  14. odium_toh
    Jan 28, 2012
    6
    I believe Heroes 6 to be a game which had the potential to become the best of the series but failed to meet these expectations at least until now. Up to the current version of the game (1.2.1) and after almost 3 months since release, there are loads of bugs which shouldn't make it into a game that is published. Since Blackhole is busy fixing bugs, there is no hope for them working onI believe Heroes 6 to be a game which had the potential to become the best of the series but failed to meet these expectations at least until now. Up to the current version of the game (1.2.1) and after almost 3 months since release, there are loads of bugs which shouldn't make it into a game that is published. Since Blackhole is busy fixing bugs, there is no hope for them working on balancing between factions. Also there is no balance between skills, which leads to "perfect recipes" that make the game boring. On top of this, the multiplayer part is almost non-existent at this stage because of several reasons: there is no possibility for playing user-made maps in multi, there is no random map generator, there are no simultaneous turns and the fans have been split on regional servers making impossible for members of multiplayer communities to play among each other if they are from different regions.

    However there are some good points. Contrary to what other fans are saying I find the reduced resource system to be better from a multiplayer point of view. I also find the approach with shared creature pool among a player's castles to be beneficial since it's removing a great deal of the menial chaining of heroes. The 3 tier creature system (core, elite, champion) also seems to make sense. The unit composition of the different races is very good compared to its predecessors. All in all, the cons are more important than the pros and thus until now I find the game too buggy and, sadly, too boring.    … Expand
  15. Gratson
    Oct 14, 2011
    7
    Solid Heroes game, although not a lot of innovation here they did improve a lot of things. The best thing about it is that the campaign is way better than any other Heroes game I've played. It's relatively easy (at least as far as I've played it) but the storyline is good which is what I'm looking for in a roleplaying experience anyway.

    For anyone who enjoys Heroes of Might and Magic    Solid Heroes game, although not a lot of innovation here they did improve a lot of things. The best thing about it is that the campaign is way better than any other Heroes game I've played. It's relatively easy (at least as far as I've played it) but the storyline is good which is what I'm looking for in a roleplaying experience anyway.

    For anyone who enjoys Heroes of Might and Magic type of games, I would recommend this to you. It's not revolutionary but it's a fun game. I also like the fact they force you to conquer forts to take over mines and lumbermills etc, makes it much less tedious than previous Heroes games when you had to constantly send your armies to take back all the mines and lumbermills that the AI stole from you.    … Expand
  16. vandana
    Nov 20, 2011
    5
    I had high hopes for this iteration of HoM&M aka MM: Heroes having played the promising demo. My hopes for a great game still haven't died but at this point in time I cannot give the game the score I would like to give. And it has nothing to do with the fact I loved Heroes 3 as most of the fans of this series. It's all about the bugs.

    There are some gameplay changes that revolutionize the    I had high hopes for this iteration of HoM&M aka MM: Heroes having played the promising demo. My hopes for a great game still haven't died but at this point in time I cannot give the game the score I would like to give. And it has nothing to do with the fact I loved Heroes 3 as most of the fans of this series. It's all about the bugs.

    There are some gameplay changes that revolutionize the series - some of them seem like a great idea but still need some balancing work (skills tree and ability to build your character as you see fit), some of them were probably introduced by the developers to make their life easier (resource count decreased to 4 which will probably help with map design), some of them are plain brilliant (new Sanctuary faction).

    The graphics are beautiful PROVIDED you get to turn on anti-aliasing which is not available without external mods/applications (you can get an unofficial patch for nVidia cards or override default settings or use Radeon card tools). Sound and music are OK although previous games offered more diverse tracks. Some of the music was copied but that may actually be an advantage - new Heroes sound Heroesy.

    And now we come to the most annoying thing about this game (the second most annoying thing is aggressive DRM with limited access to the game features in single player campaign for offline players) - THE BUGS!!!

    The game is so broken it doesn't work on some systems. There are game-breaking bugs like luck is not working at all, some units are not using their abilities properly, some quests cannot be completed, some items are disappearing. For the full list check the official game forum where the bugs thread has 60 pages or so.

