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IGN’s preview finds a full visual remake of Heroes of Might and Magic III that preserves its strategy systems, supports old maps, and adds editors.
Ubisoft’s Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake is being built as a full visual reconstruction of the 1999 strategy game, while keeping the original gameplay systems largely intact. In IGN’s preview, Ryan McCaffrey examined the remake during a remote hands-on session and found a version that updates the presentation without discarding the structure that defined the classic.
According to IGN, the project is planned for PC and consoles. Ubisoft’s remake will use modern 3D graphics, a redesigned interface, and recreated versions of original maps, while also supporting older maps from the game’s long-running community. The publisher has not provided a release date in the source material, but Ubisoft says the map and campaign editors will ship with the game at release.
Heroes of Might and Magic III is a turn-based strategy game built around the movement of heroes and their armies across an overworld map. Players explore, gather resources, visit points of interest, recruit troops, and capture locations before confronting rival forces. Battles then move to a side-view battlefield divided into hexagonal panels, where units are positioned and moved until one side is defeated.
IGN reports that this gameplay remains in place. The remake is therefore not presented as a redesign of the series’ core systems. Instead, Ubisoft is changing how the game looks and how players navigate its information. The 2026 version is described by IGN as a top-to-bottom visual remake, following an earlier remaster released by Ubisoft about a decade ago.
The visual update moves the game into modern 3D, but the interface is not being rebuilt without reference to the original. IGN describes the new menus as retaining elements of the classic MS-DOS-era appearance while using that style as a foundation for refreshed art and layouts. That approach suggests Ubisoft is treating familiarity as part of the remake’s design rather than attempting to replace it with a completely unrelated interface.
One example highlighted by IGN is the base-building screen. In the original presentation, players who had not memorized the layout could need to search for the section they wanted to upgrade. The new artwork is intended to make those options easier to identify at a glance. This is a confirmed example of a readability change, although the supplied preview does not detail every interface revision across the game.
The maps and campaign content
IGN’s demo included two maps with different purposes. The first was The Queen’s Departure, a campaign tutorial map designed to introduce movement and combat. Its story follows a queen leaving her kingdom after her father’s death. The queen and her retinue encounter bandits while traveling toward a port, before a demon attack creates a more serious threat.
The second map was Arrogance, a standalone scenario from the original game. IGN describes it as a popular map in which several factions compete for towns and shipyards. Its layout discourages an immediate rush and includes subterranean areas that provide access to additional resources. These features give the scenario more room for competing strategies than a straightforward race toward the nearest enemy.
Ubisoft’s approach to the old maps is one of the most important confirmed details in the preview. The remake will support the original maps from the beginning, including campaign material and maps made by fans. Ubisoft says it is scanning the topography and design of those maps and recreating them in 3D. That means the maps are not merely being displayed with a new coat of paint. Their underlying shapes and layouts are being used as the basis for the new environments.
Map preservation also connects the remake to the community that has kept Heroes of Might and Magic III active for decades. IGN notes that players have continued playing the original and creating maps for it for roughly a quarter-century. Ubisoft says key members of that community have been involved in the remake’s creation. The source does not identify those contributors or explain the exact form of their involvement, so the scope of that collaboration remains unconfirmed.
The map and campaign editors are also confirmed to be planned for the game’s release. The supplied material does not explain whether those tools will match the original editors feature for feature, how much new functionality they will contain, or what kinds of sharing options will be available. Those details will matter to players who see user-created scenarios as a central part of the game’s longevity.
IGN’s hands-on account offers a useful reminder that the remake’s familiar rules can still produce difficult, unpredictable matches. On the first attempt at Arrogance, McCaffrey was too slow to defeat monsters guarding a nearby castle town. By the time the route was cleared and the town captured, a rival kingdom had built ships and invaded the coast. IGN reports that the available units were not strong enough to stop the invasion, which then moved through the player’s resources and eventually eliminated the faction.
A second attempt focused on speed. IGN used a faction of mages and concentrated on building and expanding quickly. That plan performed better initially, but a group of Griffins defeated the player’s units and left the faction exposed. The player then retreated into an underground undead area. The demo ended before the consequences of that position became clear.
These are observations from IGN’s preview session, not an OnlineGamesVIP hands-on verdict. They do, however, show how the remake’s preserved systems can generate the same kind of strategic pressure associated with the original. Timing, army strength, map access, and the decision to pursue or avoid particular threats all remained important in the scenarios described by the publication.
Analysis: For existing fans, the most significant point is that Ubisoft appears to be prioritizing continuity over reinvention. The source material confirms that the basic overworld exploration, recruitment, resource gathering, town development, and hex-based battles remain intact. The remake’s main argument is therefore visual and practical: it aims to make a familiar game easier to read while preserving the decisions that made its maps demanding.
That balance could be especially important for a game with a large library of established scenarios. A remake that altered the rules too heavily might make old maps feel different even if their terrain remained recognizable. Ubisoft’s stated plan to recreate original and fan-made maps in 3D, combined with the decision to support old maps from the start, points toward a version designed to preserve the relationship between scenario layout and strategy.
Analysis: Console support could also broaden access, but the supplied evidence does not establish how the game will control on consoles or whether its interface will change between platforms. The redesigned menus may help players who are new to the series, yet accessibility for newcomers will depend on more than clearer screens. The campaign tutorial, map design, and the way the remake explains its many systems will all influence whether first-time players can understand the game without prior knowledge.
The two demonstrated maps also suggest two different entry points. The Queen’s Departure is positioned as a teaching scenario, while Arrogance represents the open-ended complexity of a classic standalone map. That combination gives players a way to learn the foundations before facing a scenario where slow expansion can allow opponents to seize the initiative. IGN’s account indicates that the remake still expects players to learn through consequences rather than offering a simple path to victory.
What remains unknown
The preview confirms the intended platforms as PC and consoles, but it does not state which consoles are supported. It also does not provide a release date, launch window, price, edition information, or details about preorders. None of those points should be treated as settled based on the supplied evidence.
The source material also leaves several technical and content questions open. It does not specify the final resolution or performance targets, whether the remake will include online multiplayer, or how multiplayer support will relate to the original maps. It does not explain whether the complete original campaign is included, whether every faction and unit has received the same treatment, or what additional content Ubisoft may be planning.
The editors deserve particular attention in future updates. Their confirmed presence at release is encouraging for players who create and share scenarios, but Ubisoft has not yet detailed their tools, workflow, compatibility, or distribution features in the material reviewed here. The same applies to the community collaboration: its existence is confirmed by Ubisoft through IGN’s report, while its practical effect on the finished game is still to be demonstrated.
Future evidence should therefore focus on the final platform list, release timing, multiplayer and editor details, and a broader look at the remake’s campaign and factions. More extensive coverage will also help establish whether the improved readability seen in the base-building screen extends consistently across the full interface. For now, IGN’s preview presents Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake as a careful modernization of a strategy classic, with its strongest confirmed feature being the decision to update the presentation without replacing the game’s fundamental play.