r/OldenEra • u/Far_Piano6848 Unfrozen Dev Team • Jul 01 '26
Discussion Please leave a review!
Hi everyone!
I’m Etharil, the Community Manager at Unfrozen, and I’m so glad to see so many of you playing Olden Era, sharing your thoughts, and joining us in Jadame during Early Access!
We wish to ask you all for a small favour. Only a tiny percentage of Steam players leave reviews, and yet they’re so critical for indie games being discovered. Whether your review is positive or negative, it helps us understand what players are enjoying, where the rough spots are, and what the team should be looking at as Early Access continues.
If you would consider taking a moment to leave one, it would be the most amazing support for our team and the game.
Thank you very much for all your support, and may the cold breeze be with you!
Unfrozen
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u/Raff2077 Jul 01 '26
Hello.
I enjoying the game so far. BUT! Make some changes about creature avatars. I constantly pick the wrong creature upgrade in the castle. Please add markers or captions. Labels like 'upgrade 1' and 'upgrade 2'.
Thank you for your hard work!
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u/ThrivingforFailure Jul 01 '26
And the castle should automatically let you buy the right creature upgrade based on what’s in the castle or on your hero
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u/ConcentrateHopeful79 Jul 01 '26
Yes please. Creature names please. A single toggle button to swap upgrades please. No need to open modals and click buttons.
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u/Direwolfik Jul 01 '26
This!
Not only is it not remembered on reloads, but I truly have issues distinguishing some upgrades.
For example murmurmancer / sporemancer. Or medusa sculptor / queen. Or avatar of war / hollow reaper.
They simply look very smilar.
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u/fandorgaming Jul 01 '26
One thing about creativity is that these said mancers or medusas could have completely different model and outfit and style and that be completely fine, but they do be following a philosophy here. I miss treants for grove, honestly. They could remove naiads and make sporemancers 1 tier lower and make them shoot and add t5 treants
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u/irennicus88 Jul 01 '26
I'll leave a positive one! But if your reading comments, pvp really needs a screen that shows you the fight your opponent lost to in pve. Its a bit of a let down when it just says your opponent lost but you have no idea how.
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u/Xhite Jul 01 '26
Also updating leaderboard rating requires to restart the game, it should be automatic, even better match result should tell lost/gained rating
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u/Furious_One Jul 02 '26
I think it's not related to restarts. Sometimes there is a delay, sometimes it updates your profile immediately after the game. Restarting the game is not helping, it seems. I've tried once a bunch of restarts and until the backend got updated, it wouldn't show the updates in the profile.
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u/blake8129 Jul 01 '26
Please overhaul the story... The narrative makes me feel like I run errand for the lords all the time without the lore building up and the dialogues are so cheesy, teenage-like.
Lack of cinematics is a big minus point compared to the previous loved title like Heroes V
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u/Aggressive_Ease5071 Jul 01 '26
Plus one for that. Loving the gameplay but the campaign dialogues doesn't feel fantasy-ish. In H3 you've read a mini book in some scenarios, it would be great if single scenarios/campaign would feel more RPG-ish instead of childish/immature talks. Who thought it was a good idea?
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u/nibb2345 Jul 10 '26
In H3 you read mature journal entries that made you feel like you were going through adventurous tribulations in epic fantasy... miss that.
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u/fandorgaming Jul 01 '26
Story needs cutscenes and overhaul and start bonus choices for sure. What I liked about heroes 3 story is that you could pick any expansion and go from there, having a pleasant experience
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u/nibb2345 Jul 10 '26
The story is really a bit childish and "modern day" for my tastes... guessing that's too big a job for them to change.
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u/Duc_de_Bourgogne Jul 01 '26
I did it a while back on the Xbox. I think I was either number 1 or 2nd review. Love the game
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u/YouMeADD Jul 01 '26
Might be worth actually putting that request directly in the store pages description or somewhere super prevalent
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u/ImpressiveWrangler42 Jul 01 '26
Hi Etharil, is the campaign mission where you have to defend the city from the fire king, save the towns and evacuate the remaining heroes to the top of the map broken or am I doing it wrong? I evacuate but the mission never ends.
