Adventure Map

The adventure map is where Olden Era's heroes explore, collect resources and treasure, fight neutral guards and capture towns, mines and creature dwellings. Unfrozen counts 190 kinds of buildings on the map at the Early Access launch, more than any earlier Heroes game.

0:24 The adventure map (the "Global Map" in Unfrozen's patch notes) is where heroes in Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era explore, pick up resources and treasure, fight neutral guards and capture towns, mines and creature dwellings, day by day and week by week. Unfrozen counts 190 kinds of buildings on the map at the Early Access launch, against 171 in Heroes of Might and Magic 3 by its own comparison, "from simple windmills to majestic dragon utopias" (Video Devlog #4, Sep 26, 2025). Maps come from the Random Map Generator, from hand-made scenarios and the Campaign, and from the Map Editor.

A white winter map with gray stone roads, frozen trees and blue ice. In the center a tall blue crystal town stands at the edge of a frozen lake, a hero beside it. Towers, glowing shrines, a red crystal mine and treasure chests are scattered around. The bottom bar shows a white-haired woman named Matastala the White with three creature stacks. — The adventure map in snow, with the hero Matastala the White at the gate of an ice crystal town beside a frozen lake, and roads, towers, mines and treasure around it, in an image from Unfrozen's Steam announcement "Devlog #15: How and Why We Chose the Artstyle of Olden Era" (Apr 24, 2026). Unfrozen

Quick facts

Map buildings at Early Access	190 kinds (Heroes 3: 171, Heroes 5: 131)
Resources	Gold, wood, ore, crystals, gems and mercury, plus Alchemical Dust
Other currencies	Law points, Astrology Points, the Grail
Movement	Planned in 2024 to depend on army speed as in Heroes 3; Norovo reports the Early Access build does not limit it by slow units
Control zones	None, unlike Heroes 6 and 7 (FAQ: Part 2)
Largest template	Jebus Cross, 176x176 in the Oct 15, 2026 beta (160x160 before)
Planned	An underground layer, on the roadmap's Stage 3

Exploring and moving

Each day a hero has a pool of movement points, which, "just like in HoMM3", depends on the speed of the units in the army; that matters for chaining heroes (Devlog #2, Sep 27, 2024). That was the 2024 plan: Norovo's beginner's guide of May 4, 2026, made on the Early Access build, reports that a hero's movement points are no longer limited by the speed of slow creatures (see Beginner's Guide). The Logistics skill adds movement, and adventure spells such as Second Wind, Town Portal and Dimension Door move heroes further (Magic and Spells). The map starts covered in fog of war; the Scouting skill widens a hero's sight, and spells such as Groundsight and Clear Fog reveal more.

21:45 Heroes reach new parts of the map by defeating the neutral guards on passages, and Unfrozen dropped the control zones of Heroes 6 and 7 after "mixed feedback, or even negative feedback" (FAQ: Part 2, Dec 6, 2024). Norovo's beginners guide (May 4, 2026) explains that random maps are split into zones, called areas in the game, each usually holding a town, with treasure zones that pay more for harder fights; the guards between zones stand on the roads and cannot be flown over or skipped with Dimension Door, so choosing when to break through matters more than in Heroes 3.

Fighting guards gives a hero experience and, for your faction, Law points (Faction Laws). A bug that stopped Law and Astrology points from increasing on the first day of each week was fixed on Jun 4, 2026 ("Mondays are hard", the notes joke) (hotfix). Templates with tournaments or a decisive battle fix duels on set days, such as day 2 of week 2 (beta notes).

Before launch, Unfrozen reworked the map's look after demo feedback: more visual effects on map objects, more detail about enemy units, extra minimap markers, a setting to desaturate the background to 0%, 50% or 100%, and highlights for objects you can interact with (Community Feedback #4, Mar 6, 2026).

A green map with gray stone roads, pine forests and gray mountains. In the center a gray stone castle stands beside a blue lake, a hero at its gate. Towers, an arena, glowing shrines, a red crystal mine and treasure chests are scattered around. The bottom bar shows Leon Sticky-Fingers with three creature stacks. — The adventure map in summer, with the hero Leon Sticky-Fingers at the gate of a stone castle beside a blue lake, and roads, towers, mines and treasure around it, in an image from Unfrozen's Steam announcement "Devlog #15: How and Why We Chose the Artstyle of Olden Era" (Apr 24, 2026). Unfrozen

Resources and mines

2:27 Towns and the Economy skill bring in gold every day, and mines bring the other resources: Unfrozen's map generator talks of the sawmill (wood), the quarry and the gold mine (Devlog #6, Dec 16, 2024). The building costs in the patch notes use gold, wood, ore, crystals, gems and mercury (Patch #9; Patch #11). Piles of resources and treasure chests lie around the map for any hero to pick up, and Dungeon's "Merchants Guild" law removes price markups in the Marketplace.