    The game publisher fails to communicate with the customers, there is no timescale for patch release therefore my final opinion on this game is largely affected by the fact that the game was released in early beta stage and the publisher tricked me to buying it.

    The game has potential, when fixed it can be the greatest Heroes yet, however I strongly advise you to wait with purchasing it till the patch comes out or the game hits "on sale" shelves.    … Expand
  17. Scottster
    Jan 7, 2012
    5
    IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT BUYING THIS GAME...
    WAIT !!! ____ I have to admit I was drawn in by the cool graphics and enjoyed the game for a while.____
    Then the problems started.____ All of your Hero data AND saved games are stored on their server called the Conflux.____ If the that server is down, you can still play... BUT you will have to start over a new campaign and will not have    IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT BUYING THIS GAME...
    WAIT !!! ____ I have to admit I was drawn in by the cool graphics and enjoyed the game for a while.____
    Then the problems started.____
    All of your Hero data AND saved games are stored on their server called the Conflux.____
    If the that server is down, you can still play... BUT you will have to start over a new campaign and will not have access to any saved games that previously had.____
    It has been down twice in the week since I had the game.____
    (I bought it during the STEAM Holiday sale)____

    And if that was not bad enough, they have a UbiSoft game launcher that you have to log-in to before you can start the game, and that has been down too. If that launcher cannot connect, you have to start the game in "Offline mode" and again you have no access to your Heroes or saved games.____

    Furthermore, their forums are down, and have been since January 1st.____
    On the site it says... and I quote...____ "The official Ubisoft Forums are closed for a few days as weâ    … Expand
  18. lorienwarden
    Oct 17, 2011
    7
    The game itself is good (not that it could be better, much better), almost all gameplay mechanics changes didn't break the game. But the story is the absolute disaster - dialogues and voices (maybe voicing is ok in english version, i get the localized RU from steam) are beyond terrible. I was actually enjoying the storylines of the preceding HMM games, but in HMM6, while listening to theseThe game itself is good (not that it could be better, much better), almost all gameplay mechanics changes didn't break the game. But the story is the absolute disaster - dialogues and voices (maybe voicing is ok in english version, i get the localized RU from steam) are beyond terrible. I was actually enjoying the storylines of the preceding HMM games, but in HMM6, while listening to these awfuly voiced and extremely stupid dialogues, all i can feel is embarassment.
    Also, the game itself is very buggy yet, i believe they will fix all major bugs shortly, but prepare to reboot your PC often (i get consistent video driver crashes, despite having the latest one). Some bugs are kinda game-breaking and not related to technical issues (some triggers go off and you cannot launch them again, but they don't start game events that they should start) so you better save your game very often.
    Uplay with it's absurdly long syncing times just adds insult to injury.    … Expand
  19. lostdm
    Oct 25, 2011
    5
    In short: BAD multiplayer, good solo game.

    Unlike previous version (H5), you not only miss simultaneous turns , but you are not able to do anything while you wait for other people - you can not check your town, hero, skills, don't even have minimap, let alone ability to fight ghosts like in H5. Some tech issues exists, like long savegames on Ubisoft lackluster uplay system, and game    In short: BAD multiplayer, good solo game.

    Unlike previous version (H5), you not only miss simultaneous turns , but you are not able to do anything while you wait for other people - you can not check your town, hero, skills, don't even have minimap, let alone ability to fight ghosts like in H5.

    Some tech issues exists, like long savegames on Ubisoft lackluster uplay system, and game seems to break when uplay servers are not available. But it does not have game desync issues like H5 at least.

    So, if you plan to play H6 with your friends in multiplayer, you should give it another thought - waiting for 4 min(!) doing nothing after every 2min of your play (if only 3 players) means you play 33% of time, and are bored rest of it.    … Expand
  20. Yllems
    Nov 8, 2011
    7
    Good, but hard to get into it to begin.