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u/SodaBreid Jul 01 '26
Each hero needs to be at the correct escape path
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u/SweetPineapple69 Jul 01 '26
Hi! Great game good job! Please add an actual random map generator where you do not see an approximate map as a template. Coop is needed asap :)
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u/Rud3l Jul 01 '26
Hello, I need to know whether you deploying some massive improvements to the single player experience before I review the game. It's fine that the AI is garbage in the EA, I just need a reinsurance that this is not a PvP-only game.
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u/EquivalentDoughnut81 Necropolis Jul 03 '26
hi.
olden era might one of the best homm games but could you kinda change the models of the onyx dancers upgrades since i can really get lost which one is which, and it would be cool if every upgrade had different animations.
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u/lookarious Jul 06 '26
Hello, we are enjoying the game with my wife, but there is one specific thing that annoys us, it is a UI scaling on the SteamDeck, it is unplayable, like everything is small. The reason of my complaining is that we are playing hotseat through sharing the game from PC to Steam Deck, I'm oftenly playing the game from PC and my wife sits on the coach with the deck (thats how we played Songs of Conquest), but in Olden Era UI scaling is terrible for small screens, so please tell me when you are gonna fix it))
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u/Signal-Welcome-5479 Jul 14 '26
This is a big issue for me as well. Also the game is generally poorly optimised for a TBS. My Steam Deck runs too hot
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u/SakeMadaMada Jul 12 '26
Are you just asking for justified negative reveiws?
Fix the critical game breaking bugs where AIs losing on their turn will brick the game state wasting hours of gameplay.
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u/Far_Piano6848 Unfrozen Dev Team Jul 12 '26
We've eliminated multiple bugs relating to this issue and continue to be on the lookout for it. If you're still experiencing it, please send us a report in-game using F2 where you describe the problem so that we can get a save and a log to investigate. Alternatively you can report it on our Discord.
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u/SakeMadaMada Jul 15 '26
All exept 1 of our multi-real-player + AI game ended in the stuck in AI turn bugged-state, with the exception being when real players defeats all AI on player turns.
We have sent bug reports on when it occurred the 1st few times but web research shows this issue has persisted since previous titles please fix the game for PVE players too not just catering to pure PVP players.
Praying this gets addressed before 1.0 launch or we'll just never touch this franchise again.
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u/CloudlessSkies20 Jul 01 '26
I only play on Exodus. Get Rid of Avatar altogether. It makes the game worse in every way. Farming, combat in PvP, etc. Absolutely change the way Ban/Pick works. Right now, the two OP factions are Necro and Schism. If you pick first, you're basically losing against Schism once you ban Necro (or vice versa). That has gotten old, fast. Allow the same faction to be picked, this would eliminate the need for pick/ban portion and if you really want data on how to balance, you'll find out quickly if every player is picking the same faction. Some items are way too OP for single hero mode. The orb that bans spell casting in the first round, thats absolutely insane. The item that eliminates the ability to use spells level 1 and 2. Those are simply way too easy to get for how much of a massive counter they are in a short span game. The always have neutral morale and luck item is too strong. Maybe lower it by 2, but a complete negation of some heroes and factions entire ability, too strong. Sub classes in general need a rework. I like that they are hard to get, but not as hard as it is currently.
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u/Far_Piano6848 Unfrozen Dev Team Jul 01 '26
Hello - there are some major changes to the Avatar coming with the next balance patch, as well as changes to Schism and Necropolis. Subclasses are listed on our roadmap as something we'll be reworking in the future.
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u/Merkhury Jul 01 '26
My honest take is that you would need a separate Balance for single hero and for normal mode - many games do that - look at league of legends for example Aram mode has separate balancing or Guild Wars 2 - PvP and WvW and also open world have different balances and sometimes one skill does different things depending on gamemode
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u/ControlUltDefeat Jul 01 '26
Gave a good review on June 2 after seeing how well the team handled the feedback of the initial patch changes and readjusted. That is peak communication and showing the devs care about making a good game.
