Heroes of Might and Magic III, a turn-based strategy game released in 1999. Let me say this again: more people watch Heroes of Might and Magic III than Red Dead Redemption 2, a game that sold over 24 million copies in the nine months since its release, or Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, which at one point in October hit 62,000 concurrent players. It’s one of the oldest games in top 100 categories on Twitch, and it’s consistently watched by more people than Red Dead Redemption 2 or Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. For me, it’s Farming Simulator nested between two AAA games, House Flipper surrounded by fast-paced MMOs or Heroes of Might and Magic III next to this year’s blockbuster action RPG. We’d like to take a moment to applaud Black Hole Entertainment and Ubisoft for the inclusion of local hotseat play, which many developers seem to view as an afterthought or fail to include at all it’s the feature of the Heroes franchise that has brought us back, year after year, and remains our favorite way to play.If you’re anything like me and love to scroll aimlessly through categories on Twitch, you may have noticed a couple of odd ones out. The main attraction remains the sandbox skirmish maps, playable in single-player or local/online multiplayer. Be warned though: these and other persistent elements are only available when playing online and logged into Ubisoft’s Uplay service. The campaign also offers convincing incentives to keep playing in the form of unlockable “dynasty” weapons and other bonuses that can be applied across multiple game modes. The writing is uneven at times, but as narratives in turn-based strategy games go this one is remarkably robust. It chronicles the story of a deeply troubled human dynasty, rife with politicking, assassination and betrayal, in the middle of an epic confrontation between good and evil (sides that are not always so clearly defined).

While the campaign mode isn’t usually the marquee feature of a Heroes game, the one on offer here is surprisingly engaging.

Heroes of might and magic online old