Might & Magic: Heroes VII

 PC
  • Publisher: Ubisoft
  • Release Date: Sep 29, 2015
User Score
4.9

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 455 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 150 out of 455
  2. Mixed: 92 out of 455
  3. Negative: 213 out of 455
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  1. BlueBangkok
    Jan 9, 2019
    4
    I really wanted to love this game. I really did. Somewhere, deep down, there is a solid, fun gameplay here. But it is buried under tons of bugs, lack of polish, and straight-out amateurish development.

    Where do I start? Well, let's start with the good. Campaigns, for what is probably the first time in history since Heroes III, are actually enjoyable and well thought-out. The RPG    I really wanted to love this game. I really did. Somewhere, deep down, there is a solid, fun gameplay here. But it is buried under tons of bugs, lack of polish, and straight-out amateurish development.

    Where do I start? Well, let's start with the good. Campaigns, for what is probably the first time in history since Heroes III, are actually enjoyable and well thought-out. The RPG elements are possibly the best ever - the skill wheel and general lack of skill points ensures that: a) each hero is unique in his/her own right, and b) hero development is not based on random chance this time - you decide how to build your hero. That is what you call good game design and that is why I tried to much to spend worthwhile time in this game.

    Sadly, no matter how good some core concepts are, the fact of the matter is that the game is unplayable because even 3 years after release it just does *not* work. One of the most important thing, the AI, is not even broken, it's basically non-existent. The AI, no matter the difficulty, will always behave in the same idiotic way: it builds its army, then it throws itself against you. So far so good. However, when you defeat it, it will continue to waste its gold on buying heroes in the tavern and do nothing for the rest of the game. Yes, that's it. That's literally it. Difficulty only changes the magnitude of cheats the AI uses and thus the strength of its initial attack.
    Any intern with basic programming knowledge could gobble up a network of if-statements and it would work better than Heroes VII's AI.

    So, at this point, I said to myself: well, maybe the game is enjoyable in multiplayer. My mistake. Since nobody is playing this crap online, I had to persuade my friend to try both network and hot seat. Network multi player doesn't work because of constant time outs. Trust me, we tried. It's beyond ridiculous.
    OK, so hotseat it is, then. At least in hotseat, the game actually works, since there is no Internet connection to time out.. However, it blatantly uncovers the second fatal flaw of Heroes VII and the last nail in its coffin - there is no game balance at all. While in Heroes III, V, and even VI to an extent, you can pick any town in multi player and win, unless you pick specific towns or do a specific strategy in VII you are simply screwed. There are hero builds that are simply stronger than others. There are towns that are simply superior to others. Since units now get substantial flanking bonuses that are basically unavoidable, superior attack is always better than superior defense and everybody is literally a back-stabbing bastard now. And so on, and so on...
    Nothing screams "rushed launch" more than total unbalance Heroes VII is. And it's a shame because the new skill wheel is simply superb concept.

    Lack of polish (weird or missing sounds, bad animations, recycled assets, inconsistent art style) is just an "icing" on the cake of problems mentioned above. Since ubisoft, of course, pulled the plug and discontinued its collaboration with the developer, the only thing that could save this game is modding but since nobody plays it, there is no hope left. Nothing has changed in years. RIP Heroes VII, you had a chance.    … Expand
  2. JackPaladin
    Oct 3, 2015
    4
    Given at least 6 more months of work, this game might have been decent, but it was released in a bug filled, graphically void, alpha state. With many sounds, songs, animations and icons copied directly from 6. Obviously another cash grab in hopes dedicated fans would buy before reading about it. And the 10s on the reviews are absolutely shills! Don't fall for it. Wait for the bargainGiven at least 6 more months of work, this game might have been decent, but it was released in a bug filled, graphically void, alpha state. With many sounds, songs, animations and icons copied directly from 6. Obviously another cash grab in hopes dedicated fans would buy before reading about it. And the 10s on the reviews are absolutely shills! Don't fall for it. Wait for the bargain bin and then, and only then, give it a try.… Expand
  3. faceless-1
    Oct 3, 2015
    4
    This game feels like indie version of heroes, but gameplay is broken at this state. The next insane thing is that **** wants full AAA price for this. The campaign is broken some quest wont complete, and game crashes a lot. It feels like early beta.
    As whole the game looks worse than heroes 5 (yes 5 not even close to 6) and town screens looks worse than heroes 3. The Cut scenes are a joke,    This game feels like indie version of heroes, but gameplay is broken at this state. The next insane thing is that **** wants full AAA price for this. The campaign is broken some quest wont complete, and game crashes a lot. It feels like early beta.
    As whole the game looks worse than heroes 5 (yes 5 not even close to 6) and town screens looks worse than heroes 3. The Cut scenes are a joke, they are not even animated. 70% of visuals ar compy pasted from heroes 6 or 5 (yes 11 years old game looks better in many ways).
    The core game play is solid and RPG sklil trees are nice, but this game got so many glitches.

    100% not worth a buy at this price and in this state. If ubisoft patch this mess, add some free DLC (like at least 2 towns as apology for this) and drop price to 20 dolars, I would say ok buy it.
    At current state it feels, looks and plays like 5 dolar indie game.    … Expand
  4. Waclaw
    Sep 29, 2015
    4
    To make it as short as possible:

    - RAM consumption is ridiculous and makes the machine lagging so badly, it's a shame to watch - I can run Witcher 3 with everything except hair crap on HD and never go below 55 fps - the camera angle does everything it can to prevent you from doing whatever you want to do, period - for some reason, the cut-scenes have non animated shots of ingame    To make it as short as possible:

    - RAM consumption is ridiculous and makes the machine lagging so badly, it's a shame to watch - I can run Witcher 3 with everything except hair crap on HD and never go below 55 fps
    - the camera angle does everything it can to prevent you from doing whatever you want to do, period
    - for some reason, the cut-scenes have non animated shots of ingame graphics - look at the first issue and you kinda get whet the problem is (cough*badcoding*cough)
    - everything is simplified despite promises it wouldn't be...
    - AI turns can take ages... seriously!
    - spent an hour trying to activate my code... Uplay again And before anyone says I should invest in a better rig, check my drivers and whatever... My crappy PC can handle everything new on high at 60 fps+ so it's the game, not my pc.