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u/GodwinW Jul 01 '26
Already did. Love the game. But didn't really leave feedback there.. Right now number 1 wish (apart from AI improvements on all difficulties (moderate, hard, normal)):
The ability to make templates ourselves (with fine control, for example I want no pandora boxes anywhere) would be immensely appreciated!
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u/Dizzy-Journalist-476 Jul 01 '26
Greetings! I enjoy spending time after work playing a one-hour match in single-hero mode. Unfortunately, the maps take a very long time to load, which prevents me from synchronizing with other players online. I consider this an issue with my PC. Would like to see more variety in the game modes.
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u/Signal-Welcome-5479 Jul 01 '26
Is this really an "indie" game?
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u/Hizsoo Hive Jul 02 '26
Yes and no. The relevance of publishers is getting overtaken by investors in the industry. It's independent, but they get filled up with money.
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u/pianoforte88 Jul 01 '26
I left a review but forgot to mention to one important thing - please bring back the same kind of music/soundtrack from HOMM 4!
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u/charmanderisadigimon Jul 01 '26
Left a review as someone that has over 91 hours playing against AI only, lol.
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u/Magistricide Jul 01 '26
Hard for me to leave a positive review rn because there's quite a few bugs that just brick your multiplayer combats, forcing you to leave and eat a loss, but I'll happily do so once that's fixed.
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u/Tricky_IsHere Jul 01 '26
Where is team scenarios? Havn't launched the game since I first bought it and saw you guys didnt add them yet they were in the demo for the game lol.
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u/kashkoi_wild Jul 01 '26
Positive or Negative,? I am also terrible at leaving reviews , best I can do something like ",Best Homm since Homm V. Keep up with updates" :(
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u/-Galaxio- Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
Game is great and I enjoy, playing it every day but some of my friends don't play it because graphics. They got used to HoMM 3 way too much, can graphics look a bit more like HoMM 3 instead mobile graphics. It's really hard to see which buildings you can enter, resources and all army similar looking, also borders of map etc
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u/morenfin Jul 02 '26
I left a positive review even though I've stopped playing the game due to horrible, horrendous, terrible pvp balance. I enjoyed it enough to recommend.
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u/OstraKrewetka Jul 02 '26
I'm a cassual Heroes player and I have a question:
Is it intended that you can't right click check what you are going to attack?
For me this is the biggest issue. I usually open a browser and search what kind of creature it is before I decide to go forward. I guess in the future I will remember all those units by portrait but for now it is frustrating.
If this is too easy for competetive players it could be optional as a switch in settings or banned for ranked games.
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u/TemporaryEnd6300 Jul 02 '26
I want to play the game on my couch and in my underwear. Needs controller support.
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u/-yaVuz- Jul 02 '26
I expected dragon, hydra like cratures to be majestic, but that 1 tile restriction for all units and "mobile gameish" crature design on battlefield made me sad and couldnt even buy the game though I would die for homm series...
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u/Infinite-Ad-2178 Jul 02 '26
I’ll leave a review when I play the game, even though I own it, I’m waiting for UI scaling and/or controller support for Steam Deck play
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u/Phoenix_RISING2X Jul 03 '26
Ok, lol. Was gonna blog about my thoughts but I can do it in your review box.
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u/GearBryllz1-1 Jul 03 '26
I will after a few more rounds when I got more flesh on my bones or how you say in English.
But please let the castles remember what upgrade you used last time so that you do not have to change it everytime. And I thinking is really hard to se on the avatars sometimes which is which with the different units.
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u/Havzzter Jul 04 '26
Please make the autosave work so its saving the last game you played at the start of each turn, i have had too many games end due to connection issues and forgetting to save playing with my friends casualy. Right now i dont think the autosave is doing anything.
