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Grab a mace and make some magic.

August 17, 2010

San Francisco, CA - Today Ubisoft announced the return of the fan beloved Might & Magic franchise with the development of Might & Magic Heroes VI, which will be available worldwide on Windows PC in 2011. Developed by Black Hole Entertainment (Armies of Exigo, Mark of Chaos Battle March), Might & Magic Heroes VI will include all the characters and features that have made this brand a worldwide success, in addition to a wealth of new innovations.

"Might & Magic is a powerful franchise with an amazing 20-year legacy," said Adam Novickas, director of marketing at Ubisoft U.S. "Players will be able to enjoy the Heroes experience like never before. The amazing creative teams at Black Hole Entertainment are keeping the original Heroes spirit, while enhancing the RPG elements."

The Might & Magic Heroes VI adventure starts 400 years before the events in Heroes of Might & Magic V, showcasing a family of heroes in a thrilling, epic story where Angels plot to revive an unfinished war.

A legendary Archangel general killed during the war of the Elder races returns to life with a vengeance. Under the cover of preparations for an upcoming Demon invasion, he unites the peoples of Ashan to eradicate his ancient enemies. However, he underestimates the power of the all too human dynasty of the Griffin Dukes.

The Griffin heroes' destinies will be written by players. In the game, players will be able to:

- Enjoy the critically acclaimed Heroes gameplay, remasterized with the well-known developer, Black Hole Entertainment, and in close partnership with the game's numerous fans.

- Experience the unique mix of Turn-Based Strategy & RPG: Explore extra-large adventure maps, collect tons of resources and build extraordinary cities. Perfect your tactics to level-up your heroes, recruit troops & ready them for combat on exclusive battle maps

- Shape your destiny: Lead the Heroes of the Griffin dynasty within an intriguing scenario. Choose your path, assume your choices and customize your gaming experience thanks to a brand new reputation system.

- Rediscover the richness of the Might & Magic Universe: Discover fantastic landscapes and creatures from the world of Ashan. Enjoy revisited 3D designs and an exclusive new bestiary.

- Share with the community: Post content & compete with your friends using a new and intelligent, online community interface.

For more information, visit mightandmagicgame.com.

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A venerable franchise is getting a makeover.

It's been a while since we're heard anything new in this franchise on PC, but Ubisoft is returning to the world of Might & Magic. The next game will be titled Might & Magic Heroes VI, and development will be handled by Blackhole Entertainment, a studio that also produced Armies of Exigo and Warhammer: Mark of Chaos. According to Ubisoft, the franchise's fanbase is playing a large part in how the sequel is developed, as many community suggestions are being incorporated into the design.

Overall, though, the game appears to present a similar turn-based strategy role-playing experience as before, though with prettier visuals this time around. It's actually being built as a prequel to the events of Heroes V, being set 500 years before. The game's currently scheduled for a March 2011 release date.

We were shown a brief demo of the game in action, and it looked like it'll deliver the same kind of action fanchise fans would expect. In case you aren't familiar, you'll basically be guiding a hero unit across a large world map, clicking around the environment to gather up resources and fight with enemies. When transitioning into combat, the gameplay screen will change to a grid where your army and the enemy's will face off against one another. You then take turns issuing move orders across the grid and flinging magic at each other until one army is victorious.

In a battle we were shown, the Hero was a necromancer named Svetlana who went into combat with an army of vampires, wraiths and skeleton archers. Fighting against knights and griffons, the fantasy combat was nicely detailed, with flashy magic effects and smoothly animated deaths for units on the field. You'll have abilities like magical bolts that can rip through multiple targets, archers that can fire from afar, and other special skills to heal, resurrect, and do damage. The order of which unit is slated to move next will be displayed onscreen so there won't be any mystery about what'll attack next, and should you persevere and win you'll be rewarded with experience and other spoils.

As you continue to move across map and reap resources you'll also be able to take over towns to add to your forces, which in Heroes VI includes the ability to convert towns entirely to your faction. Building up your hero, whose progression is now persistent across missions, and army will be especially important if you aim to take on some of the dangerous boss characters being included in the game. We didn't get to see any of these encounters, but we're told bosses will have, as one might assume, abilities, attack power, and defenses far beyond that of the normal foes.

There's much more to learn about the game, but for now it sounds pretty good. We're told there'll be an easy way for fans to share content in-game, which should lessen the hassle for those who plan on sticking with the product after Blackhole's content is exhausted.

