Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is a title you'll want to return to again and again. No matter the technological progress in recent decades, graphics still hold up, thanks to amazing art direction. While I personally think Heroes' art peaked at 2, where everything looked like an illustration from a medieval manuscript, HoMM 3's blend of pre-rendered CGI and matte painting is still nothing short of amazing. Everything else in the game is up to the same high standard: music, cutscenes, story, lore, even occassinal humour bits. Gameplay masterfully combines strategy, tactics, and RPG leveling. While it may be more on casual side compared to other TBS, campaigns will still kick your ass, especially those from 2 official expanisions. (I even dropped the Shadow of Death campaign back somewhere in 2000s; working on fixing it now). Combat AI will occassionally surprise you by anticipating and countering your moves. And you may even be able to find people who are still play this game online, although they'll most likely use Horn of the Abyss mod
If this game gets finished (plus some polish and rebalance), then it might be worth a title of "true Quake 1 sequel". First notable thing is good visual design. The devs didnt use "old-school" excuse to slack out (looking at you, Dusk), and created truly badass looking guns and enemies' models. Try to examine a gun-wielding "grunt" up close or wield a Fang Spitter the first time and you'll see. The level design is impressive as well, both snow-covered cemetery and a swamp filled with enormous dead trees and weird towers. Gunplay is decent (yes, they got The Shotgun right), with meaty sounds, blood splatter and even dismemberment. Weapons are traditional (pistol, shotgun, automatic "rifle" (Fang Spitter), and "grenade launcher"), the one that stands out is the melee blade that lets you dash with a charged alt attack. Enemies, while being inspired by Quake, all have unique gimmicks such as "rage mode" at low health. Now to the negatives. The game is early access, so, while bug-free, it only offers 2 levels to play (excluding the hub area). Buying right now can be risky investment. There are weird attempts of "modernization", mainly limited saves (you have to use a consumable to save a game, and only a single save slot is available). I do not nessessary mind it (finished the available content with a pile of those "soul tethers" laying in my inventory), I just think that the idea of limiting saves makes the game more "hardcore" is silly. All it does is to bloat the game time artifically. You cannot save progress without makng progress first. To use the afforementioned consumables ("artifacts") you need to re-select the item from a menu every time, since the game doesnt remember your choice. Movement feels floaty at times, often resulting in falls from ledges because of inertia. Finally, I felt like level design discourages any playstyle other than holding choke points, any attempt of pressing forward is punished by enemy spawns or enemies placed behind corners.