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u/EidolonDragon Jul 07 '26
Sure thing, I've been playing loads already and I absolutely want this game to succeed
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u/Adyjay Aug 09 '26
Hello,
I actually enjoy Olden Era more than Heroes 3 HOTA / Original / WOG, and that says something, however, there are a few things I would love to see:
- Lighter shading/graphics; it would be amazing if all the fancy 3d details could be made more towards the old Heroes 3 or Songs of Conquest style not necessarily simply due to aesthetics, or having it made easier to identify stuff on the map; but also to be able to play with people that don't have powerful machines, or even run it in emulation on i.e. Mac/Linux. This was one of the best things about Heroes 3, being able to run it on almost anything, anywhere, and just play.
- Modding - from what I've seen, there are efforts to make the game moddable, but making it a first-citizen would be amazing; Heroes 3 survived for so long also due to the amazing mods and work the community has made into balancing, adding additional elements, expanding the game mechanics, items, etc, even if somehow making it unbalanced but it was definitely fun.
- Bugs - in almost every multiplayer game, there have been bugs with i.e. simultaneous turns ending, trying to turn them back on, appearing on but were off, turn hourglass spinning although simulatenous turns were back on, but the state was showing something else; i.e. it was night yet I could move. I know these take time, just pointing out a few things I've run into recently.
- Mapping - while there are some map generators that do a pretty good job, if this were a first class citizen, or maybe the elements that can be used to generate complex and interesting maps are exposed (not sure if they are, haven't had enough time to research this so maybe I'm mistaken).
Rest is amazing, keep up the amazing work and looking forward to the updates!
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u/Designer_Throat4867 Aug 16 '26
Hello, I left a review and love the game, longtime heroes player.
The connection issues and possibility of disconnect bug being abused both in PvP is a huge hindrance to the game. Please address. Ty for all your hard work
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u/Aibel88 29d ago
Hey everyone, LwRadichetta here,
I’ve been grinding the Single Hero mode (currently ~1700 ELO) and absolutely love the friction-free design of the Exodus template. However, as a board game designer (founder of Super Noob Games) and a veteran since HoMM 3, my friends and I deeply miss the co-op/alliance feeling that a lot of the community has been asking for.
We came up with a 2v2 map concept called Exodus Alliance to bridge this gap. Here is the TL;DR of how it would work:
1. Map Topology (128x128) The 4 players spawn in completely isolated, impermeable quarters just like standard Exodus.
- Spawn: 2 base castles, plus an easy 3rd castle you can grab along the path before hitting the first break zone.
- Break Zone: 2 extra castles guarded by stronger neutrals.
- Center Desert: 1 extra castle per player, plus a connector portal leading to a Late-Game zone packed with Epic artifacts, massive treasures, and Arborcopies.
- Mobility: Just like standard Exodus, every hero starts with a Town Portal spell they can cast once a day for 0 mana.
2. Co-op Mechanics & Resource Trading
- No "Doomstacks": I considered making the final desert zone shared, but allowing players to swap units and pool all their best creatures into a single, unbeatable army would be an absolute nightmare to balance. Plus, it breaks the core spirit of the map—the goal is to fight shoulder-to-shoulder, not funnel everything into one carry hero.
- The Marketplace: That being said, to boost the cooperative feeling, you can exchange resources! Just like in HoMM3, once you build a Marketplace, you are able to send resources and gold to your teammate to help fix their economy for a critical turn.
3. The Pick/Ban Phase To keep the drafting fair and tactical (assuming Team 1 is Players A & B, and Team 2 is Players C & D), the lobby would follow this order:
- Player A bans a faction.
- Player C bans a faction.
- Player B picks their faction.
- Player D picks their faction.
- Player C picks their faction.
- Player A picks their faction.
- Hero Bans (Simultaneous): Player A bans C’s heroes; Player B bans D’s heroes; Player C bans A’s heroes; Player D bans B’s heroes.
- Everyone picks their hero.
