I had the privilege to play Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition early for review. This game is a unique mix of puzzles, strategy, and RPG. You have to plan your every move and combine your attacks to defeat your enemies in matching puzzle-inspired battle scenarios. Not only that, but you upgrade your heroes and creatures to unleash increasingly devastating attacks on your opponents. Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes will require you to use your head to come up with the best strategy possible for victory. Dotemu is bringing Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition. This included the DLC, refreshed character portraits, many quality-of-life improvements, and an expanded, fully reworked, and re-balanced online mode! I’m going to tell you about this game and why it’s what a definitive edition should be!
Improved Visuals and Graphics
Even though the original Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes was already a great game, this blows that out of the water! I started the game not thinking much about anything besides having fun with an upgraded old classic. It was shocking to see how much better the character portraits and visuals looked. Some of the portraits look like they were redone completely. Compared to the original game it was a master-class job. The colors look better which in turn makes everything pop out more. To me, it shows how much detail they put into this when they refreshed the way the characters looked. It was a welcoming shock to my eyes.
Not only the character portraits but also the creatures/monsters and the overall visuals and graphics were drastically improved. When you look at your character’s “minions” you see the details they put in to distinguish each of them. Sometimes definitive editions don’t upgrade much and are just a cash grab. I enjoyed that I could tell how much love Dotemu put into improving the game and getting the best possible Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition. It shows from the characters, minions, scenery, and graphics, everything looks so good. And the colors in this game are perfect!
Perfect Campaign
Taking place 40 years before the Heroes of Might and Magic V saga, Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes tells the tale of five heroes scattered across five different regions of Ashan. Each must travel their own dangerous paths to grow in strength, unravel a demonic plot, and ultimately save their world from devastation.
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition has a single-player campaign that takes approximately 25 hours. I went through and finished right below the 24-hour mark and it was perfection all the way through. We have everything from betrayal, tragedy, violence, and heroism. Without spoiling anything you get to see 5 young allies save the land from an impending evil. Each character has their own unique story experience which they converge back together to save the land. You have Anwen who gets to use the Sylvan faction. Then you have the Unicorn siblings Godric, Fiona, and Aidan Unicorn.
Godric uses the Haven faction, Fiona gets to use the Necropolis faction, and Aidan uses the Inferno faction. Lastly, we have Nadia who has access to the Academy faction. Factions distinguish which style of troops that particular one will use. Necropolis contains more of the undead style of troops. Then Sylvan will contain more nature-based minions like the Rangers, Bears, and Treant. Each provides a unique experience and never felt the same as the others. My two favorite factions were the Sylvan and Necropolis factions. Sylvan has access to the Emerald Dragon which I love dragons. Then the Necropolis faction is all about undead troops and who doesn’t love the undead?
Each of the campaigns has the main quests, small side quests, bounty quests, battle puzzles, and 10 artifacts to find while leveling up. The artifacts provide different bonuses in battle or abilities that add extra depth to the combat. In Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition each hero levels up to 10 and each minion you control levels up to 5. There are basic minions which are less powerful and more so fodder, then you have Elite troops, and then the most powerful Champion troops. There are so many different combinations you can use that there is a flavor or strategy for everyone. Campaigns never once felt repetitive and just had me by the hook battle after battle throughout each character’s story.
Game Modes
So my only knock really when it comes to Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition is it lacks 1 or 2 more modes. Don’t get me wrong it’s not a big knock, but I feel like if they included the “Battle Puzzles” from the campaign they would have had another great mode to play. Obviously, you have the single-player campaigns, quick play, 1 vs 1 hot seat, and online multiplayer. I’ve already mentioned how amazing the campaigns are. Quick play is exactly as it sounds a quick way to hop in and just play a match against the AI. This is a cool way to play because you get to play as any of the characters you unlocked in the campaigns.