20:01 Alchemical Dust is a further resource, won for example at the "Overgrown Vori Ruins" (beta notes). Norovo explains that it takes the place of the sulfur of older Heroes games and pays for upgrading most creature dwellings, spells and some artifacts; it cannot be bought at the Marketplace, but an alchemical lab on the map turns equal amounts of gems, crystals and mercury into dust, scrapping artifacts and spell scrolls gives some, and a late town building produces it steadily.

Map objects

1:23 The Devlog #4 video sorts the map's sites into groups, and the patch notes name many of them. Some return from older games, "like Learning Stones and Dragon Utopias", while others are new (Designing a Heroes Game, Aug 29, 2024).

Object	What the notes say
Pandora's Box	Since the Oct 15, 2026 beta, every box offers a choice: experience, Law or Astrology Points; gold, resources or Alchemical Dust; creatures in any upgrade; Attack or Defense or movement (combat boxes) and Spell Power or Knowledge or mana (magic boxes); or spells of a tier from the school you pick. Since Oct 21 the choice cannot be postponed
Remote Foothold	Leave an army and artifacts at one and collect them at any other (Devlog #2); shared storage for Alliances since Sep 30, 2026
Mirage	The fight against a copy of your hero that wins The Grail
Creature banks	"Point of Balance", "Colosseum", "Ritual Pyre", "Tomb of Vigilance", "Boreal Call", "Carrion Pile" and "Petrified Memorial", with stronger guards in the beta
Skill sites	"Wise Owl" and "Infernal Cirque" teach skills (Patch #8; Patch #11); a University object exists in the Map Editor
Conversion sites	"Chimerologist" converts creatures (10% loss in the beta); "Eternal Dragon" converts dragons
Treasure sites	"Tomb of a Nameless Hero" and "Crow Nest" hold artifacts; "Artefact Merchant" buys and sells them
Magic sites	Shrines and scrolls teach spells; the "Magic Observatory" teaches high Global Map Magic; "Redwood Observatory" and "Altar of Insight" appear on templates
Hell Light Spire	New in the beta, for tournament templates: registers the hero who last visited it for the duel
Others	"Dragon Utopia", "Research Laboratory", "Mountain Monastery", "Mearea's Altar", "Trophy Hunter's Den", "Town Gates", "Stables", the "Mercenary Guild"

Sources for the table, unless marked: Patch #11, Patch #13 and the beta notes. Unfrozen has not published what each site gives in numbers.

Towns

19:24 A town is built up one structure per day from a build screen of linked buildings: in Devlog #12's Temple town these include the Tavern, Marketplace, Mage Guild, Walls, Garrison, Treasury, Resource Depot and Artifact Merchant next to creature dwellings such as the Mews, Griffin Rookery, Hippodrome, Sundrop Chapel and Threshold Basilica (Devlog #12). Dwellings are built in two steps, such as Grove's "Thunder Lair I" and the upgraded "Thunder Lair II" (Patch #11). Temple can enact a law to build twice a day (Devlog #14). Towns also produce Astrology Points for global spells, and their town halls produce Law points. The Grail Sanctuary is on every town's list from day one (The Grail). Town models that change on the adventure map as the town is upgraded are planned for Stage 3 of the roadmap (roadmap, May 28, 2026). Norovo adds that the higher levels of fortifications also raise creature growth at the start of each week, so he builds them late in the week; a tier 7 creature with a base growth of 1 needs the full 100% from level 3 fortifications to give one more a week. The six towns are compared on Factions.

External dwellings

3:16 Creature dwellings on the map let you recruit creatures each week, including creatures of other factions, and they keep their growth "week after week": "dwellings will stack over time in the Olden Era", as Unfrozen answered a community request (FAQ: Part 2, Dec 6, 2024). Capturing one pays Law points, and the Arcane spell Reinforcements lets a hero use any dwelling you control within twice its sight. Laws build on them: Grove's "Child of Woods" adds 100% or 200% growth in all external dwellings since Patch #11, and the Hive's "Natural Selection" makes those in your area produce upgraded creatures (Patch #11; Devlog #14). The Oct 21, 2026 beta fixed a bug that gave a huge amount of Law points for capturing them (beta v0.82.03).

