Heroes of Might and Magic III: Versions & Where to Play

Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia is a turn-based strategy game developed by New World Computing and published by The 3DO Company for Windows in 1999. It was directed by David Mullich and designed by Gregory Fulton and Jon Van Caneghem. Each creature in the game has 80 animation frames. Loki Software ported it to Linux in December 1999, and a Mac version followed the same month.

Two expansions, Armageddon's Blade and the stand-alone The Shadow of Death, were later gathered with the base game in Heroes III Complete (2000). In Russia the game was published by Buka as «Герои Меча и Магии III»; its royalties from the localization were reportedly comparable to the revenue of 3DO itself. A Dreamcast port was cancelled in 2000, but a copy of the build bought by a collector in 2005 was made public in 2020.

In 2015 Dotemu and Ubisoft released the HD Edition for PC, iOS and Android, without the expansions. In 2025 Heroes III Complete became the first video game preserved on a 5D optical crystal as part of GOG's Preservation Program. In August 2026 Ubisoft announced Heroes of Might & Magic III Remake, a full 3D remake planned for 2027 that is a separate game from the 1999 original.¹²³⁴

Names and releases

Region	Title on the box	Platform	Date	Publisher	Src
NA	Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of ErathiaSpanish Wikipedia gives 28 February 1999.	Windows	Mar 3, 1999	The 3DO Company	¹
NA	Heroes of Might and Magic III	Linux	Dec 20, 1999	Loki Software	¹
NA	Heroes of Might and Magic III	Mac	Dec 21, 1999	The 3DO Company	¹
NA	Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's BladeExpansion: adds the Conflux town and a random map generator.	Windows	1999	The 3DO Company	¹
NA	Heroes III Complete	Windows	Nov 8, 2000	The 3DO Company	¹
NA	Heroes III Complete	Mac	Dec 19, 2000	The 3DO Company	¹
NA	Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of DeathStand-alone expansion that includes the base game.	Windows	2000	The 3DO Company	¹
EU	Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia	Windows	Apr 1, 1999	The 3DO Company	¹
RU	Герои Меча и Магии IIISources disagree on the date: Buka's history places it in 1999 (first batch recalled to fix translation errors); Cyclowiki gives 15 March 2000.	Windows	1999	Бука	³
RU	Герои меча и магии: Платиновая серияRussian collection with a significantly improved translation.	Windows	2003	Бука	⁵
WW	Heroes of Might & Magic III – HD Edition	Android	Jan 29, 2015	Ubisoft	¹
WW	Heroes of Might & Magic III – HD Edition	iOS	Jan 29, 2015	Ubisoft	¹
WW	Heroes of Might & Magic III – HD EditionAlso iOS and Android; developed by Dotemu; no expansions. Steam lists 28 January 2015.	Windows	Jan 29, 2015	Ubisoft	¹

Also known as: Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia WW¹Герои Меча и Магии III RU⁶Герои меча и магии III: Возрождение Эрафии RU⁵Клинок Армагеддона RU⁵Дыхание смерти RU⁵Heroes III Complete WW¹Heroes of Might & Magic III – HD Edition WW⁷HoMM3 WW⁸Герои RU⁹

Box art by region

NA Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia
RU Герои Меча и Магии III

Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.

Version differences

ContentHD Edition (2015)

The 2015 HD Edition contains only The Restoration of Erathia: both expansions and the random map generator are missing, reportedly because the source code was lost.¹
ContentArmageddon's Blade

Armageddon's Blade added a ninth town type, the Conflux, along with a random scenario generator and six new campaigns.¹
ContentThe Shadow of DeathComplete

The Shadow of Death is stand-alone and includes the base game; it adds seven campaigns and introduces combination artifacts. Heroes III Complete puts everything on a single disc.¹

All differences (6)

Translations

Spanish Official

Dotemu / Ubisoft2015Windows · HD EditionReleased · complete

The HD Edition on Steam includes Spanish (Spain) with full audio.⁷
French Official

UbisoftWindows · GOG CompleteReleased · complete

There is official French text, but French audio exists only for The Restoration of Erathia.¹⁰
Polish Official

UbisoftWindows · GOG CompleteReleased · complete

The GOG Complete edition offers Polish text and audio.¹⁰
Russian Official

Бука1999WindowsReleased · complete

Buka's official Russian localization is regarded as one of the first high-quality official translations into Russian; Buka also localized both expansions and Heroes Chronicles.¹¹
Russian Official

Бука2003Windows · Platinum SeriesReleased · complete

A revised Russian translation appeared in Buka's 2003 «Платиновая серия» collection.⁵
Russian Official

Dotemu / Ubisoft2015Windows · HD EditionReleased · complete

The HD Edition on Steam has full Russian audio and text.⁷

Where to play legally today

GOG Purchase

Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Complete

Windows; base game + Armageddon's Blade + The Shadow of Death; EN/FR/PL/RU

Checked: 2026-10-13¹⁰gog.com
Steam Purchase

Heroes of Might & Magic III – HD Edition

Windows; base game only (no expansions); 9 languages incl. Russian and Spanish

Checked: 2026-10-13⁷store.steampowered.com
Steam Purchase

Heroes of Might and Magic III

Original 1999 game with Armageddon's Blade and The Shadow of Death; English, French, Polish, Russian

Checked: 2026-10-13¹²store.steampowered.com

How to run it today

Heroes 3 Complete on GOG includes Russian and is marked as verified for Windows 10/11. The fan HoMM3 HD mod adds modern resolutions and interface fixes without changing the original files. Horn of the Abyss (HotA) is a large fan add-on with new towns that requires Shadow of Death or Complete and works with the HD mod, and VCMI is an open-source engine for Windows, Linux, macOS, Android and iOS that runs with the player's own Heroes III data files. On modern Windows the old .HLP help files no longer open by default.

HoMM3 HD mod sites.google.com
Horn of the Abyss h3hota.com
VCMI vcmi.eu

¹³

Best version

Most fans recommend the Complete edition on GOG together with the fan-made HoMM3 HD mod rather than the official 2015 HD Edition, which lacks the expansions.¹³

Reception

Heroes III entered PC Data's weekly US chart at number 3 in March 1999 and holds an average of 87% on GameRankings.¹

Sources

Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13

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