    Ever since I played IV where the heroes were able to eventually solo dragons, I've been saddened with the newer games. The good: The skill trees aren't random anymore! There's a LOT of options, lots of room for diversity. Feels familiar to the other Heroes games, but basically all the main castles are reworked. A lot of the races have ways to    Good, but hard to get into it to begin.

    Ever since I played IV where the heroes were able to eventually solo dragons, I've been saddened with the newer games. The good: The skill trees aren't random anymore! There's a LOT of options, lots of room for diversity. Feels familiar to the other Heroes games, but basically all the main castles are reworked. A lot of the races have ways to bring back fallen creatures with buildings in your towns. The dynasty weapons are fun and useful. It really grows on you as you play, are the plot and characters are well acted and carried out. I particularly liked how the campaigns meshed together. While I don't feel like the game has a ton of replay value, it will suck up quite a bit of time just going through the campaigns (70+ hours easy).

    The Bad: The skill trees are so diverse it's hard to know where to go with them at first, and they don't really give you any ideas either. Since you don't need more then 2 heroes, it's hard to justify playing very different throughout the different campaigns once you figure out what works and what doesn't. The races that can't bring back their creatures with buildings are going to be seriously gimped in any multi player setting. The leveling up of your profile is kinda interesting, though it gets "really" slow to level up after awhile, and the starting bonuses just doesn't seem to make that big of a difference until the super high levels which you won't ever reach even after beating all the campaigns. I really miss having to worry about my back cities instead of being able to town portal whenever you need to go. I also miss having to mesh foreign troops and the penalties associated with doing so, of course you don't "have" to convert the cities, but why not, when the option to do so is there? So, while I enjoyed the game, there were a lot of things they changed I just wasn't thrilled about    … Expand
  21. Mudget
    Jul 29, 2012
    5
    What I like: The HoMM franchise, have loved every game since the first, and have been a die-hard customer as a result. HoMM 6 has a lot of innovations, although HoMM purists (like myself) really think one ought not mess with a perfectly-working formula too much, and (see below), I think they messed with the formula too much. Graphics and animation are good, not sure if they're a step upWhat I like: The HoMM franchise, have loved every game since the first, and have been a die-hard customer as a result. HoMM 6 has a lot of innovations, although HoMM purists (like myself) really think one ought not mess with a perfectly-working formula too much, and (see below), I think they messed with the formula too much. Graphics and animation are good, not sure if they're a step up from 5, but they're definitely current-gen. Gameplay is addicting, skill trees are interesting to figure out, I definitely feel this is a -richer- experience than any of the prior titles, I feel more like I'm role-playing a character with this one. Connection to online frills are new, and interesting, BUT...

    What I don't like: ... an online connection being mandatory for a single-player game is insane. It would be insane if it worked perfectly. Instead, not only is it insane, it doesn't work. It's broken. It's broken so badly that it breaks the game entirely. The problem is that your saved games are not saved locally, they are saved online. This means that unless your connection to the Internet is impeccable, and Ubisoft's connection to you is impeccable, you're going to experience a world of frustration. You're going to (like thousands of players have experienced and made vocal already) play for hours and hours, exit the game, watch the little thing say "Saving games to Cloud server", waiting a while for that to hit 100%, and then returning later to discover that your game was NOT saved. My connection to the Internet is impeccable, unless a severe thunderstorm kills power outright, I'm online and good to go.