    I don't really understand why some people give this game a 10 even when issues from the Beta (like long AI turns) are still there despite MONTHS of work and still end up in the final release. This game still can be good, but the launch it's (as typical for recent Ubisoft games) a flop.    … Expand
  5. Sjalka
    Oct 6, 2015
    4
    This game is embarrassing - quite literally. Now i understand the reasoning about the very conservative fanbase and the tight limitations of innovation - but even so... the product "feels" very much like a beta - an early beta.

    There is a technical level on which a game can be rated - but also a meta level (like instant immersion, likability of characters or story etc. ) - it is hard to    This game is embarrassing - quite literally. Now i understand the reasoning about the very conservative fanbase and the tight limitations of innovation - but even so... the product "feels" very much like a beta - an early beta.

    There is a technical level on which a game can be rated - but also a meta level (like instant immersion, likability of characters or story etc. ) - it is hard to measure the meta level ... but it is much easier to do it for the technical level.

    on a technical level - this game is poorly optimized and poorly designed. Along with fairly long loading times comes a seemingly innate instability with occasional but rather frequent crashes. The game seems to eat memory as if there was an unlimited supply and the overall design is ... surprisingly WORSE than HoMM 6 (in terms of animation quality, meshworks, texture and all that).

    Even the world feels much more lifeless and on some maps - shoddy and empty. And this is a 2015 game.

    The AI is poor - but the AI has never been too clever ... in fact i do not quite know what a really good AI is capable of these days in such turn based games... cause i do not consider any AI a great challenge (unless the AI cheats)

    The UI is in one word - terrible. The sound assets are uninspired.

    And most of all - the tactical combat is dull. Yes - there is flaking and backstabbing now - but what is the point of positioning when it comes down to simply running around the enemy without peril (as in strikes of Opportunity or ... maybe MORE ENVIRONMENT on the combat maps?!)

    Speaking of combat maps - i am a bit at a loss why hardly ANY game makes use of 3D there. Neither HoMM, nor Age of Wonders, Kings Bounty or similar games have elevation or real foliage or objects with actual tactical value (at least at a level similar to X-Com)

    And so - every combat is kind of the same old same old - the only thing that may change is the blurry texture on the ground.

    edit:

    Also - no Inferno faction!! - a sacrilege - but no point deduction for that - i am sure it ll come as a DLC    … Expand
  6. Dausuul
    Nov 29, 2015
    4
    This game has the potential to be quite good. In terms of mechanics, it's mostly a refinement of HOMM5, with some HOMM3 thrown in. You have lots of flexibility in how you advance your heroes, offering quite a bit of replay value. There's a good variety of units and some interesting tactical options. Limbic has been cranking out the patches at a rapid pace, and the game is a lot more stableThis game has the potential to be quite good. In terms of mechanics, it's mostly a refinement of HOMM5, with some HOMM3 thrown in. You have lots of flexibility in how you advance your heroes, offering quite a bit of replay value. There's a good variety of units and some interesting tactical options. Limbic has been cranking out the patches at a rapid pace, and the game is a lot more stable than it was.

    However, I can't give it more than a 4 right now, largely because of the AI - which is pathetic. Truly, truly pathetic. Playing skirmish mode against the computer, I have literally never lost a game of MMH7, even with the difficulty cranked up to maximum. Every single game goes: I kill a bunch of neutrals. I level up my hero and build my army. The AI players sit around and don't come near me. I roll over them and win. Rinse and repeat. I've quit playing because there's no challenge.

    I gather that Limbic is trying to avoid giving the AIs cheats. That's great in principle, but in practice it's dumb, because no game developer in the history of computer games has ever succeeded in creating AI smart enough to challenge a skilled human player. Smart developers recognize their own limits and provide cheats where necessary to compensate.    … Expand
  7. Noir9090
    Sep 29, 2015
    4
    To put it shortly, if you've played previous parts of the series you got no real reason to play H7. The game shines in absolutely nothing. The game-play feels very mechanical and tiring. Already in my first map I started to use quick battles because I found myself bored and hating the battles which I used to love in past games. The AI is horrendous in this game, offering no challenge atTo put it shortly, if you've played previous parts of the series you got no real reason to play H7. The game shines in absolutely nothing. The game-play feels very mechanical and tiring. Already in my first map I started to use quick battles because I found myself bored and hating the battles which I used to love in past games. The AI is horrendous in this game, offering no challenge at all even on heroic(hardest difficulty). The battles in general will get harder, but only because they got more enemies which means more EXP so you level faster and after the start it actually becomes easier than easy games.

    H7 skill-system is heavily based on H6 and I personally hate the optimization it brings. Every game you end up building your hero the exact same way(which you know since start of the match). Because how some classes are much superior compared to others it doesn't help to diversify game either as you will want to pick the good classes and heroes which are clear minority in the game. I loved in pre h6-games how you were forced to analyze and evaluate what skills you should pick for the situation. H7 has none of that because it's just general build, the game lacks situational abilities completely. The system also doesn't require you to think what to get because there are no requirements for abilities nor is there limit how many you can take per skill.

    Magic system is yet another h6 feature. You are back to more classic approach on getting spells from magic guilds. Problem is that all schools have little bit of everything and at basic level most spells are just copies of each other. To make them any different you have to specialize in them via abilities. And to get more power to spells you have to learn other spell-schools which you have to do anyway because you can't master your school because of the new arcane system(learning high level spells requires 8 points and mastering single school only gets you 6). Even in general it doesn't feel like schools specialize in anything particular which is just sad, not to mention many iconic spells are also dearly missed.

