Heroes of Might and Magic III: Horn of the Abyss

Although for some people the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise died along with 3DO, there’s no denying that Ubisoft tried its best with the newer releases as well. They may not be as hardcore as the original trilogy, but the gameplay mechanics are largely the same, and a fair bit of work has gone into the visual presentation as well. However, some prefer the third installment over anything else, and would go to extreme lengths to preserve its legacy.

Heroes of Might and Magic III: Horn of the Abyss may sound pretty official, but it’s actually a fan-made project designed to extend the original game and fix some of the gameplay issues that were missed by 3DO back in the day. It adds an entirely new story for you to explore, as well as a new town, new units and a couple of unseen artifacts that can be equipped in order to tackle the challenges ahead.

Right off the bat, the addition of a new town is pretty big news, because balancing is always an issue with such games, especially when multiplayer is an option. This new town is called Cove, and it’s basically a pirate-themed set of buildings and units to diversify the gameplay even more. They are pretty fun to play with, and this is also by far the biggest overall change in terms of gameplay.

A variety of other components have been added as well, including new artifacts, map buildings and heroes, each one of which is designed to blend seamlessly with the original elements. On top of that, you can also tackle much bigger maps now, as well as create random maps using the built-in editor. The map generator is actually a great tool if you are looking for new scenarios all the time and you do not want to scour the Internet in order to find one.

Since HoMM III had its fair share of bugs and inconveniences, this add-on also tries to fix some of the original annoyances, including many graphic glitches that could potentially ruin your day. In fact, Horn of the Abyss is also compatible with the HoMM III Unofficial HD Patch, which allows you to scale the game’s resolution all the way up to 4K, depending on your monitor and personal preferences.

When it’s all said and done, Horn of the Abyss is about as complete as a fan-made add-on can get, especially when you consider the fact that the developers even fixed many of the existing gameplay issues, besides adding some new ones. Hence, it’s a must-have for every hardcore HoMM III fan out there. Note: You need the Complete version of Heroes of Might and Magic III in order for the add-on to work, including the Shadow of Death expansion. The mod is also compatible with the GOG version of the game, which can be found here.