Reception and Sales

0:44 Critics liked Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era and players rate it highly. On OpenCritic it has a Top Critic Average of 83, with 80% of critics recommending it, and IGN gave the Early Access version 7 out of 10; on Steam it is "Very Positive", with 20,406 of 23,557 reviews positive on Oct 21, 2026. It sold 250,000 copies on Steam in its first 24 hours and over 1,000,000 on Steam by May 28, 2026, and its players online peaked at about 60,000 over the launch weekend, per SteamDB as Unfrozen cited it.

Quick facts

Critics

Most reviews came out on Apr 28, 2026, two days before Early Access opened, and judged an unfinished game. They agreed that Olden Era brings back what made the series good:

• IGN, Jarrett Green, 7/10: "as solid as the series has ever been", while saying the game needs rebalancing.
• GamesRadar+, Oscar Taylor-Kent: the series "finally makes a comeback to reclaim its throne", and the review calls it the best entry since Heroes 3.
• PC Gamer, Fraser Brown, Apr 30: it is not a reimagining, "it's just a brilliant strategy game".
• DualShockers, Shane Limbaugh: "A New Life for an Aged Franchise", with some kinks.
• Insider Gaming, May 1: "A Worthy Return to Form".
• Scored reviews on OpenCritic also include Gamersky 8/10, Gamemeca 82/100 and NoobFeed 80/100.

OpenCritic ranks the game "Strong", in its 91st percentile. Metacritic lists 11 critic reviews but shows no Metascore, because it does not score games in Early Access (Metacritic, read Oct 21, 2026). 0:03 IGN's video review opens on the comparison that runs through all of them: Olden Era's "primary goal" is to return to the form of Heroes of Might and Magic 3, and its Early Access launch is "still under construction" (IGN). That comparison is the subject of Olden Era and Heroes 3.

10:34 The review's verdict: Olden Era is not a remake, but it "follows the rules good remakes should always follow", and Jarrett Green finds it as he remembers Heroes 2 and 3, with combat as "the star of the show" (IGN).

4:52 IGN's complaints are about randomness and identity: hero skills are "chosen from a random pool every time a hero levels up", so a subclass may never be completed, and town buildings serve "largely the same functions" from faction to faction (IGN).

8:28 Of the modes, the campaign is the reviewer's "least favorite right now", for its unskippable cutscenes, its bugs and the systems it locks away, while he praises the Arena and Single Hero modes (IGN).

Players

6:25 Steam reviews have stayed "Very Positive" since launch. Unfrozen reported over 3,000 reviews and "over 90%" happy after 24 hours, over 6,000 after three days and nearly 17,000 after a month. On Oct 21, 2026 Steam counted 23,557 reviews in all languages, 86.6% positive, and 82% of the 636 reviews in the last 30 days were positive on the store page that day (Steam). Unfrozen asks for reviews in most of its posts and says it reads them all.

Players online

Olden Era had "over 50,000" players at once on its first day, and over the launch weekend reached what Unfrozen called a record of "almost 60,000" "according to SteamDB charts" (May 3, 2026). A joint statement by Hooded Horse, Unfrozen and Ubisoft said "over 60,000" two days later; Vi.ki writes about 60,000. The count has settled well below the launch peak: Steam counted 4,862 players online on the evening of Oct 21, 2026 (UTC). These are Steam players only; PC Game Pass players are not counted.

Sales and wishlists

The first day paid for the game: "we broke even on development costs in just one day", Unfrozen wrote on May 1, 2026 (Unfrozen), without giving the cost. All of these are Steam figures; Microsoft Store and PC Game Pass players are not included, and Unfrozen has published no sales figure after 1,000,000 as of Oct 21, 2026.

Criticism and Unfrozen's answers

2:47 The complaints were mostly about balance and the AI; IGN called tuning balance "an expected hurdle" for a game in Early Access (IGN). Unfrozen has answered each complaint in patches (Patch Notes):

• Difficulty. Reviewers found the game hard on newcomers. Patch #2 on May 2, 2026 made the AI "very passive" on Easy and weaker on Normal, and Patch #6 on May 13 added a "Moderate" level between Normal and Hard (Difficulty and AI).
• The AI. A bug kept the AI from constructing buildings in its towns until a hotfix on May 14. Unfrozen acknowledged problems with computer opponents in Community Feedback #5 (Jul 28), and the Oct 15 beta makes the adventure map AI flee, use map spells and equip artifacts (Balance Update Beta).
• Balance. Players objected to the many percentage-based damage and defense modifiers and to Hive's and Dungeon's "bleeding problems"; Unfrozen promised a major balance patch (Patch #14, Sep 3), which reached a public beta on Oct 15, 2026 with a new damage formula.
• Multiplayer stability. Early patches fixed crashes in games of three or more players (Patch #4) and desyncs (Patch #6), and a hotfix on Aug 27 fixed desyncs after restarts (Multiplayer).
• Exploits. Unfrozen fixed army-doubling and game-exit exploits in May and June and sanctioned players who used them (Patch #8).

