HoMM III: Horn of the Abyss is an add-on made with the goal of resembling the original HoMM III expansions as closely as it is only possible when it comes to "gameplay, graphics, campaign story, music, sounds - down to the seemingly irrelevant things". Its creators didn't want to lose the spirit of the original game even in the slightest.

There is some really high-quality stuff in it -- HotA features a new pirate town, a new campaign, and tons of bug fixes and small improvements. It is even used during tournaments. HotA is available for free in English and in Russian.

DOWNLOAD THE LATEST VERSION FROM HERE AND INSTALL IT ON UNMODIFIED HoMM III (NO WoG, ERA, ETC.)

HotA should also work through Wine on other operating systems than Windows.

USEFUL LINKS

Official HotA website (in English and in Russian)

Official HotA change log

HoMM 3 HD aka HD-Mod website with description and change log (HD-Mod is part of the HotA installer, includes quality of life improvements and additional bug fixes)

Official thread at Heroes Community

Official Horn of the Abyss Facebook page

Official forums (in Russian)

Official HotA VK ("Russian Facebook")

HotA Acid Cave website (unofficial Polish community)

Cool!

Oh my god.. What the f... this is an exceptional news. Gog has to send email about HOTA released as english version to all who bough this game.

Unbelievable! This is so cool.. and i accidentaly noticed the thread and only because it is "stickied"

Thats the way to start new year :D

Please note that it is still a work in progress, due to the addition of new features, the English translation and the fact that the pool of tester has never been so huge in the past (thanks to the translation), should you stumble on bugs or glitch, report them on the Heroes Community thread.

But yeah, I was waiting for this release since 2009 and I can say that this is one of the greatest news in recent time for Heroes of Might and Magic fans, and it's only the beginning, the people behind this release have more features, towns, fixes and campaigns they want to implement in the game.

I downloaded and played version 1.3.2. but the campaign is quite a difficult, I am stuck at second mission of ther first campaign where you have to capture all creature dwellings in 3 months and you can not build anything in your town except level 1 creature generator...

The new 1.3.3 version has been released!

I was thinking of trying out this expansion but I have both the HD version and WoG installed. Can I throw it in but avoid any WoG related EXEs or do I need a clean install? I would prefer someone with hands on experience rather than theoretical probability.

It needs to be installed on a clean install (either the original game with the Shadow Of Death expansion or the Complete version). It is not compatible with WoG, but it is 100% compatible with the HD mod.

Isn't there a detailed wiki in English anywhere? Or can't I just find one? I would love to read in detail of the new creature types, new artifacts, locations, etc. Kinda weird if one doesn't exist, I think it should be a given. The only way to learn about the new stuff would apparently be by playing the mod myself and I don't like going in blind.

AFAIK, there's no wiki, but you can find a lot of info on HotA if you look through the links listed in my first post (I've just added there a link to the changelog, and one more resource about HotA).

I'd want to hear from those who tried this mod. Honestly I am not very interested in new pirate town, but what about changes made in old towns and creatures - did they make gameplay better, how balanced are them?

Well, numbers are important, but what about the general impression: did game become better with changes made? WoG for example is rather ambivalent mod IMHO in terms of gameplay innovations.

With HotA, HoMM III feels generally more polished. Check out these screenshots to see the attention to detail of the HotA Crew: http://vk.com/album-59561616_181079363

What is more, HotA comes with an updater, so every now and then you'll get even more new content. :)

Yeah, thanks, I took a look at the screenshots yesterday. As for me, I really don't care in how much pixels Griffin Conservatory was drawn or is really visible the ear of the golden bull head on top of the Gorgon's Lair...:)