Longrunning strategy series Heroes of Might and Magic caters to veterans but does little to innovate with newest standalone expansion
Combat is standard to what the series has used in the past, where your army is set up on one side and the enemy on the other in a grid battlefield as the first to defeat the other’s units wins. The stealth mechanic for the new Dungeon Assassin units was a neat addition as it makes them invisible until they attacked or were adjacent to an enemy which gave a significant advantage in combat. But aside from this, combat remains what it has always been with few changes which can be viewed as either positive or negative as it stays true to the series by continuing what made it popular in the beginning.
Overall, Shades of Darkness felt well-polished and I found very few bugs or glitches in my time playing it, but easily the most annoying part about the game would be the Uplay account that Ubisoft forces you to use. It causes you to have an active internet connection while playing as well as syncs all save games to Ubisoft’s cloud causing a delay when starting and exiting the game.
For a series veteran, they will find very little in the way of innovating this long standing franchise as it continues with more of the same. Whether this is good or bad is entirely up to the player, but for newbies of the series this may not be the best place to start as it can be confusing and unforgiving at times making it more for those familiar with the series. At a $29.99 price tag however the game offers a lot in the way of content providing any longtime fans with hours of enjoyment, but it does little in the way of innovation making it just another addition to a series that has long been going stale.
Score: 6.5 / 10