16:22 In the discussion after IGN's review, Jarrett Green names the interface as what most needs work on the way to 1.0, then the fine-tuning of each unit's numbers (IGN).

How the game got here is told in Development History.

Frequently asked questions

Is Olden Era good? Critics and players say so. Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era has an OpenCritic Top Critic Average of 83 and a "Very Positive" Steam rating from 23,557 reviews (Oct 21, 2026), though IGN, at 7/10, said it needs rebalancing.

How many copies has Olden Era sold? Over 1,000,000 on Steam by May 28, 2026, after 250,000 in its first 24 hours. Unfrozen has published no later figure as of Oct 21, 2026, and Game Pass players are not counted.

How many people play Olden Era? Olden Era peaked at about 60,000 players at once on Steam over its launch weekend, per SteamDB as Unfrozen cited it, and had 4,862 online on Oct 21, 2026.

What is Olden Era's Metacritic score? It has none. Metacritic shows no Metascore for Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era because its reviews are of the Early Access version; OpenCritic's Top Critic Average is 83.

What did IGN give Olden Era? IGN's Jarrett Green gave Olden Era's Early Access version 7 out of 10 on Apr 28, 2026, calling it "as solid as the series has ever been".

What are Olden Era's Steam reviews? "Very Positive": 20,406 of 23,557 Steam reviews of Olden Era were positive on Oct 21, 2026, about 87%.

Sources

• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era on Steam, Steam, read Oct 21, 2026
• GetNumberOfCurrentPlayers for app 3105440, Steam Web API, read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, OpenCritic, read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, Metacritic, read Oct 21, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era review, IGN, Jarrett Green, Apr 28, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era review, GamesRadar+, Oscar Taylor-Kent, Apr 28, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era review, DualShockers, Shane Limbaugh, Apr 28, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era isn't a reimagining or a divisive reinterpretation, it's just a brilliant strategy game, PC Gamer, Fraser Brown, Apr 30, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era Early Access impressions, Insider Gaming, May 1, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era sales numbers, RPG Site, Mikhail Madnani, May 5, 2026
• Olden Era hits 500 000 wishlists - Thank You!, Unfrozen, Apr 7, 2025
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era hits 750,000 wishlists! THANK YOU!, Unfrozen, Sep 3, 2025
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era hits 1 000 000 wishlists! THANK YOU!, Unfrozen, Oct 15, 2025
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era reached 1,500,000 wishlists!, Unfrozen, Apr 24, 2026
• A Legendary Start: 250,000 Copies of Olden Era Sold!, Unfrozen, May 1, 2026
• Patch #2: Difficulty adjustments and Bug Fixes, Unfrozen, May 2, 2026
• A New Kingdom of Heroes: 500,000 Copies of Olden Era Sold!, Unfrozen, May 3, 2026
• Patch #4: Network Crash Hotfix for 3+ Players, Unfrozen, May 5, 2026
• Patch #6: Network Stability, Balance Tweaks & Campaign Fixes, Unfrozen, May 13, 2026
• AI Building Construction HotFix, Unfrozen, May 14, 2026
• The Land of Glory: 1,000,000 Copies of Olden Era Sold!, Unfrozen, May 28, 2026
• Patch #8: Skills Rework, Balance Pass & Exploit Fixes, Unfrozen, Jun 1, 2026
• Community Feedback #5: Upcoming PVE Content and Events!, Unfrozen, Jul 28, 2026
• Hotfix: Desynchronization during Restarts, Unfrozen, Aug 27, 2026
• Patch #14: More PvE Content and Plans for the Future!, Unfrozen, Sep 3, 2026
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era Early Access Review, IGN, Apr 28, 2026 (video)
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era | Community Feedback #5: Upcoming PvE Content and Events!, Unfrozen Official, Jul 28, 2026 (video)
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era | Q3 Roadmap Patch: Introducing Alliances!, Unfrozen Official, Sep 30, 2026 (video)