Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake Announced, Rebuilt in Full 3D for 2027

Some announcements at a trade show get polite applause, and some make an entire generation of strategy players sit up at once. Ubisoft delivered the second kind at Gamescom Opening Night Live: Heroes of Might and Magic III, the 1999 turn-based classic that many of us still install on every new PC out of habit, is getting a full remake. It arrives in 2027 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and it will also be on Ubisoft+.

This is not another HD coat of paint like the 2015 edition. The remake is rebuilt from the ground up in Ubisoft's Snowdrop engine, trading the fixed isometric view for a fully 3D Erathia with free camera control, dynamic lighting, real-time weather and shifting seasons. Crucially, Ubisoft's own announcement frames the turn-based gameplay as untouched, which is exactly what this particular fanbase wanted to hear.

Video: Ubisoft on YouTube

Everything from 1999 is in the box, plus a new prologue

The content plan is generous by remake standards. Both expansions, Armageddon's Blade and The Shadow of Death, are included on day one, and instead of shipping the campaigns as separate menu entries, Ubisoft is weaving them into a single continuous story. A brand new prologue campaign eases newcomers into the world and the mechanics before the classic scenarios begin, which matters for a game whose original tutorial was essentially "good luck."

All nine factions return, from Castle and Rampart through Necropolis, Inferno, Dungeon, Stronghold, Fortress, Tower and Conflux. The audio side gets a proper modernization too, with voice acting, layered music and ambient effects tied to what is happening on the map, so combat, spellcasting and morale swings all have their own sonic cues.

The detail that genuinely surprised us is community compatibility. Heroes III has stayed alive for nearly three decades because players kept building maps and campaigns for it, and Ubisoft says the remake will preserve compatibility with those thousands of community creations. For a series this dependent on its modding scene, that single sentence may be the most important one in the whole announcement.

Multiplayer keeps Hot Seat, because some traditions are sacred

Multiplayer supports up to eight players online with improved matchmaking and a simultaneous turn system to keep matches from crawling, and yes, Hot Seat mode returns. Passing one keyboard around a table is how most of us learned this game, and Ubisoft clearly knows better than to touch it.

The announcement lands in a Gamescom that has been unusually kind to classics, coming a day after The Witcher 3 got its free current-gen remaster and in the same year Ubisoft rebuilt Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. Our take: remakes of action games are routine now, but a faithful, mod-compatible rebuild of the most beloved turn-based strategy game ever made is a different kind of bet, and 2027 gives Ubisoft time to get the details right. The fanbase it is courting will forgive a long wait far more easily than a wrong unit portrait.