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Erwan le Breton Q&A:

1. M&M Heroes V has been launched five years ago. Why did it take so long for M&M Heroes VI?

[Erwan] There are several reasons for this long gestation period. Some pragmatic, like waiting for the perfect development studio to succeed Nival. However, the main cause lies in a long concept phase. We have discussed at length, and sometimes experimented, several additions to the Heroes formula. Some we kept, some we discarded. Heroes VI was to us a “labour of love”, and when you want to craft a precious gem, you don’t measure time. Consider that it took us 2 years to develop Clash of Heroes, a DS game, when it takes usually 6 to 8 months for most DS games to be developed.

2. Please reassure me : did you keep the turn-based rythm? Will we still be able to play in Hot Seat?

[Erwan]Heroes VI is still a turn-based game, and hotseat remains the basic multiplayer mode.

3. Some players thought that Heroes V formula was too much closer from Heroes III. How Heroes VI will be different from previous opuses?

[Erwan] Heroes VI has several surprises up its sleeve, most linked to the adventure map and the RPG dimension (the heroes’ creation and evolution). We hope the fans will be excited by our mix of familiarity (the core Heroes mechanics are unchanged) and innovation.

4. Heroes V has been developed by Nival. Why did you change the developer for Heroes VI?

[Erwan] We explored the possibility of a Nival-made Heroes VI, but it was difficult to find a common vision on the project. Moreover, Nival was developing Allods Online, a huge project that took away most of the team who had worked on Heroes 5.

5. Why did you choose Black Hole to develop Heroes VI? What did they bring on this project?

[Erwan] They had two great fantasy strategy games at their credit: Armies of Exigo and Warhammer: Mark of Chaos. For the latter, they worked very closely with Games Workshop, so they knew what it meant to develop a game within a specific franchise. They also had a solid in-house engine, perfect for Heroes VI. Obviously, they impressed us as experienced, talented and passionate people during our first encounter. Something they more than confirmed during the game’s development! Last, but not least, they are huge fans of the Heroes series 

6. Heroes fan communities are very active and update detailled « wish lists » for Heroes VI. Did Ubisoft take these comments into account? More generally, do you consider fans opinions?

[Erwan] Almost since day 1 we have been in contact with the leaders and most active members of the massive Might & Magic fan community. At first it was a couple of informal emails and encounters, and it gradually evolved into a private forum, in which we discuss the game vision, its mechanics and its art direction. Already, their enlightened feedback has influenced some of our design ideas.

7. Regarding artistic direction, do you still collaborate with Olivier Ledroit?

[Erwan] He created new concept arts specifically for Heroes VI, and we still refer to the ones he made for Heroes V. His design ideas are mostly reflected in the heroes’ and creature’s armors and weapons. As for the general art style of the game, it was developed conjointly between Black Hole and Ubisoft.

8. Heroes is known for its soundtrack quality. Will Rob King and Paul Romero still be part of the Heroes VI project?

[Erwan] Music is an important part of the Heroes experience, so we have put even more of a focus on it than ever before, but we will tell you all about it later.

9. There were strong scenario links between Heroes V, Dark Messiah and Clash of Heroes. What about Heroes VI? Does the game still happen in the same continuity and universe?

[Erwan] Heroes VI is set in Ashan, the world that links all Might & Magic games since Heroes V. But this time we take you roughly 400 years before Queen Isabel’s war and the rise of the Dark Messiah.

10. How will the Heroes VI campaign look like? Will we have to play all campaigns in a precise order like in Heroes V?

[Erwan] In Heroes VI, each campaign is linked to a specific faction. They are interconnected, but can be played separately, in any order. Completing them all will reveal the “big picture behind the scene” J

11. Can we expect new factions and new creatures in Heroes VI?

[Erwan] In terms of factions and creature line-ups, Heroes VI is again a mix of familiarity and innovation. For instance, Haven is still here, with its crossbowmen, its knights of the Holy Light and its Angels, but also with new creatures, unseen in a previous Heroes game.

12. Will it be PC exclusive?

[Erwan] Heroes 6 will remain a PC-game only. However, we’re considering a Mac version

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Nival is making something else?  *perks ears*

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I read somewhere fairly recently that it was quite possible that we'd get some more news before the end of last year. We didn't of course, so I'm expecting something fairly soon, although whether that would be about H6, or about the supposed next TotE patch, I don't know. (I wonder if anybody remembers what the source was...)

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New development Neocore Feb 9, 2009
It's been a busy winter at NeocoreGames so far. While the majority of the team is vigorously working on the upcoming title: King Arthur - The Role-playing Wargame (check out the official site if you haven't done it yet), some additional work has been started on an upcoming project that has to remain secret for the time being but promises to a really interesting venture. Stay tuned!

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