    Ubisoft's connection to ME has been terrible. Or there's some other problem. I don't know, I don't care, I only know that it has made the game, which I like for so many reasons, unplayable. Mandatory online play for a single player game is unforgivable. You are punishing people who pay for games in an effort to punish pirates. Pirates will get your game no matter what. Stop punishing US. I have blown cash on something that doesn't work because of this ridiculous system. The only other gripe I have (the above gripe is a game-killer, so I hardly need go on, but...) is overhauling a system that was perfect to begin with. Most of the awesome new implements would have worked without needing to get rid of factions we'd grown to love over 5 installments. Before, factions (and resources, to an extent) revolved around Might, Nature, Air, Earth, Fire, Necromancy, etc. Now the far-fewer classes (or factions, clans, whatever) feel more generic, and I miss the need to manage resources effectively, that's an aspect of what made this such a unique and complex RTS/RPG. So, some changes, good. Some changes, unnecessary. And the one big change - the online requirement - Horrid. Do this again and I'll be done with HoMM for good, and I can't believe that came out of my mouth, one of the series' biggest fans.    … Expand
  22. AltheDictator
    May 27, 2013
    5
    I gave this game a 5/10 because it is a broken game. The single player experience is fantastic, however if you plan to play with anyone else, look for another game. Multiplayer games will inevitably end up "Out of Sync" a problem that this game has had since launch and has never been fixed.
  23. RonAFGreve
    Jul 27, 2013
    5
    This game uses uplay and you're only able to connect when they have their (dns) servers in order (you can copy the ip-address to your etc/hosts (in the hope it won't change) to increase you chance of being able to play it.

    After I bought it, it took 2 days before I actually could login. Annoyingly it blames the problem on the user side while there is clearly something wrong on their    This game uses uplay and you're only able to connect when they have their (dns) servers in order (you can copy the ip-address to your etc/hosts (in the hope it won't change) to increase you chance of being able to play it.

    After I bought it, it took 2 days before I actually could login. Annoyingly it blames the problem on the user side while there is clearly something wrong on their side.

    The game is turn based strategy (TBS). You have a 'hero' that can assist your army with spells etc. And your army consist of the typical 'stack' of soldiers, archers etc. For those not into TBS your army consist of various creatures and the same kind of creatures are visible as one single creature on the battle field with a number besides them. Once you deal enough damage you can kill a few of the creatures lowering the number and the strength of your opponent. Once they all die, it's game over (and you can reload) or you can resurrect your hero (later on in the game). You can save your game at any time.

    The graphics are pretty good and the interface very polished. Apparently a lot of time was spent on the details.

    You have a number of points to move, after that your opponent moves. Every time, you 'waste' time moving, your opponent grows stronger. In the 'normal' difficulty it seems the opponent quickly becomes too strong, if you choose the wrong way around the map.

    Unfortunately after having some fun with the first map the second map became up until now impossible to win. I tried different tactics and sometimes I get a little further than the other. However no matter what I do (I have set difficulty to the easiest level there is) the AI spawns so many creatures that it becomes impossible to win.

    Thinking I did something wrong I decided to check some forums and you know what, there are many gamers out there with exactly the same problem. Fair enough there are people who have seem to have beaten it by just choosing the right skills, reloading the game when they lost any of their creatures on the battle field etc. That doesn't seem like a whole lot of fun to me.

    The game should be balanced if I choose certain options it might be a bit harder but not impossible to win. If I can fight some groups I encounter that shouldn't make the map impossible to win (which it seems to do because you loose your army and win gold but with that gold you can't buy a new army so you're left with nothing).

    Sad, the game looks great but it is more of a chore than it is fun.    … Expand
  24. laertan
    Feb 6, 2020
    5
    When you are trying to make a decent sequel to a glorious game, you have to be very careful in order to not break everything. Apparently, this studio thought otherwise, I can't explain their actions any other way. Delete magic guild? Diminish amount of resources? Totally change how mines work? Throw away Academia? New questionable system of unit's power/level?

    That's not a careful    When you are trying to make a decent sequel to a glorious game, you have to be very careful in order to not break everything. Apparently, this studio thought otherwise, I can't explain their actions any other way. Delete magic guild? Diminish amount of resources? Totally change how mines work? Throw away Academia? New questionable system of unit's power/level?

    That's not a careful approach, it's more like an elephant in the glass store.