    Hero specializations are currently worst in the series. They are generic boring start bonuses that make you feel like you're playing nobody/anybody instead of being the mighty Kragh or whatever. The same bonuses are also copy-pasted all over and some copied from other places like buildings. They just simply leave you disappointed..

    Unit abilities don't really do much better either. There is so much copy-paste mentality there it's not even funny. That doesn't get helped by the fact that units have pretty much 1-3 abilities so there being same abilities over and over makes units feel too similar. Which is even further hurting the game because units stats are kept with too small margin. All units cross the battle-field for example at turn two, the unit powers are roughly the same given their growth. Even in h6 units felt more distinctive and that by the way is not a compliment. This is partly because h7 decided to use the hated 3-tier system from h6(core/elite/champion). They did edit it adding powerful version to core and elite, but it's still a far cry from old 7-tier system which had a lot of variety.

    The battle-system they copied from h6 which wasn't that good. They also lost many of the good parts like map objects and creature-placing to tower. They added flanking mechanic from Heroes Online to system which was a bad decision. In essence it means you get extra boost to damage when attacking from back/side. The result is that player either plays turtle so you can back-stab them(at least till you get near and then he does that to you first) OR it makes units waltz around each other going for back-stabs which looks absolutely idiotic. The flanking system would have been great addition as ability for some units like assasin, but when every unit just runs past enemy to go for their back it really breaks immersion.

    The graphics of the game are also not top quality. H6 has better graphics, not to mention it had colors that made the game feel like it was placed in fantasy world. H7 uses completely grey washed out colors that make concrete wall look just about interesting. The games styles don't really mesh together either. There is the general graphics which is rather minimal, then unit designs which are completely over the top with all the extra spikes and decorations that shouldn't be there. And then there are the 2d town screens which are more like cartoony paintings. The graphics are just a real mish-mash of things(and a lot of the models are copied from h6 btw).

    Overall the game just doesn't excel in anything. Having played h6 this doesn't really feel even new game with so much cannibalized from h6. It's really more like stand alone expansion to h6 kinda like colonization was to Civilization 4. It feels extremely simplified much like h6 and offers very little replayability. Frankly speaking the game just feels cheap and lacking for 2015 game.    … Expand
  8. Svarczi
    Sep 30, 2015
    4
    For me, it feels like, that they shipped a pre-beta version. So many gameplay bugs for example:
    - AoE magic placement is bugged
    - left click, right click, sometimes game see no difference between them. - battle animation bugs - no music change, and no battle sounds in battle - city build tree: random reallocation of "building buttons " - after game restart config reset to default -    For me, it feels like, that they shipped a pre-beta version. So many gameplay bugs for example:
    - AoE magic placement is bugged
    - left click, right click, sometimes game see no difference between them.
    - battle animation bugs
    - no music change, and no battle sounds in battle
    - city build tree: random reallocation of "building buttons "
    - after game restart config reset to default
    - after finishing mission 1 and exit(seen "video", back to campaign map), the game forgets, that i finished that map, so i had to load from last turn

    Sad facts:
    - no "video" intros, just static pictures (back to 90`s)
    - Heroes 6 looks better, more colorful
    - Hero leveling: after 20 min game-play, both heroes reached max lvl or the map. The mission took me 2-3 hour to finish.....
    - the battles are boring, good thing we have a "fast battle" button
    - OP skills and useless skills in skill tree
    - units are unbalanced: core units very-very weak compared to elite units; pointless ranged units(so low dmg)
    - SLOW and boring
    - etc.

    This game is bad. Do not buy it. I`m sad that i pre-purchased it.
    I played with all HoMM games. I liked all of them. Even the 4th one.
    This game, its current state is bad. Buy HoMM 6 or 5, they are cheaper, nicer and better.    … Expand
  9. fnordsensei
    Oct 4, 2015
    4
    Before buying this game, you have to understand the state it is in. Things not to expect,
    - Animated cutscenes
    - UI with decent usability - Character models worthy of 2015 - Character animations worthy of 2015 - Progressive campaign - Character customisation during campaign Cutscenes are "animated", but show frozen models, with speech laid on top. Using the game feels clunky,    Before buying this game, you have to understand the state it is in. Things not to expect,
    - Animated cutscenes
    - UI with decent usability
    - Character models worthy of 2015
    - Character animations worthy of 2015
    - Progressive campaign
    - Character customisation during campaign

    Cutscenes are "animated", but show frozen models, with speech laid on top.

    Using the game feels clunky, you will often accidentally stop your hero mid stride because you accidentally clicked twice on the target, when you should have clicked once. Or your hero doesn't move, because you should have clicked twice when you clicked once.

    It doesn't seem that there has been a User Experience designer involved in the development of this game, there are too many basic usability issues. Such as that you can't bring up a town screen by clicking on a town. It took me nearly 10 minutes to figure out that you need to double click the little town name on the bottom left to do that. Ridiculous. That's just one example, expect a lot more like that.

    The character models and animations certainly look dated, and many look like they are reused directly from Hereoes VI. Most of the time, you'll notice that Heroes VI had much better character models though. Models are small in battles, so you don't see the details (maybe this is for the best, as the details are not that great). The entire game has a washed, grainy feel to it that takes away from the "Heroes feel". Heroes should be lush, with powerful colors, to immerse you into this fantasy world with its multitude of colorful, odd beings. This is not the case. You get sort of the same feel as when opening a spreadsheet or something. The delightfulness is clearly missing. There's a sparse, somewhat empty feeling to it.

    The animations are clearly a step down from Heroes VI. For example, the Centurion will bash his shield at the opponent, then stick his spear in it, and only about half a second after BOTH attacks are completed does the target react and make some kind of motion. Not immersive.

    The campaign is not progressive. I. e., it doesn't build a story for you to follow, but rather it's just a few short stories that you can play through in any order you want. Personally, I would be fine with this, if everything else had been good.

