Yes, it doesn't have a campaign. Yes, I would like to have one. But I want a lot of very specific things and I don't particularly want to get hung up on what this isn't. What it is, is a cool new faction that fits in well with what we already got but has enough differences to make it interesting. If anything, I would say this might actually be higher quality work then what we got in the base game though that's highly subjective,(obviously). Overall, a pretty good reason to go back to the game. Also, I'd like to shoutout the free update to items (sets) that got dropped as part of this release. It does a good job of making the items much more distinct and the item game, in general, more varied. Thumbs up!
I'm writing this review three weeks after 1.0 release, having played it a bunch since release and during early access. The TL;DR is that I had fun playing it but I don't think it (currently) has the longevity HoMM has had, and continues to have, for me. The main issue holding this game back for me is that heroes/wielders aren't really that mechanically distinct so I just end up printing the same build whatever hero I'm using, which removes a lot of variety. A specialisation that grants you a single essence point (half of what an average troop would generate for you) isn't going to spark my imagination. I wish they were doubled or even tripled. You could say "no big deal, you can mod that, right?" - and you can't. I checked. Which is a bit of a let down. On the plus side: all these little bonuses clearly matter to the PvP scene which is great, even if it's not my jam; the combat system is fantastic (much better than anything in HoMM); and I like the setting they are building here. I will probably come back for the DLC and I enjoyed the time I had with it but, as it stands, I don't think it is a game I will come back to again and again.
