Technical Information

Developer: New World Computing, Ubisoft
Publisher: The 3DO Company
Release Date: October 1, 1996

Heroes of Might and Magic II: Gold Edition is a version that includes the expansion pack Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Price of Loyalty (released in 1997). This expansion adds four campaigns, new artifacts, creatures, maps, improvements to the map editor, and a new building for the Necromancer.

After the death of their father, Archibald and Roland fight over who will be the new king. In campaign mode, you can choose which character to play as: Archibald (the villain) or Roland (the hero). Each choice results in a different campaign. The game continues the story introduced in the first Heroes of Might and Magic.

Heroes of Might and Magic II is a turn-based strategy game set in a medieval fantasy world.

Final Thoughts – Analyzing the Game as a Whole

Graphics and UI

Although it’s an old game, the art is generally well-detailed and beautiful. The aesthetic of the hero portraits is a bit strange, but not ugly (okay, I confess… I like it!).

Animations and cutscenes are simple, but they do their job well.

The game presents a lot of information and, as was common in 1990s games, offers no tutorial. Unfortunately, many mechanics aren’t intuitive (such as castle management and splitting monster units), and you’ll only discover what’s possible by reading the manual or experimenting on your own.

I was annoyed that the game doesn’t allow save files with spaces in their names and doesn’t let you delete them. And forget about mouse scrolling, this is a 90s game. Another downside is the loading system: instead of loading saves within the game, it sends you back to the main menu, where you must select the save file again.

Soundtrack and Sound Effects

The music is great and creates an excellent medieval fantasy atmosphere. It’s not annoying; in fact, I’d say it’s quite varied.

During campaign cutscenes, there are narrated audio tracks in good quality that tell the story (unfortunately, without subtitles).

The weak point is the sound effects. They’re very dated and haven’t aged well. For players who don’t enjoy the retro sound design of older games, this can be rough and unpleasant.

Gameplay

The main goal of the game is to conquer rival castles and defeat enemy commanders. It’s a pure strategy experience: you must manage resources, recruit armies of monsters, and explore the map efficiently.

I’m not sure whether the biggest barrier is learning how to play or the game’s difficulty itself. Heroes of Might and Magic II is challenging, especially in campaign mode, and I wouldn’t recommend it to players who give up easily. Even casual modes (where you can choose the difficulty level) aren’t very forgiving.

Matches are long, and you quickly learn that saving is your best ally. I save the game almost every two or three turns, since one wrong decision can result in your hero being annihilated or losing control of an important castle.

There’s a good variety of heroes, each with their own creature lineups. These creatures can be mixed between heroes, which enriches the strategic depth and allows for many different combinations.

Replayability and Game Retention

At first (including when I first discovered the game in mid-2011), my experience was mostly trial and error. Eventually, the exhaustion of constantly losing without making progress started to wear me down.

I only managed to overcome the difficulty by watching other players, studying their strategies, and understanding the game’s deeper mechanics. I’m no aficionado of strategy games like this, and I admit it took real effort to learn, but that challenge is exactly what kept me invested.

I can’t speak for everyone, but once I understood the game’s systems better, it became extremely fun and addictive.
That said, I wouldn’t recommend it to players who dislike long sessions or lack the patience to learn from their mistakes.