    Still, battles were not so terrible, and graphic was decent. It's not a bad game overall, it's just not HoMM, no matter what name it have.    … Expand
  25. Nile3
    Nov 2, 2011
    7
    Unlike other reviewer, I didn't get any bugs while playing this game. I think it's a good release which stands strongly in the veins of HOMM but it's lacking in newness. It's mostly built to be a multiplayer game I think, which I'm not a huge fan of. The campaign is fairly short but you get to play many races. Overall, not impresive but still enjoyable.
  26. AJTilley
    Oct 19, 2011
    6
    M&M VI could have been great, unfortunately it is a haven for bugs, many of which cripple the game and make it unplayable. In addition you may find the single player campaign is not very engaging and sadly very linear in how it should be played, deviation from the obvious line is rarely a good idea especially on harder difficulty settings.

    This just leave the multiplayer aspect which    M&M VI could have been great, unfortunately it is a haven for bugs, many of which cripple the game and make it unplayable. In addition you may find the single player campaign is not very engaging and sadly very linear in how it should be played, deviation from the obvious line is rarely a good idea especially on harder difficulty settings.

    This just leave the multiplayer aspect which despite the bugs is excellent and acts as the sole redeemer for the game. Gather some friends and get a long game going to really enjoy this title. If multiplayer isn't your thing then you might want to look elsewhere.    … Expand
  27. 7percent
    Jan 2, 2012
    7
    Well what can I say. I am a heroes fan. A big heroes fan. In fact it was heroes that got me into gaming in the first place. So this sequel is pretty important to me. And it doesn't disappoint. No it isn't a total blowout and epic shocker of a game. It is exactly what you come to expect of a heroes game. Its fun. The music is amazing (very nostalgic to past games). The game doesn't takeWell what can I say. I am a heroes fan. A big heroes fan. In fact it was heroes that got me into gaming in the first place. So this sequel is pretty important to me. And it doesn't disappoint. No it isn't a total blowout and epic shocker of a game. It is exactly what you come to expect of a heroes game. Its fun. The music is amazing (very nostalgic to past games). The game doesn't take much risk and sticks with the tried and true formula with a few changes. The lack of a townscreen was annoying at first but seeing as the entire interface is built up of small windows (kind of like the source engine menus) the new townscreens make sense. They are fast and painless making going back into the fight (or exploration/domination or whatever else you are doing) that much easier. There is a shift from multiple heroes to a single all purpose hero that takes a bit of getting used to. No more massing heroes and creating relays of heroes going back and forth. One hero is actually enough. With town portals your hero can be everywhere at once. The new skills system takes some getting used to but that because it isn't a typical rpg setup. Instead your hero is exactly who you want him/her to be. The hero has the skills you want and need. A might hero can heal troops (or burn them depending on your preference). And a magic hero can use advanced tactics and war machines (if you want it). There are very few restrictions in the level up menus.
    The creatures got upgrades/revamps. The new creatures fit right in (like the blazing glory for haven that becomes a one fairy army later on) and yes the sanctuary faction (naga) lives up to the hype. Also every creature has its own abilities (learn them if you wish to win later campaigns) and are affected by spells differently. For example the heal spell is very useful for your own troops (if you're haven) but direct it at the inferno faction and it becomes your main offensive spell of a sudden. The campaign is actually worth playing now and doesn't feel as just a clever way of introducing the next map. There are down sides. The occasional glitch will appear almost everytime you play. Nothing game breaking (lets not jinx it though) but are a minor inconvenience (- 1 point there).
    The online conflux is a mess and can be intimidating. Best advice is play the campaigns online (you can carry over certain artifacts between missions) and if the servers are down play skirmishes. There are enough maps to keep you occupied until the servers come back up. (-1 point also).
    Overall this game is still heroes at its core. Just with a different (not new just different) coat of paint. It still stutters at the same places and runs like a dream in others. The combat is fun. The campaign is worthwhile. No its not the best in the series or a game of the year contender but its a great game to pass the time and at is heart its still heroes and that whats most important.    … Expand
  28. adriancat
    Jan 6, 2012
    7
    The last of the series, MMH6 brings a lot of change in the gameplay mode.Still,with this changes comes the bugs.In my opinion,the bugs and the town windows are the only bad things in this game.These things may change with work from the developers and with great support from the fans.
  29. Chaosmaker
    Nov 20, 2012
    5
    The game is visually an improvement from V in practically every way. Too bad then the gameplay is worse. First - its difficulty is stupid. Even on Easy, either playing campaigns or free missions, you're consistently assaulted by hordes of enemy heroes with impossible levels and numbers of creatures. Really, game? Is this supposed to be fun? The "veterans" suggest the OneAndOnly strategiesThe game is visually an improvement from V in practically every way. Too bad then the gameplay is worse. First - its difficulty is stupid. Even on Easy, either playing campaigns or free missions, you're consistently assaulted by hordes of enemy heroes with impossible levels and numbers of creatures. Really, game? Is this supposed to be fun? The "veterans" suggest the OneAndOnly strategies to counter that, but is this the way to play on Easy? Nope. In my opinion, gone is the free exploration, destroyed by enforced tension. Second - skills. Heroes skills are badly balanced. You level a hero in not an optimal way, you're lost on 3rd or 4th campaign scenario. Sorry, should this happen? So, to recap: good graphics, bad balance, bad gameplay experience.… Expand
  30. Browser
    Oct 15, 2011
    7
    As a longtime fan of the Heroes of Might and Magic series... Heroes 6 gives very mixed feelings but is still fun, while it looks beautiful keeping faithful to the HoMM style graphically when it comes to the creatures and heroes unfortunately it also changes some things for the worse.