    Same with character customisation, you start out with predesigned characters, sometimes at level 0, for other scenarios at level 30, which may annoy some people, but would have been fine if the game was otherwise up to snuff. Of course it isn't. At this point, you get the feeling that Heroes is like an abandoned kid, crying in a mall, while his alcoholic uncle, who has custody, is off robbing a liquor store.

    The good things are: It's a new instalment of Heroes! For people like me, who grew up with it and love it, this is great. The maps have depth to them visually, which is fun. Castles can be in valleys and so on (but the washed out, derelict feeling that I mentioned earlier detracts from this). Skills feel slightly more useful than in the last Heroes. They've taken some time to groom the skill set. On the other hand, it's not the glory that was Heroes V.

    If you're fine with all this, then this game might be for you. The truth is however, that Ubisoft again is trying to get away with minimum effort. What I don't get is, do these people take no pride in what they do? Does it feel good to crank out one half-assed effort after another? Is it a matter of competence, do they not have the right people? Is everyone working on the game too junior? Or is it a conscious strategy from the management?

    Don't they want praise from the fans? Why aren't they creating it with "game of the year" firmly fixed in their minds? I simply don't get how someone could be satisfied with creating something with this level of indifference. That can't be a satisfying way to live your life. If you don't like the series, for **** sake, sell it to some studio who DOES love it.

    It comes down to this: those who grow up with this game now, as I grew up with the original series, are NOT going to love it. It is not loved by its developers, and that transmits through to us, loud and clear.    … Expand
  10. Maximvz
    Nov 10, 2015
    4
    Don't think you can play this in multiplayer ; it's too buggy. I've never managed to complete one game. The multiplayer bugs ( out of sync ) are apparently saved within the game, so when you recreate the game with your lastest save, expect the bug to reappear at the same moment.

    Yet another rough and unpolished game by Ubisoft. Only buy Ubisoft games from Steam people, because they will    Don't think you can play this in multiplayer ; it's too buggy. I've never managed to complete one game. The multiplayer bugs ( out of sync ) are apparently saved within the game, so when you recreate the game with your lastest save, expect the bug to reappear at the same moment.

    Yet another rough and unpolished game by Ubisoft. Only buy Ubisoft games from Steam people, because they will give you your money back. If I only care about the multiplayer part of this game, and I can't complete even one game, what rate should I give it? I give it a 4 on 10 for some hours of fun doing campaigns. Definitely not worth a full price.    … Expand
  11. weatherseed
    Aug 4, 2016
    4
    Ah... Heroes of Might & Magic, and I refuse to call you anything else, my old friend. We've shared some good times these past 21 years. From the dawn of the new style of game and the continuation of the Might & Magic series, we've had a few tumbles. A handful of falls. This being the third offering from Ubisoft and the second from Limbic Entertainment, I'd hoped for something more. PerhapsAh... Heroes of Might & Magic, and I refuse to call you anything else, my old friend. We've shared some good times these past 21 years. From the dawn of the new style of game and the continuation of the Might & Magic series, we've had a few tumbles. A handful of falls. This being the third offering from Ubisoft and the second from Limbic Entertainment, I'd hoped for something more. Perhaps nothing great, but at least passing for good.

    Let's start with what I enjoyed from this installment. The core of the gameplay, and the heart of the series, is intact and fun as ever. The new skill system is intriguing and seems to be an evolution from the system used in HoM&M6. While it seems to have become simplified and providing no real variety, I at least liked that something new was attempted.

    I'm rather on the fence concerning spells and combat magic as a whole. While it is impossible to mess with the might portion of "Might & Magic", the same cannot be said of the other. Magic, under 3DO was always a bit overpowered. HoM&M3 was probably the worst offender of this. Now, magic is too weak to even be bothered with sometimes. "Mass" spells are completely gone, replaced with a 4x4 grid to cast within. That, right there, is wrong. Another thing to note are the classic shrines. A way to easily learn new spells in the older games. This is no longer the case. You must have learned the skill necessary to use the spells offered. World magic is an area that has actually improved. New spells giving interesting bonuses and effects are added.

    The change to the towns is something out of HoM&M4. You are provided with the choice between one monster or another. Alternatively, you are allowed to choose which monster's growth you want to increase each week. This is a welcome addition that I sorely missed from the series, even if it was introduced in what was once the worst game of the franchise.

    The series has never been renowned for it's top tier graphics, but this game feels dated even by the standards of 2006 when HoM&M5 was released. Lighting has been improved, but the models are almost identical to those found in HoM&M6. The cutscenes are not animated, which was a terrible choice, and the monster animations are best ignored.

    Lastly, the bugs. Oh lord, the bugs. They are everywhere and range from completely game breaking to simply annoying. The screen will flicker randomly as you scroll around the map. The game will crash on certain campaign maps if you attempt to go into battle. The build screen on the map will decided to either let you choose what to build, choose for you, or not allow you to get your cursor near enough to select "build."

    All in all, this has to be the worst game offered and that actually makes me less sad for the future of the series and more towards Limbic Entertainment. Might & Magic X and Heroes of Might & Magic 6 were both good games in their own right, despite having issues. Playable, entertaining, and HoM&M6 was innovative and refreshing while M&M10 was a return to the basics of it's own series. Limbic Entertainment hamstrung themselves by bowing to the wishes of the more conservative fans of the genre who yearn for another HoM&M3. These same fans will be the death of the franchise. I urge Ubisoft to allow Limbic Entertainment to give us a new game in the future and demand that Limbic Entertainment ignore those who would hold back this series.    … Expand
  12. Wo0olfgang
    Aug 7, 2016
    4
    How can it be possible that even after long waited patch 2.0 and one year from launch the multiplayer is still broken ?! There are still issues with combat vs human player and even other old Out of Sync error message. Either opponent sees different stacks of army or different number of creatures, either combat simply refuses to continue , both players ending waiting for the other to move.How can it be possible that even after long waited patch 2.0 and one year from launch the multiplayer is still broken ?! There are still issues with combat vs human player and even other old Out of Sync error message. Either opponent sees different stacks of army or different number of creatures, either combat simply refuses to continue , both players ending waiting for the other to move.

