A Look Back At Heroes Of Might & Magic II

A few weeks ago I declared my love of Heroes of Might & Magic II, but I haven’t had a chance to explain why I adore this game so much. Since I recently rediscovered this classic thanks to Good Old Games, now seems like as good a time as any to lay out my love for its simple story, polished turn-based gameplay, and legions of undead servants.

I will own up to part of this game’s continued impact on my life being nostalgia. I discovered it at a perfect time, when I was around 10 years old, just getting into PC gaming, and obsessed with fantasy novels and games. To that latter point, HOMM2 has one major bonus above future games in the series: Where other Heroes titles tend to get bogged down in needlessly complex high fantasy nonsense, HOMM2 keeps things simple.

The story goes like this: The king has died, leaving two sons as possible successors to the throne, the noble Roland and the scheming Archibald. As is fit for a dude with a name like Archibald, the evil son murders a handful of seers who are supposed to choose the new king until he finds one who picks him. After being informed of these events via a brief intro video, players are given the option of siding with the devious Archibald as he tightens his grasp on the newfound throne or the more respectable Roland as he attempts to regain power while on the run.

Other Heroes fans will tell you that Heroes of Might & Magic III is where the series really took off, but there’s something to be said for the less wordy, easy-to-comprehend plot of HOMM2 and the way its two campaigns break out into understandable scenarios. Whereas HOMM3 has a larger handful of campaigns for each faction, if you choose to side with Archibald in HOMM2, your primary faction is going to be the necromancer. You’ll be exposed to other factions as you take over enemy locations or play non-campaign maps, but playing through the plot presents a great way to become extremely knowledgeable about how to play as one side.

It helps, of course, that the necromancer faction is also arguably the coolest and best to play in HOMM history. I’ll be honest with you: I’ve dabbled as a Wizard, a Warlock, a Barbarian, and a Knight. Heck, I’ve even messed around as a Sorceress a little, and that’s difficult to admit – fairies and unicorns aren’t exactly the most fearsome allies to summon. But despite devoting tens if not hundreds of hours to Heroes of Might & Magic II, I have never played through the campaign as Roland. I just can’t bring myself to do it. Given the choice between some goody two-shoes son who wants to live up to his father’s legacy and the ability to call upon bone dragons – I’m talking about dragons made of bone – I go with the flying undead every time.

Then again, maybe I just have daddy issues.

Check out the video above to see the necromancer's forces in action.

In all seriousness, though, the huge bonus that the necromancer faction has is (surprise!) the necromancy ability, which allows you to raise a certain percentage of defeated opponents from the dead as skeletons. These are the weakest type of soldier available to you, but unlike the throwaway troop types from other factions – I’m looking at you, peasants – skeletons can quickly become an overwhelming force thanks to necromancing defeated enemy armies. Once you’ve got a hero rolling with a couple thousand skellies, you’ll find yourself in the satisfying position of being able to knock out seemingly much more powerful opponents with your first-tier fighters.

One other awesome element of HOMM2’s two-sided story is the surprising choice you’re allowed to make halfway through. There are a couple of minor branching points throughout both Roland and Archibald’s campaigns, but regardless of which side you choose, near the middle you’ll be contacted by the opposing ruler and given a chance to switch allegiances. Again, I’ve never played through the Roland campaign, but I have to imagine that if I did so, it would only be so that I can experience the joy of turning on him and embracing sweet necromancy once more.

If for some reason you have never checked out Heroes of Might & Magic II, hopefully these loving impressions will convince you to give it a shot. And if for some reason you can't get past its age, the core concepts developed in this game live on in various ways. Russian developer Katauri Interactive has resurrected the King's Bounty license -- the 1990 strategy title that the Heroes series spun out from -- and Ubisoft is currently working on the needlessly renamed Might & Magic: Heroes VI for release next year. I'm glad turn-based strategy titles that let you pit fantastic creatures against each other are still being made, even if HOMM2 is likely to remain the pinnacle of this style of game in my heart.

I'll close with this video of an incredible castle siege in Heroes of Might & Magic II by YouTube user SpinalBl00d. It shows off some of the impressive strategies you can use to bring yourself to victory in situations that seem unbeatable. Then again, dude is using titans and not bone dragons, so it's possible that he's just a dirty cheater.