    It could be compared to Heroes of Might and Magic 4 of the series, improving the game in some areasAs a longtime fan of the Heroes of Might and Magic series... Heroes 6 gives very mixed feelings but is still fun, while it looks beautiful keeping faithful to the HoMM style graphically when it comes to the creatures and heroes unfortunately it also changes some things for the worse.


    It could be compared to Heroes of Might and Magic 4 of the series, improving the game in some areas while detracting from it in others.


    For example one of the welcome improvements is not having to hire heroes just to run relay courses to deliver hired troops so you don't spend a lot of the time just moving them around the map.


    Seems there were attempts to simplify (dumb down) other parts of the game, seen in the towns and their building menus etc. You don't get to see the building added to the town so it feels hollow and arbitrary, like you're checking boxes rather than building a town so there's no longer the satisfaction of watching your town grow and improve, instead all you get are a few icons.


    The campaigns have 20 missions which seems decent but only 4 per campaign which doesn't seem nearly enough to level up your hero and get attched to them. For example by the end of the first campaign after letting the hero grab every available experience point he'd only reached level 9, it felt as if the moment he was start to step out of the small fry zone it was over and you have to start all over with the next.


    After 2 campaigns the story isn't great and the writing seems a little childish, they also seem to have a thing for trying to squeeze in a talking bird for some reason. The voice acting isn't stellar but with those lines I doubt any voice actor could shine.


    There are a few smaller shortfalls, as simple as the font being to small in high resolutions and it seems like the view can't even be rotated which makes 3D rather pointless, may as well have stuck to 2D and given more attention to the detail and graphic art style.


    Even so it's still fun and enjoyable.


    Though there is is a dark cloud over it thanks to Ubisoft. If you aren't permanently connected to the internet and try play in offline mode the game constantly rubs it in your face, splattering red text in many places about "offline mode" and even goes as far as to deny you using items or skills because you aren't letting it raise the phone bill or just aren't permanently connected to their servers.… Expand

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Awards & Rankings

64
#64 Best PC Game of 2011
34
#34 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
43
#43 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 48 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 48
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 48
  3. Negative: 0 out of 48
  1. ActionTrip
    Dec 12, 2011
    76
    This is definitely not the high point of the series. Someone may need to return to the old drawing board.
    Read full review
  2. PC PowerPlay
    Dec 4, 2011
    80
    A damn fine - if at times somewhat unforgiving - turn-based game with strategic depth and hours upon hours of play. [Christmas 2011, p.52]
  3. GameSpot
    Nov 30, 2011
    80
    Engrossing exploration, diverse development, and challenging combat return in Might & Magic Heroes VI.
    Read full review
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