    It.s clear that at some point game brakes and things go differently for each player .

    It is also clear that these guys are simply NOT capable of making this game work. Too bad that is an interesting approach regarding simturns now. But all the play it.s like a game of luck, you.re either lucky to finish a small map, or extremely lucky to finish a bigger one. This is why we cannot waste hours of play to find out that the game brakes.

    Besides all the multiplayer issues, game is poorly designed, poorly optimized, it gets glitchy and laggy the longer you play and only ruins the fun in playing heroes.

    Shame on Ubisoft and Limbic for taking us money and giving us hope.    … Expand
  13. LMarci
    Jun 7, 2022
    4
    I feel like the developers either did not understand what makes the classic HOMM games so great, or they just did not care at all. This is not a terrible game at core, but it just feels incomplete and soulless. In comparison the the older HOMM games, it just doesn't hold a candle to them. A few design decisions make me quite disappointed too. I wholeheartedly wished that they would learnI feel like the developers either did not understand what makes the classic HOMM games so great, or they just did not care at all. This is not a terrible game at core, but it just feels incomplete and soulless. In comparison the the older HOMM games, it just doesn't hold a candle to them. A few design decisions make me quite disappointed too. I wholeheartedly wished that they would learn from their mistakes after VI flopped, but I suppose not.… Expand
  14. PhamTrinli
    Oct 3, 2015
    3
    Many skills and abilities are bugged or don't work at all

    Sound effects and Music are tied to game speeds, so depending on what speed you set combat, or movement at, they may not play at all. Some sound effects are completely missing regardless of speed settings, and many sound effects in combat are lack-luster to say the least. Music is nothing special (especially compared to H5    Many skills and abilities are bugged or don't work at all

    Sound effects and Music are tied to game speeds, so depending on what speed you set combat, or movement at, they may not play at all.

    Some sound effects are completely missing regardless of speed settings, and many sound effects in combat are lack-luster to say the least.

    Music is nothing special (especially compared to H5 and H4, H7's music sucks)

    Many people are unable to even start the game

    The game crashes quite often for many people

    Many are getting savegames corrupted, seemingly at random

    Many of the campaign missions are bugged to varying degrees - some of them cannot even be completed by most people

    The "cut scenes" are a joke - just static models staring at eachother with voiceover in the background

    The voice acting varies from OK, to atrocious

    The story is lazy and boring

    The game's graphics look like something that belongs in 2010, not 2015/2016.

    The aesthetic is mismatched and uneven because of lack of development time and resources

    About 80% of the people cannot even start a multiplayer game because of "time out". Those who can, often experience disconnects due to "desync" issues.

    In short, the game was rushed out the door in an unfinished, buggy and incomplete state.    … Expand
  15. StrategyAddict
    Nov 10, 2015
    3
    The good thing is: this finally is the last revamp of heroes three we will have to endure. With it's seventh edition Heroes of Might and Magic has proven to be one of the, if not the most repeated and refurbished games of all times. But this time after some decaying in parts 5 and 6 the mixture went sour. Not even fans of the series will play game long since it looks, feels and play soThe good thing is: this finally is the last revamp of heroes three we will have to endure. With it's seventh edition Heroes of Might and Magic has proven to be one of the, if not the most repeated and refurbished games of all times. But this time after some decaying in parts 5 and 6 the mixture went sour. Not even fans of the series will play game long since it looks, feels and play so very dated.
    Maybe it even was the intention to remenise part three in some menues and interfaces. But that makes all of the interfaces look rather cheaply done. And then ofcourse you begin to notice actuall flaws and short commings even more.
    However the real painpoint is that character skills are rather passive, creatures lack tactical possibilities and story is really just the usual. We've seen that in 6 previous parts and we've seen it better. That makes this edition utterly boring and useless and it will be long before we see part eight.
    I am of the few who liked part 4 the best. As an alternative today I recommend Age of Wonders 3.    … Expand
  16. sefrabu
    Apr 13, 2016
    3
    Note: This is an update to my review of Sep 30, 2015, when I gave this game a 5.

    I find it hard to rate a game so low. Even in the worst games you will find something that saves it from a total disgrace, say some music tracks, maybe graphics, maybe even one little thing, like a loading screen which you find particurarly artsy, or this one voice actor, who saves a day. Anything. In    Note: This is an update to my review of Sep 30, 2015, when I gave this game a 5.

    I find it hard to rate a game so low. Even in the worst games you will find something that saves it from a total disgrace, say some music tracks, maybe graphics, maybe even one little thing, like a loading screen which you find particurarly artsy, or this one voice actor, who saves a day. Anything.

    In case of HOMM7, I've never been so close to being a troll hater and give a game a zero.

    As an avid enthusiast of Heroes, I bought VII on the day of its release. And for the last few months I was trying to find in this game something, anything, that would earn it a few points above total nothing. So after some strenuous exercise I found it: let's say that the new skills wheel is quite neat, that some of the creature design is fine, and that pattern for the campaign - the stories told by some heroes - is interesting. And this is all.

    Now, I had a few gos at VII and I've never managed to make myself play for more than a week or two in the game's terms. It's boring, as there's nothing you haven't seen in the previous entries. It's ugly - there's no art direction, there's no balance in the presentation, your eyes literally hurt after 15 minutes of playing. It's largely unplayable - the number of minor and game-braking bugs is astounding! And even if you plow through all of this, as a heroes-loving person you are, you will soon realize that the story is dumbed down to the level of PG7, the already mediocre music and graphics is recycled so much you don't even know which game you're actually playing, and the trademark of the series - the castle screens - look like a cheap browser game.

    The broken "cinematic" cutscenes of ugly rendered people always frozen mid-sentence only confirms it: this game needed at least half a year in development to be decent, and a year to be actually interesting. Someone decided otherwise. But even now, after so many months after the launch, not much has changed.

