I'm usually a Dungeon disciple in Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, but after 2 hours with the latest build, I'm feeling oddly fond of insects

I've been playing a lot of Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era. Like, a lot. After countless quick matches as all four of the factions currently available in the demo, which has blissfully stuck around after cresting the upper echelons of Steam Next Fest's most-played rankings, I've racked up more than 20 hours in what feels like an early-Early Access game.

But that's not all developer Unfrozen has in store for us, as I learned in an exclusive interview with CEO Denis Fedorov. Come the strategy RPG's much anticipated (actual) Early Access launch, we'll be getting our gauntlets on two new factions: Sylvan and Hive. They couldn't be more dissimilar in terms of aesthetics. One is a pink and purple-toned oasis of fey magic in the Murmurwood, the other a literal hive of creepy crawlies. As a huge fan of mystical high fantasy goodness, I thought I'd prefer Sylvan by a long shot when I sat down to play two hours of the latest demo build. But somehow, my crippling fear of insectoid uglies hasn't stopped Hive from getting right under my skin, and I fear my days as a dragon-hoarding Dungeon devotee are numbered.

Enchanted to meet you

Ever since my days of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 with my brother as a kid, my faction of choice has been ruled by two credentials. First, how aesthetically pleasing it is. Secondly, how much I like its strongest creature.

My five-year old self adored Stronghold's behemoths in all their taloned, hand-swaying gaited glory. Playing Olden Era at 30, I was immediately drawn to the vampire lords and dragons of the Necropolis and Dungeon factions respectively. The thing that made me ultimately pick Dungeon is the fact that red dragons have a special ability that inflicts damage on all melee attackers, which means not only are they adorable, they are damn powerful.

But all strategy and reason went out the flower-adorned window when I saw Sylvan and felt its lush fairy meadows start to turn my head. An animation plays out each time I visit my Sylvanian kingdoms, something I'm told will be coming to all factions' animated stills at launch.

I'm drawn through an archway as the camera moves up a pearlescent glade, toward a central building looking out upon the splendor. A dryad grows around it, wrapping the keep in protective mycelium vines and branches, while a rainbow adds even more colour to a strawberry ice cream sky. It's breathtaking, and I can't help but fall in love before I even inspect the build and recruit menus.

As expected, the Sylvan faction is all about enchanting fey creatures. From phoenixes to aqualotls and the fauns I've met while exploring maps in the demo, I'm immediately charmed by them all. I'm even impressed to see how powerful halflings prove in battle.

While trying out a Sylvan hero in the newly-expanded Arena Mode (Unfrozen added more hexes to elongate the battlefield off the back of player feedback), my stack of 70 halflings easily decimated my rivals' creatures using a ranged slingshot attack.

Their unique ability to dash to another hex within its movement zone – which, in a first for shorter fantasy folk, seems to be the entire battlefield – provides excellent map mobility, allowing me to avoid getting overwhelmed by encroaching melee foes and snipe 'em from afar.

All in all, I'm impressed by Sylvan's quiet might. The fact that its faction ability, Murmuring, is all about boosting focus points means that I see it not as the token cutesy faction after all, but a more high-level choice for those who've already mastered one of Olden Era's most complex new systems.

Bug eat bug world

When our Games Editor encouraged me to try out Hive, I stared at him mournfully. I didn't want to put away my pretty toys and play around with wasps and worms instead. That is, until I gave Hive a go in Arena Mode and quickly shut up.

Insectoid faction Hive might sound like just a bunch of bugs, and in many ways, there are. I can't quite tell them apart just yet by looks alone, if I'm being totally honest with you, because I don't like to gaze upon their grotesque arthropodic countenances. The sounds they make while moving across the battlefield make my skin crawl, which is both a compliment to Unfrozen and an absolute misery to my bug-phobic ears. But pare back the chitin and furry legs, and you have one of the most powerful factions in the game so far.

For starters, Hive kingdoms have a unique structure that grants each visiting hero +2 Attack. In a game about besting your opponent, human or computer alike, having a high attack modifier is pretty much my bread and butter.

To top it off, Hive's Swarm feature allows you to plant a clutch of insect eggs (yuck) on the battlefield to incubate and hatch for free extra creature stacks. It's like having a whole faction built around the Necropolis' graverobber special action whereby it digs up a stack of skeletons to pad out your troops, and I'm sorry to say I can see a lot of mileage coming out of a Necropolis/Hive combo army.

I'm also loving the locust's Harvest ability, where it eats corpses (again, YUCK) to gain +2 Attack and Speed until the end of the battle. Oh, and it strikes twice when using its melee attack. I might even love it more than the waurm. It's like the sandworm from Dune with the ranged capabilities of a dragon, capable of spitting a damaging, goopy projectile at a cluster of distant hexes. Perfect for crowd control and melting away anyone trying to swarm a friendly stack of creatures. Plus, as a ground-burrower, there's a blissful lack of hexapodal footsteps marking its each and every move. I never thought I'd be anticipating controlling an army of bugs, but here I am ready to become the queen bee.

There's still a huge question mark over when Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era will launch into Early Access, but take it from me: when that day comes, us turn-based strategy fans will have a veritable feast at hand. Not only does Olden Era feel like a beautiful ode to the glory days of Heroes 3, it manages to deepen the identities of its six at-launch factions to make each one truly memorable, unique, and powerful in its own way. Now, all I need is the return of the behemoth, and I will truly ascend to strategy game nirvana.

Check out some of the other hot new games coming out in 2025 and beyond while we wait for Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era's Early Access launch!