Heroes of Might and Magic IV is a TBS/RPG genre game that continues the cult series developed by New World Computing and 3DO. It was released in 2002.
According to the game's plot, the old world of the "Heroes", Enroth, was destroyed, and the gameplay takes place in a new world—Axolote, to which some of the inhabitants of Enroth managed to escape through portals. The game features six narrative campaigns, one for each race. The storylines of the campaigns do not intersect.
The developers from New World Computing changed many elements from the mechanics familiar to players of the previous installments. The number of available races (or starting cities) was reduced to six (Life, Order, Chaos, Death, Nature, Strength). The number of magic schools was increased to five (each race, except for Strength, received its own magical school). The city development system also underwent significant changes—now only 4 levels of creatures are available, and after the first level, the player must choose one of two types of creatures at each level. Additionally, buildings in each type of city, with rare exceptions, are the same.
The most significant (and controversial, according to fans of previous parts) innovation of the game is the ability for heroes to participate directly in battles. Heroes now occupy a separate slot in the army, can take damage and die, but can also directly attack enemies. It became possible to assemble an army consisting solely of heroes, as well as, conversely, an army composed only of creatures (armies without heroes, however, cannot capture cities, mines, and other objects). Certain