    I only hope this little monster has not finished off the franchise.

    (Note: if you loved Heroes 3 or 5 - feel free to substract 3 points off my score)    … Expand
  17. Shadiac1985
    Oct 3, 2015
    3
    Uhhh, where to even begin... Atrociously uncomfortable interface, very buggy gameplay and video graphics of above average resource consumption used to a bare percentage of their full potential. Yes, I once thought that Heroes 6 was overrated for being a pretty averagely-calibrated installment with lesser improvements and large-scale underdevelopment until the release of further patches.Uhhh, where to even begin... Atrociously uncomfortable interface, very buggy gameplay and video graphics of above average resource consumption used to a bare percentage of their full potential. Yes, I once thought that Heroes 6 was overrated for being a pretty averagely-calibrated installment with lesser improvements and large-scale underdevelopment until the release of further patches. But... MOTHER OF ASHA is this one simply ridiculous, making H6 stand out as a fine game in its totality!

    While the story, artwork and music grade well above satisfying for the genre, everything else seems to bring them down with a horrendous blow to the overall experience. Firstly, the introduction characters aren't animated beyond 5-10 poses for each of them. These guys want each to tell you a story yet their mouths barely move. Before this cerebral palsy party going on we see what appears to be the map of Ashan, except the time and space there are so interweaved that you'd almost shed a tear for those good old times of H6 campaign self-explanatory screens now long gone.

    The interface and the settings are a plethora of tickboxes, buttons, scrollers and what have you... except all they do is giddy up your graphics a bit (and no, tweaking that won't make the characters move more credibly), regulate the scrolling feature and, to some extend, organize dialogue and popup doohickeys. That's it. You literally can't reduce or increase the text size (which, just to give you an idea, on a 1600x900 resolution seems to jump at your face), remove or minimize map objects (you know you have a problem when the faction icon of your playing hero on map appears bigger than the horse they're riding), et cetera et chetera. I mean the list could just go on, but in H6 I've never had to actually search for how to set all those things up because I've never had a problem with them in the first place.

    Last but not least are the numerous, omnipresent, abundant, several tiring numbers of bugs and glitches making 'Heroes 7' stand out as some kind of late pre-beta stage title. And this goes for map and gamplay issues as well as sheer device management. I won't claim to have the creme de la creme machine here, but once again, just for the sake of example, on a PC with 4 gig of RAM the game takes 5-10 minutes to get to the main menu, and eats about 2.5 of them for this action alone. It then runs smoothly, yes, but this process could potentially harm other processes being run in the background and requiring RAM (such as your AV, e.g.). Is this really worth it?

    Overall, playing H7 to me felt like remaining unclean for multiple days without the possibility of taking a bath. The level of seriousness one can express for this game surpasses perhaps the game of Angry Birds, with childlike indicators and trajectory traces over a map ridden with hills, overanimated trees and water, shadows everywhere... I swear I was eventually confused as to make sure I was actually playing a "Heroes" installment, and not a "Sims" one. Funny how using exactly the same graphical concept as in H6 over the previous installments, one could astonishing screw up (not to use the F word) about everything about it, and render the overall playing experience from tolerable to ridiculously undesirable.

    Anyway, long story short, I'm giving this game a 3 out of 10, won't say I'm being generous, but had it been released 5 years ago, when I was a much more avid fan of the M&M universe, I don't even think I'd have given it a 2. Ubisoft, I don't know what you're up to nowadays, but I strongly suggest you get your things together (or sell the franchise to someone more worthy and passionate about the series, for all I care) if you want to keep a good fan base intact.    … Expand
  18. Kinjour
    Sep 29, 2015
    3
    Just submitted for a refund on Steam. It's that bad. There is a real trend in the reviews posted so far that its "The best of Heroes 3". Look, I love Heroes 3. It was great. At the time. I still go back and play it every now and then. However, that is not what modern gaming should be compared to. The nostalgia glasses are very thick on this one, and it shows. The interface is very busy andJust submitted for a refund on Steam. It's that bad. There is a real trend in the reviews posted so far that its "The best of Heroes 3". Look, I love Heroes 3. It was great. At the time. I still go back and play it every now and then. However, that is not what modern gaming should be compared to. The nostalgia glasses are very thick on this one, and it shows. The interface is very busy and clunky. The animations are clunky. It feels like they ran out of time or something because the opening scenes are mostly static images. The intro to each mission is drawn stills, and that's fine. The problem is the intro to the campaigns and such clearly were meant to be animated.
    The whole thing just feels so stiff. I think a good comparison would be the controls of X-com the original, VS the new X-com Enemy Unknown. While the controls on the original were fine for the time, they feel clumsy and difficult (to a modern audience), compared to the new one which are smooth and economical. Again, I love the old games, but lets have some progress!
    I'm a 30-something gamer, and have been playing my whole life. I actually enjoyed Heroes 6. Maybe I'm not the right audience for this new one, as I'm not stuck in the past. I hope to revist this entry a year down the road to see if they perhaps patch out some of these issues, but until then I just hope my refund comes in.    … Expand
  19. akhnaten
    Sep 30, 2015
    3
    I have never played any Might & Magic game, but I have been playing games long enough that I knew going in that it would be turn-based combat. I loved X-Com Enemy Unknown. With that being said, it is impossible for a player that is new to the franchise to play this game. There is NO TUTORIAL. Nor are their any hints/tips. I played "Something Irreversible" as the first campaign missionI have never played any Might & Magic game, but I have been playing games long enough that I knew going in that it would be turn-based combat. I loved X-Com Enemy Unknown. With that being said, it is impossible for a player that is new to the franchise to play this game. There is NO TUTORIAL. Nor are their any hints/tips. I played "Something Irreversible" as the first campaign mission and in almost every fight against a hero AI, in easy mode, my army gets completely destroyed before I even have a chance to make a move. The balance in this game seems completely out of whack, as if all the play testing was done by people who were expert players in every previous game in the series over the last 20 years. However, I do not see how even the best player could win a battle when almost their entire army gets destroyed before they can make a move.… Expand
  20. EviltoastSA
    Oct 5, 2015
    3
    Anyone giving this game more than 5 and harping about loving the originals including the hollowed Heroes of might and magic 3 must be the gaming equivalent of hamsters or something. This is another soulless attempt to not revamp the series, but the skim a couple of bucks of a few gamer's by repacking heroes 6 (which was a repackaged heroes 5 to begin with!!). More mechanics cant make aAnyone giving this game more than 5 and harping about loving the originals including the hollowed Heroes of might and magic 3 must be the gaming equivalent of hamsters or something. This is another soulless attempt to not revamp the series, but the skim a couple of bucks of a few gamer's by repacking heroes 6 (which was a repackaged heroes 5 to begin with!!). More mechanics cant make a turd a great game. I can rant about A LOT of things. But lets just start with the obvious. It looks butt ugly to start off with ,in more ways than one lol. The graphics and modeling look dull the colors are even more dull,a very grey palette mixed the graphics just make for a sad atmosphere. The interface is a joke, the font is simply disgusting, its comic sans's ugly cousin basically, the horror of having to trudge through menu's loaded with that! . The back story and lore is just generic drivel and one is never really engaged in the campaign. The mechanics are virtually the same that 6 which wasn't that great but not bad either. In short this game lacks heavily in atmosphere and interface. Your will not be immersed and everything will look ugly and jumbled around. The fact that every subsequent heroes game after 3 sucks and no one cant realize what made the third installment so great is mind boggling. The music is decent the only alright thing about the game and that's why i could not give this game a 1 :3… Expand
  21. Cavox
    Oct 6, 2015
    3
    As expected Ubisoft went in the entirely WRONG direction with the series AGAIN.
    I thought that the massive failure MMH 6 was gave im something to think about, but I should've known better.
    Here's a pro-tip: HoMM 3 and 5 were the best. Do them over with better graphics, new campaign and there you go. As for the MMH 7 itself: A buggy, crashing, slow and ugly MESS. I don't even    As expected Ubisoft went in the entirely WRONG direction with the series AGAIN.
    I thought that the massive failure MMH 6 was gave im something to think about, but I should've known better.

