REVIEW: ‘Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes – Definitive Edition’ Leaves Players Feeling Powerless (PC)

The realms of Ashen, where men, elves, wizards, and necromancers have lived in peace since the end of the great war against the demons, are in peril once more. A new threat stirs that seeks to set the realms against each other so they can be conquered from within. It is up to a select few heroes to expose the plot before it’s too late in the puzzle-filled, strategy-RPG, Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes – Definitive Edition developed and published by Dotemu.

Within most strategy games there is an element of luck. Whether it’s randomized damage, a dice roll to hit, or which cards a player draws, there is always chance involved. If there is no chance element, you are basically playing chess. While the presence of chance allows for exciting outcomes and narrow defeats, if allowed to run wild, chance can strip a player of their sense of control. When this happens, the player can struggle to know whether or not the outcome of their latest battle is due to their skill, or purely based on the randomness of the game. This, unfortunately, is my overriding feeling walking away from Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes – Definitive Edition.

The core gameplay element sees players confronting their opponents in match three-style battles across a field from each other. Over each of the game’s five mini-campaigns, players gain control of different units, special abilities, and power-ups that affect how the troops they match up on the battlefield function. While basic units simply charge across the field to hit enemy troops or, if they are able to make it through their lines, the enemy himself, more powerful units can drain strength from enemies, avoid defensive fortifications, and provide a plethora of other quirks that can alter how a player approaches each round. With three actions in each turn, players can form horizontal columns of troops to attack or form troops into vertical formations that transform them into defensive walls to soak incoming damage. A third option allows the player to summon reinforcement to their side of the field. All these options feel like they should come together to form a rich setup for intricate battles. But there are some key elements that hold these battles back from being all they could be. The first of these elements comes from simply summoning additional troops.

Every round, players can use one of their three actions a turn to summon reinforcement to their side of the field. Units are sorted by both type and color, and units must make a predetermined set in order to form an attacking formation. How units arrive on the battlefield can make or break an encounter, especially once a player gains access to the larger, more powerful units. These units take up more space on the battlefield and require a larger formation to activate. These factors can cause a single unit to take multiple turns to set up. Meanwhile, your opponent could be setting up multiple attacks of their own, including an equally sized unit, if their luck serves them better.

The more powerful the unit, the longer it takes to launch an attack. With countdown timers ticking down at the start of the controlling player’s turn and ranging from one to six, these timers feel like they are implemented to give a player time to build defenses or maneuver critical units around an incoming attack. However, in practice, the longer countdown timers end up making the most powerful units in the game even better than they already appear to be.

Numerous times during my playthrough of Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes – Definitive Edition I would spend a couple of turns setting up several, mid-size units for attacks, only to see my opponent summon troops, get a large unit dropped right in front of my attack, and have his formation finished before my attack could launch. Now, when units are hit by attacks, they have the possibility of dying. If the attack exceeds their health, they will be swept from the board. However, in all my matches I never saw a large unit be overwhelmed by multiple smaller attackers. The units would simply break on him, leaving the path open for his inevitable counterattack. Making numerous turns worth of planning rendered utterly pointless.

The other major element that makes the player feel less than critical to the outcome of a match is the character’s special powers. As damage is dealt and taken, the player’s character slowly builds up a charge that eventually allows them to unleash a powerful super ability. Some of these abilities are simply broken. The best example of this is one that allows the player to drain the life from all of their units that aren’t currently in a formation, killing them, and then firing a fireball at the opponent whose power is equal to the number of units killed. This attack, prepared with only the slimmest of effort, is often capable of removing over half of an enemy’s health. This further makes the game feel like it is less about the player’s skill than it should be.

Now, with all these elements in play, including a plethora of passive buffs players can equip to aid their battles, you might be thinking, “Maybe you just aren’t good at playing the game, Charles.” I would suspect that may be the case if it wasn’t for the wildly different results I got from battling enemies. It wasn’t uncommon for me to get trounced by an opponent, load up a continue, and face him with the exact same selection of units and strategy, only to completely steamroll him in the rematch. The outcomes of my battle were so inconsistent that the overall random nature of the game is the only explanation I could find.

All this complaining probably makes it seem like Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes – Definitive Edition brought no fun into my playthrough, but that isn’t entirely true. When a match isn’t swinging wildly to one side or the other through pure chance, the game can provide some entertainment. What’s more, the campaign sees numerous alternate objectives come into play that allows the game to freshen up the formula fairly frequently. While these novelty matches aren’t free of the game’s larger struggles, they often provided enough distraction so I could enjoy what unique twist each brought to the gameplay.

The story that compels the puzzle-based battles of the game feels like it would be at home in a well-crafted Saturday morning cartoon. The narrative conveys the unfolding plot smoothly, while never getting bogged down in unnecessary details or lore. The danger is properly conveyed but never explored too deeply. The art style brings everything to life in a way that further builds on the story’s not-too-dark tone, keeping even the most fearsome enemies from ever looking truly intimidating. Some well-executed plot twists keep the proceedings from becoming too predictable, which makes the story enjoyable enough to experience, as long as you aren’t expecting anything too deep or ground-breaking.

Along with their story, Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes – Definitive Edition‘s campaign offers side quests in the form of bounties that the player can pursue to gain extra resources to purchase additional copies of the more powerful units, as well as help level up both your character, as well as the quality of your troops. I say optional, but in reality, most of these battles quickly become mandatory to pursue. With the randomness of battles making outcomes already hard to predict, going into a battle underpowered is essentially a death sentence. Finding the right missions to pursue at the right time is made tedious due to the absence of any indicator of recommended level to be at when setting out. Rather, the player is forced to challenge the target, get to the pre-battle screen and if they find their stats are not equal to their opponent’s, back out and look for a fairer fight. This leads to lots of unnecessary running around on the game map’s paths as you search for the best way to get your level up.

Along with the main campaign, there are also pvp and quick battles against the computer you can partake in. These battles, however, suffer from the same level of randomness as the campaign, bringing with them the same mixed results.

When it’s at its best, Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes – Definitive Edition delivers an enjoyable fantasy tale that is accompanied by a unique gameplay system. However, overly random elements mar the player’s sense of agency within these battles, greatly diminishing the thrill of victory and leaving them wondering if each defeat was truly deserved.

Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes – Definitive Edition is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.