Heroes of Might and Magic IV is a TBS/RPG genre game that continues the cult series by New World Computing and 3DO. It was released in 2002.
According to the game's plot, the old world of "Heroes," Enroth, was destroyed, and the action of the game unfolds in a new world - Axieote, to which part of the population of Enroth managed to escape through portals. The game has six story campaigns, one for each race. The plots of the campaigns do not intersect.
The developers at New World Computing changed a lot in the familiar mechanics of previous series. The available number of races (or starting cities) was reduced to six (Life, Order, Chaos, Death, Nature, Strength). The number of schools of magic was increased to five (each race, except for Strength, received its own magic school). The city development system also underwent significant changes - now there are only 4 levels of creatures, and at each level after the first, players must choose one of two types of creatures. Additionally, buildings in each type of city, with rare exceptions, are the same.
The main (and most 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, and they can take damage and die, but they can also directly attack enemies. There is the possibility to assemble an army consisting solely of heroes, and conversely - an army consisting only of creatures (armies without heroes, however, cannot capture cities, mines, and other objects). Certain 'leveled up' heroes at high levels can stand against entire armies alone. However, the role-playing system of the game does allow for the creation of a hero focused on strengthening their own army.
The role-playing system of the game has little in common with the role-playing systems of previous parts. Players can choose 5 out of 9 available skills for the hero: Combat, Nobility, Reconnaissance, Tactics, Life Magic, Death Magic, Chaos Magic, Order Magic, and Nature Magic. Each skill includes, in addition to the main one, three additional skills (for example, Diplomacy or Resurrection). Each time after leveling up, the player can choose one of three proposed skills. In addition, skills can be improved using bonuses scattered across the adventure map.
The game still consists of two stages: traveling on the global map and battles. On the global map, players can capture various objects (mines, creature shelters), find various bonuses and artifacts. Battles take place in a turn-based mode on an isometric map. Although different types of terrains in the game do not provide special bonuses, they still need to be taken into account.
The game was received ambiguously by players and received many contradictory reviews - from 'terrible' to 'masterpiece'. Many, however, agreed that the gameplay and graphics of the new part are at least decent, and the soundtrack is simply magnificent. Despite the mixed reviews, two expansions were released for the game - 'The Coming Storm' and 'Winds of War'. In addition to new campaigns, new creatures and artifacts were added to them.
The game, as well as both of its add-ons, was localized and released in Russia by the company 'Buka'.