    Here's a pro-tip:
    HoMM 3 and 5 were the best.
    Do them over with better graphics, new campaign and there you go.

    As for the MMH 7 itself:
    A buggy, crashing, slow and ugly MESS. I don't even blame the devs, as the game shows symptoms of your usual "we didn't have enough time to finish the game, but the suits above didn't care" syndrome.
    Boring, non-engaging, copy-paste from MMH6. Avoid at all costs.

    It baffles me how can Ubisoft screw up so many times a game with such a simple premise.
    I would refund it if I could, but as I bought it from a 3rd party seller, I can't.
    My mistake. I can only assure Ubisoft it was the last time I gave them a chance with this franchise.

    Notice how the people who gave it a 10/10 here have only one review. That's not suspicious at all.

    (this is also the last time I listen to CD-Action who praised the game as something taking the very best from HoMM3 and 5 and being entirely different from 6 which turned out to be complete and utter lie)    … Expand
  22. MichelBlade
    Oct 27, 2015
    3
    I have played all Heroes games, I like some more than the other, but I have found something interesting in all of them. I love the series. Except Heroes VII. Do not buy this game. Why?
    This game is still in early development state, it is basically an alpha version: there is missing content, there are placeholders, there is no general style, there are lacks in design, some level are just    I have played all Heroes games, I like some more than the other, but I have found something interesting in all of them. I love the series. Except Heroes VII. Do not buy this game. Why?
    This game is still in early development state, it is basically an alpha version: there is missing content, there are placeholders, there is no general style, there are lacks in design, some level are just sketches. And bugs... there are so many bugs you can not often play.
    This is not a totally new game, it has reused all assets they could from Heroes VI: units, buildings, resources, music, sounds, UI, illustrations - there is not a single moment when you are not watching at least few assets from previous game.
    This game has moved the series backward in very bad meaning. All good ideas from Heroes IV to VI are gone, but the game is still nothing like Heroes II or III. They get rid of most units abilities, so most of the differ only by few statistic points. They have limited a role of a hero on a battlefield. They have flatten all strategic layer of the game.
    Playing in hot-seat with a friend was annoying because of bugs and boring because there is no depth. Playing campaigns was terrible, because of uneven level of completion of each scenario, really bad voice acting and horrible cutscenes.
    If you are a diehard Heroes fan (like me) do not buy this game. If you simply can not resist wait at least for 2 expansions and buy it on sale.    … Expand
  23. Kolirio
    Oct 9, 2016
    3
    a. Sound & Music: 8/10
    b. Graphics & Lore Art: 6/10
    c. Game Design & Mechanics: 1 d. Game Programming & AI: 0/10 Ponderation: 0.20a + 0.25b + 0.25c + 0.30d = 3.35 One year after its release it still have the same GAMEBREAKING bugs that users reported in the beta test. Out of synch won't let you finnish a single game with your friends, however you may not even get to join a lobby    a. Sound & Music: 8/10
    b. Graphics & Lore Art: 6/10
    c. Game Design & Mechanics: 1
    d. Game Programming & AI: 0/10

