"Disciples 3: Rebirth" is a game that is a mix of RPG, TBS, and strategy genres. It was developed by Hex Studio and published by "Akella." The game's release took place in mid-April 2012. Interestingly, Hex Studio closed exactly one month after the release of the project. As a result, the active development of the expansion "Mountain Clans" was halted.
"Disciples 3: Rebirth" is an expanded and enhanced version of "Disciples 3: Renaissance," which was released back in 2009. The game's creation was then handled by the studio .dat, which is also now closed. "Disciples 3: Renaissance" received numerous negative reviews from various authoritative publications and gamers due to numerous bugs and errors, as well as indescribable imbalance. Simply put, it was impossible to play "Renaissance."
The developers from Hex Studio (many of whom had previously worked at .dat) decided to fix the situation by taking the old project as a basis and reworking it on all fronts. Even before the game was released, players were promised that "Rebirth" would fix all the bugs that plagued the previous project. Essentially, this came true. If there are now glitches and errors in the game, they are so insignificant that they cannot be noticed with the naked eye. The situation was also improved by patches that came after the game's release. Unfortunately, after the closure of Hex Studio, there was no one to monitor "Rebirth." A small consolation might be that "Disciples 3: Rebirth" is distributed for free among those who already own "Disciples 3: Renaissance" and "Disciples 3: Hordes of the Undead."
The plot itself has hardly changed, but everything else has been radically and even fundamentally reworked. Firstly, four full-fledged game campaigns have been added with numerous quests, significantly expanding the timeframe – it will take 180-200 hours to complete the game fully. Secondly, new enemies, new NPCs, new objects, and buildings have appeared in the game. Thirdly, the balance has changed significantly for the better. The imbalance that plagued "Disciples 3: Renaissance" is no longer present.
The game has acquired higher quality graphics with all the improvements that come with it. Spells and effects look better, the water has become more visually appealing, and a turn-based system for changing the time of day has been introduced. One turn represents day, and another – night.
The large-scale overhaul also affected the battle arenas. As many may remember, in "Disciples 3: Renaissance," they were quite large, allowing battles between warring sides to last a long time. In "Rebirth," this has been changed, with the battle arenas now being compact and small. Thus, battles occur much faster, introducing a dynamics that was sorely lacking in "Renaissance."
Some complaints remain only about the behavior of computer opponents. The artificial intelligence does not behave passively, but somewhat uncertainly, even at a high level of difficulty. For instance, it fails to attack when all conditions for doing so are met. Is it yielding? Perhaps, but the sense in this is still not clear.
Overall, "Disciples 3: Rebirth" is the game that should have replaced Renaissance. Unfortunately, the troubled project was finally borne in 2012, arriving significantly late and losing its advantage over competitors. However, if one closes their eyes to past failures, then the rebirth did indeed happen, and quite successfully.