Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars

About Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars

Heroes of Might and Magic II (1996) is New World Computing's turn-based fantasy strategy game, the series' breakout, in which heroes lead armies for rival princes fighting over the throne of Enroth, voted the sixth best PC game of all time by PC Gamer in 1997.

Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars in Depth

After Lord Morglin Ironfist unifies the continent of Enroth and dies, his sons Archibald and Roland fight for the crown. Archibald engineers Roland's exile and takes the throne, and Roland leads a resistance. Each side has its own campaign: Archibald's uses the three "evil" factions, Necromancers, Warlocks and Barbarians, and Roland's the three "good" ones, Knights, Sorceresses and Wizards. Victories in campaign scenarios carry lasting bonuses forward, and players pick a starting bonus before each one. In the canonical ending Roland wins and Archibald is turned to stone by the court wizard Tanir.

Largely a graphical overhaul of the first game, it plays as a 4X-style strategy game: players secure resources, build towns, hire creatures and lead heroes across a world map, fighting creatures, heroes and castles on a separate battlefield. It added two factions, Necromancer and Wizard, each with its own creatures and themed town. Heroes keep primary skills but now also learn up to eight secondary skills, such as Wisdom for higher-level spells and Logistics for movement, each rising from Basic to Advanced and Expert. Magic moved from memorised spells to a spell point system, and units can be upgraded for better statistics and abilities. Only one building can be built or upgraded per town per turn.

Making Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars

Jon Van Caneghem developed Heroes II through New World Computing, and The 3DO Company published it in 1996. PC Gamer reported that December that every 3DO retailer was reordering it, and combined series sales passed 500,000 by October 1997. Computer Gaming World called it a "strategy game that amaze[d] everyone with its surprising, addictive qualities and amazing ease of use", much better than the original, and PC Gamer US named it 1996's Best Turn-Based Strategy Game, "clearly a cut above". It was nominated for several other strategy awards but lost them to Civilization II and Red Alert, and Arcane found it more of the same but great fun. The Price of Loyalty expansion followed in 1997, and Heroes II Gold bundled both with 30 community maps in 1998. PC Gamer US ranked it the seventh best computer game ever in 1998, calling it "the most dangerously addictive turn-based strategy game in the history of PC gaming (with the possible exception of Civilization II)", and GameSpot inducted it into its greatest games in 2003.