    Ponderation: 0.20a + 0.25b + 0.25c + 0.30d = 3.35

    One year after its release it still have the same GAMEBREAKING bugs that users reported in the beta test. Out of synch won't let you finnish a single game with your friends, however you may not even get to join a lobby because of its **** connectivity, which still relay strongly on methods from the heroes III or even worse. The single player its also broken and there are several missions which gets **** up and glitched. The content doesn't seem bad tho, however i can't really tell xD the game design, mechanics and balance is still very bad.
    The sound and music is probably one of its strenght points.
    The AI is not, which is something important for TBS games. Some of it has been patched, but its still very dumb in too many aspects (hero management, path findings, economy plans, map control strats, combat...)    … Expand
  24. mackenzie129
    Aug 17, 2016
    3
    Read reviews "this wont be terrible I love the franchise"
    Saw it at EB for $10.00 CAD "this wont be terrible I love the franchise"
    Started installing and downloaded Uplay "this wont be terrible I love the franchise" Started playing "Well it's true the franchise is dead" Seriously though. This has to be the worst most buggy heroes of might and magic game I've played and that says a lot    Read reviews "this wont be terrible I love the franchise"
    Saw it at EB for $10.00 CAD "this wont be terrible I love the franchise"
    Started installing and downloaded Uplay "this wont be terrible I love the franchise"
    Started playing "Well it's true the franchise is dead"
    Seriously though. This has to be the worst most buggy heroes of might and magic game I've played and that says a lot coming from someone who has been playing since the very first one. This was Ubisoft pretty much saying F you to the fans of the franchise.    … Expand
  25. PavelH
    Apr 21, 2022
    3
    Poor balancing of magic in the early game and it scales inversely, your best skills are the lowest tier and your worst skills are the highest tier. Magic beats Might the first 20 levels of the game. To give you a perspective, you have spells that do 400dmg a turn at lvl 2/3. Imagine that much damage in any of the other games! I am shocked how poorly a game can be balanced. In addition toPoor balancing of magic in the early game and it scales inversely, your best skills are the lowest tier and your worst skills are the highest tier. Magic beats Might the first 20 levels of the game. To give you a perspective, you have spells that do 400dmg a turn at lvl 2/3. Imagine that much damage in any of the other games! I am shocked how poorly a game can be balanced. In addition to this, you lose many of the goodies from Heroes 5/6, no blood/tier system, no legacy weapons or creature upgrades from H5. No 3d town centres and boring town upgrades. Poor.… Expand
  26. rodericrinehart
    Sep 30, 2015
    2
    Disgraceful release full of bugs, poor graphic glitches, port-forwarding, uPlay DRM, and classic Ubisoft greed of not delaying a broken, unfinished game. If you're still sold, you can get it for $60 right now!
  27. Hideyoshi123
    Oct 13, 2015
    2
    3 Words - Subpar / buggy / mess... Also enjoy paying 29.99$ in three easy installments for the other factions that should be in the game already!

    Tried playing campaign only to find out that not only the first but also the second choices of factions I tried both had game breaking (as in can't continue the storyline) bugs. Gave up and just tried some skirmish / scenarios - quite a few    3 Words - Subpar / buggy / mess... Also enjoy paying 29.99$ in three easy installments for the other factions that should be in the game already!

    Tried playing campaign only to find out that not only the first but also the second choices of factions I tried both had game breaking (as in can't continue the storyline) bugs.

    Gave up and just tried some skirmish / scenarios - quite a few of the faction specific (and or char / class) abilities either don't work at all, or just "sometimes", I can forgive a lot and I'm a fan of the series but this needed A LOT more polish to be up to snuff.

    To top it all off there are actually pretty decent performance problems, certain battle scenes specifically and I'm positive theres a good ram leak after extended play times, I mean FFS the main menu has a texture pop in (and load times on an SSD's? come the fk on...).    … Expand
  28. stenergut
    Oct 1, 2015
    2
    I have played this game since the first release, so I was really looking forward to this release.

    I bought the game, played it for 20 minutes and I havent touched it since. The graphics are substandard and poorly optimised, the gameplay is sluggish and not engaging. The combat mechanics is poor. A major stepdown from Heroes VI in every regard. I cannot empathize enough: Do not    I have played this game since the first release, so I was really looking forward to this release.

    I bought the game, played it for 20 minutes and I havent touched it since.

    The graphics are substandard and poorly optimised, the gameplay is sluggish and not engaging. The combat mechanics is poor. A major stepdown from Heroes VI in every regard.

    I cannot empathize enough: Do not spend your money on this.    … Expand
  29. Bacontron
    Oct 7, 2015
    2
    My score for this game comes from 1 simple factor, the game is worse then its predecessor and it brings nothing new to the table. The factions are pretty much the same, and instead of giving more, they removed inferno.

    Unless some huge free expansions, which gives more unit variation and a better campaign experience, is put on top of this game, i see no reason why you should buy this    My score for this game comes from 1 simple factor, the game is worse then its predecessor and it brings nothing new to the table. The factions are pretty much the same, and instead of giving more, they removed inferno.

    Unless some huge free expansions, which gives more unit variation and a better campaign experience, is put on top of this game, i see no reason why you should buy this game,

    If you are new to Heroes of Might and Magic, then buy either 3 or 5. They will give a better experience then this game is ever going to give you.    … Expand
  30. Phleabag
    Nov 9, 2015
    2
    Many problems, but getting patched. A possible buy in 6-12 months if game devs will fix it up. Don't pay more than $20.

    Terrible AI.
    Decent campaigns
    Tons of bugs
    No optimization, game load times make it unplayable.
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Awards & Rankings

31
#31 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
4
#4 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
67

Mixed or average reviews - based on 39 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 24 out of 39
  3. Negative: 3 out of 39
  1. New York Daily News
    Dec 18, 2015
    60
    Thankfully, the game is largely bug-free, and it runs on a wide variety of computers with little problem.
    Read full review
  2. CD-Action
    Dec 16, 2015
    65
    I liked many new features and I think going back to the roots of the series was a the right decision. Unfortunately it seems the game was published half a year too soon, as it’s underdeveloped, full of bugs (some of which are very serious) and has performance issues. To put it simply – Heroes VII was botched. [12/2015, p.34]
  3. Eurogamer Italy
    Nov 25, 2015
    50
    Might & Magic Heroes VII tries to appeal to the passionate audience of the series, but fails due to issues with the AI, several bugs and a general lack of elegance. We can only hope in a future patch that fixes the many technical problems, still unsolved after 1.2 version.
    Read full review
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