It's been three years since the last installment of Heroes of Might & Magic was released. Fans had long wanted a Heroes III with 3D graphics, and that's what they got, even if part IV was generally considered a disappointing title. With 3DO going out of business, one of the biggest questions to arise was who would inherit this great franchise, and what would they do with it?

The answer is Nival Interactive, the developers who came out with some impressive strategy titles in the past, such as Etherlords II. They will be developing Heroes of Might & Magic V, currently scheduled to release early next year. Since Nival has already worked on some good turn-based titles, fans can rest assured that they probably won't be changing the formula around too much. That is not to say that there won't be any changes. It appears as though the world of Heroes is getting a bit of a makeover, and Nival will be creating some of their own mythology. That means new factions will be introduced and others will be dropped. Currently, it looks like the Inferno and Castle factions will definitely be returning for part V, renamed to Demons and Humans respectively. There are also four more that are yet to be revealed. Nival has stated that they are creating their own cosmology, new world and a brand new magic system. With them comes a new way of playing and strategizing, as will have quite a different sense of balance to it compared to the originals. So, it might not necessarily be the Heroes that fans remember.

Nival is keeping a lot of details about their upcoming title a secret, but it seems over land exploration remains very much the same as before. They will still be able to traverse the land, find treasure, find towns, and activate mills for resources. The developers have stated that they recognize that exploration is a huge part of the game, and it will remain as detailed as the previous titles. Perhaps it will be more so now that Nival is including an improved 3D engine.

The new graphics engine will include a fully rotating world map, where players can zoom in and check out the sunflowers if they want to. The castles and fortresses are also highly detailed and animated so that it looks very alive. A well developed human castle has a huge sprawling city around it, while the Demon faction will have flames bursting from its windows and cages hanging over bubbling lava, waiting for demons to be summoned. While factions will all build up in the same manner - towns will grow around a central castle or citadel - they will all have very distinct looks to them. Each city will start with a small castle and a village, which will grow as the player develops them. The best part is, they look huge, fantastic, and imposing like they should.

Even with the revamped graphics, Heroes of Might & Magic will remain a turn-based game. Movement across the world will be work in the same manner as the previous games, and so will combat. Heroes will lead his troops into battle and cast spells to mix thing up. Some heroes will gain the skill to take part in combat directly, and will always be the strongest unit in an army. Units each have strengths and weaknesses, depending on what factions they are battling. Spells like meteor storm look as devastating as they are, with the ability to almost wipe out armies, leaving only the strongest units to fight. This is a strategy game, so it's not always about what spells you use, but how you use the special abilities of your units. If that's not enough, Nival has promised that battles will include a few extra surprises that will mix things up even further.

While it's still far too early too tell for sure, Nival looks like they're making a product that will more than live up to expectations fans will have for the next installment of the Heroes of Might & Magic series. They are taking a bit of a risk with changing things around from the established formula, but it's also good to know that they aren't content to rehash everything that has come already with upgraded graphics. Only time will tell, as more information becomes available, but things already look quite impressive, which could make Heroes V one of the must-have strategy titles for next year.