The additional DLC for Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition also lets you play as extra villains in these other modes too. Azh Rafir is one of my favorites to use and he runs similar troops to Nadia. Plus his special ability to summon the hands and blast enemies is great. The 1 vs 1 hot seat is just couch co-op and it’s fun to sit on the couch and try to outsmart you’re friends in a battle of wits. My friend, I had a best of 7 series using multiple characters and artifacts and each battle was different. There was one battle where I made a mistake and my friend just blew me out because of it.
That sounds like it’s unforgiving but it’s really not. Sometimes you accidentally delete a minion or place one in the wrong spot, accidents happen. Unfortunately, online multiplayer was not available during the review period of Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition. That won’t detract from my score though. Whenever it is available they do have a 1 vs 1 and 2 vs 2 for the online multiplayer matches which should be a cool experience.
Intense Battles
I had to have a separate section just for the battles in Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition. It’s a match 3 of the same color style of system. You match 3 minor minions horizontally to make a wall for defense and then vertically to make an attack group. The higher level units like Elites and Champions are required to match them with minor units as well. Each different minion from basic to Champion has a unique ability, which adds another layer of strategy in battle. You also can fuse units to make them stronger before they launch an attack by combining another set of their respective colors.
When it came to the battle system there are so many characters with different abilities, minions, and artifacts. This provides a depth of gameplay that prevents it from seeming repetitive. My favorite artifact I used is the “Battle Wand” which allows my character to start with their MP Gauge full so I can use my special ability immediately. One thing the team did a great job of is balancing things for the battles. They even have listed a couple of artifacts “cant be used in multiplayer” which prevents things from getting crazy. Each character has a type of “wall ability” which allows you to factor certain things into your strategy.
A couple of my favorite abilities are when the minions of the necropolis faction die their bones are left and end up forming into walls. I love being able to have a good defense. One of the characters Markal has the “Death March” ability which instantly charges all Elite or Champion units on the battlefield. This will help lead to a very powerful attack. Then one more I like is the Phoenix unit which resurrects your formations if they die while charging once. Battles can last around 10 minutes or they can be long drawn-out 30-minute battles. It depends on your strategy, the troops you get, and your opponent. Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition’s battles are like an onion, so many layers to peel back and it’s a lot of fun.
Music and Sound Effects
One of my favorite things about games besides graphics/art style is music and audio. Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition provides some amazing music with a sound design to match. Sometimes when you are in battle going back and forth in the campaign you can hear some thunderstorms and lighting. There were some times when I was so focused on what I was doing and then I would hear storms and it would catch me off guard. Then you get to experience the beautiful music at other times that is just relaxing and definitely fits this type of game. Great music and sound effects can sometimes make or break a game. Nothing better than relaxing while playing a strategy puzzler. Dotemu did an amazing job in everything they reworked to get it all correct for this game.
All DLC and Great Prices
One thing Definitive Editions usually do is add all the old games DLC and Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition is no different. We get the I Am the Boss DLC. This allows you to switch to the side of Chaos and play as one of the 4 villains of the game in any mode other than the campaign. The team also added a newly created exclusive multiplayer boss (Euny the Archdruid) is included in this DLC! Dotemu really showed their love and put in the work to make this the best Definitive Edition they could!
A big thing people always ask is what is this going to cost me? I believe the price point is perfect at $17.99 and is also priced about the same elsewhere too. It’s really nice to get this great game and not have to pay a full $60 or $70. These developers respected the game, our time, and our money.
Final Thoughts
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition is pretty much everything you want in a Definitive Edition and more. The team reworked multiple things in the game and provided refreshes of characters. They took the time to rebalance multiplayer by banning certain artifacts. The visuals, animations, and graphics seem leagues better than the previous game. I wish I could have gotten into some online multiplayer, but even without that, you can see how much work they put into improving different aspects. Battles are always great with multiple depths of strategy that always provides unique experience. I would of like to see 1 or 2 more modes, especially having the campaign “Battle Puzzles” in a separate mode.
The game will be available on PlayStation, PC, and Nintendo Switch. I don’t say this lightly but to me, this is close to a perfect experience. You can grab a copy of this amazing game on July 20th, 2023.
Note – the publisher provided a PlayStation 5 game key for the purpose of this review.