A broad bird's eye view of a green map framed by black starry darkness. A sandy beach and blue sea fill the upper left, a brown fortress town sits at the left edge, gray mountains and winding rivers cross the middle, and a gray stone castle stands at the right among forests, mines and small buildings. — A wide view of the adventure map with a beach and sea on the left, rivers, mountains and forests in the middle, a stone castle on the right and dark unexplored edges, on Unfrozen's official Olden Era page. Unfrozen

New players should start with Beginner's Guide.

Frequently asked questions

What resources are there in Olden Era? Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era uses gold, wood, ore, crystals, gems and mercury, plus Alchemical Dust; Law points, Astrology Points and the Grail work as separate currencies.

How many map objects are in Olden Era? Unfrozen counted 190 kinds of buildings on the adventure map at the Early Access launch of Apr 30, 2026, compared with 171 in Heroes of Might and Magic 3.

How do external dwellings grow in Olden Era? External dwellings in Olden Era keep their growth week after week, so unrecruited creatures pile up; capturing one also gives Law points, and Grove's "Child of Woods" law adds 100% or 200% growth.

What does the University do in Olden Era? Unfrozen's notes name a University object in the map editor but do not describe it; sites such as the "Wise Owl" and "Infernal Cirque" teach heroes skills.

What is in Pandora's Boxes in Olden Era? Since the Oct 15, 2026 public beta, every Pandora's Box in Olden Era offers a choice, such as experience, Law Points or Astrology Points, or gold, resources or Alchemical Dust; on the live game each box gives one kind of reward, such as creatures (in the upgrade you choose), experience, gold, hero stats or spells.

Is there an underground in Olden Era? Not yet: as of Oct 21, 2026 the underground layer is planned for Stage 3 of Olden Era's Early Access roadmap, with no date.

Sources

Designing a Heroes Game, Unfrozen, Aug 29, 2024
Devlog #2: Game Modes pt.1: Classic and Single-Hero, Unfrozen, Sep 27, 2024
FAQ: Part 2, Unfrozen, Dec 6, 2024
Devlog #6: A sneak peek into Olden Era's templates and the Random Map Generator, Unfrozen, Dec 16, 2024
Devlog #12: The Grail and its Sanctuaries, Unfrozen, Aug 15, 2025
Video Devlog #4: Map Objects in Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, Unfrozen, Sep 26, 2025
Devlog #14: Gameplay Mechanics pt. 3: Faction Laws, Unfrozen, Dec 5, 2025
HoMM: Olden Era | Community Feedback #4: UI, QoL and Others!, Unfrozen, Mar 6, 2026
Devlog #15: How and Why We Chose the Artstyle of Olden Era, Unfrozen, Apr 24, 2026
Patch #5: Gameplay Optimizations and UI Fixes, Unfrozen, May 8, 2026
Building the Future - HoMM: Olden Era's Early Access Roadmap is here!, Unfrozen, May 28, 2026
Patch #8: Skills Rework, Balance Pass & Exploit Fixes, Unfrozen, Jun 1, 2026
Patch #9: Hotfix & Balance Adjustments, Unfrozen, Jun 2, 2026
Hotfix: Game Exit Exploit, Map Generation & Mondays, Unfrozen, Jun 4, 2026
Patch #11: Necromancy Update, UI Tweaks and Balance Changes, Unfrozen, Jul 6, 2026
Patch #13: The Mysterious Island, Unfrozen, Aug 20, 2026
BETA Patch: Balance Update - New Damage Formula, Smarter AI & New Creatures, Unfrozen, Oct 15, 2026
BETA Patch: Balance Tweaks - Spells, Heroes & a New Artifact, Unfrozen, Oct 21, 2026
Devlog #4: Map Objects in Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, Unfrozen Official, Sep 26, 2025 (video)
Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era Beginners Guide! Tips You Need to Know, Norovo, May 4, 2026 (video)

Moments

Devlog #4: Map Objects in Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era

Unfrozen Official

0:24 The adventure map (the "Global Map" in Unfrozen's patch notes) is where heroes in Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era…
2:27 Towns and the Economy skill bring in gold every day, and mines bring the other resources: Unfrozen's map generator…
1:23 The Devlog #4 video sorts the map's sites into groups, and the patch notes name many of them. Some return from older…
3:16 Creature dwellings on the map let you recruit creatures each week, including creatures of other factions, and they…

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era Beginners Guide! Tips You Need to Know

Norovo

21:45 Heroes reach new parts of the map by defeating the neutral guards on passages, and Unfrozen dropped the control zones…
20:01 Alchemical Dust is a further resource, won for example at the "Overgrown Vori Ruins" (beta notes). Norovo explains…
19:24 A town is built up one structure per day from a build screen of linked buildings: in Devlog #12's Temple town these…