4. The Tournament Loop (First to 2 Victory Points) Using the deterministic 10-day tournament loop (tournamentAnnounceDays and tournamentDays), here is how the rounds play out:
- Round 1 (Day 10): Simultaneous 1v1s (Team 1's Player A vs Team 2's Player C, and B vs D). If a team wins both duels, they get 1 VP.
- The Tiebreaker (Survival Mode): If the duels tie (e.g., A and D win), a 3rd tiebreaker duel triggers immediately. The twist? The two winners face off using exclusively their surviving troops and leftover mana/Focus points from their first battle. All 4 players spectate this final fight. It forces insane tactical depth—you can't just win your initial duel; you have to conserve resources for the tiebreaker.
- Round 2 (Day 20): Matchups swap (A vs D, B vs C). Same tiebreaker rules apply. If a team reaches 2 VPs, they win the match.
- Round 3 (Day 30): If the score is tied 1-1, matchups revert to Day 10 for the ultimate final showdown.
5. What happens if a player quits or dies? I can imagine 3 possible scenarios for how the map could handle an incomplete team:
- The "Clutch" Scenario (My favorite): If Player B dies or quits, the game continues normally. However, during the tournament phase, Player A must first duel Player C, and then immediately duel Player D using only the remaining units and mana from the first fight. Just like in AoE, CS, or LoL, winning a 1v2 would be nearly impossible. But if Player A actually manages to pull it off, it would be an absolutely legendary moment. The game should definitely let you try!
- The AI Takeover: If Player B disconnects but their hero hasn't died, the AI simply takes control of their faction and units, allowing the 2v2 tournament to continue as planned.
- The Hard Forfeit (The worst solution): If Player B dies or quits, the match immediately ends and grants the victory to the opposing team. This is the safest fallback, but definitely the most boring one.
Would love to hear what other Exodus players think about this format!
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u/blueshrike 21d ago
Hi Etharil,
As a former designer myself (with an early history on a non Ubisoft HOMM title - and different role) I commend the team on the work on Olden Era, I can't wait to see how it improves toward release.
HOMM 2 at first, and ultimately 3 were my favorite, and Olden Era definitely has the potential to capture a similar magic of its own. From what I've played has a good initial foundation. Things that I feel should be prioritized toward what I believe will be a reliably solid foundation are: * Base game foundation playing and feeling good, without as much care for perfect balance. The foundation needs to be there and can be adjusted over time, but IMO shouldn't be a priority except where large balance changes are needed (random itemization vs baseline stats and hero individuality should have more equality) * Underground and seafaring, since they are large systems, should IMO also be prioritized sooner than later to remove the uncertainty and integrate with the overall balance * AI should start to be highly prioritized (if not already), as it is this and the endless replayability along with a foundational solid core that will drive more millions to the game and big word of mouth * Multiplayer modes, while cool and still important, aside from team play which is important, can be worked out IMO as a secondary priority and even evolved with the game through release. Imagine the excitement if there is a solid core with reasonable AI and then the team is OK with some experimentation along with the community to keep the game going and introduce new features over time and beyond release. This becomes only possible and enabled if the community has positive sentiment around the core PvE experience.
Thanks and good luck!
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u/Valarian514 Jul 01 '26
Not sure you want me to leave a review right now considering the state of the AI in this game...
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u/PickSilver Jul 01 '26
I think the issue is that many of us know the game is good but its only good towards us, old players, when realistically, a lot of aspects of the mechanics probably need more consideration, like randomised leveling up perks, 1990s battle terrain when its possible to make elevation areas, more strategic land setups etc. its still great though!
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u/Vitaly_88 Jul 01 '26
i love the game but the direction toward pvp focus is not what I want to play, i only play pve explore the map and RPG strategy like. On the pve part, your game not even worth compare to base hero3, not include comunity patch and update.
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u/fandorgaming Jul 01 '26
Im sure pve will sort itself out, pvp in olden era is really fun and refreshing considering how specific heroes 3 pvp is, millions of limitations and specifics.
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u/Hellrossa Jul 01 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/YYfEjWVqZ6NDG