u/Any-Local-205

For many people, the answer is easy: Heroes of Might and Magic III and I understand why. It took almost everything Heroes II had and made it deeper. The factions felt more developed, the strategy had more layers, the maps were richer, and the balance was better. It is one of those rare games where almost every system feels like it belongs exactly where it is.

Then there is the community. Heroes III never really disappeared. People still play it, make maps for it, argue about balance, and keep the game alive more than 25 years later. Projects like Horn of the Abyss show how strong that love still is. Most games from that time are remembered with nostalgia. Heroes III is still actively played.

So yes, if we talk about design, depth, balance, and replay value, Heroes III is probably the better game.

But Heroes II has a different place in my heart.

I remember it very clearly. It was the first PC game I ever saw being played. And back then, the world itself felt different. The 90s, at least where I grew up, were much more grey and boring in a way that is hard to explain now. There was less color in everyday life. Less access to things. Less magic around you. And then I saw Heroes II. It felt like someone had opened a door to another world.

The screen was full of fantasy, but not in a dark or serious way. It had this storybook feeling. Everything looked bright, strange, and magical. The creatures looked beautifully drawn, almost like something from the fairytales I knew as a kid. And the most amazing part was that I could control them. I could move the hero. I could build the castle. I could send these creatures into battle and watch them do what I told them to do. It felt like I had found the wardrobe to Narnia. That is still one of the brightest gaming memories I have. Not because the game was perfect, but because it felt like pure joy.

I don’t think it is only nostalgia. Heroes II had its problems, of course. Heroes III improved many things. But Heroes II also had something very special. Its art style had more warmth. The towns felt more like places from an old fantasy book. The music had this magical, almost theatrical feeling. The whole game was simpler, but that simplicity gave it a charm that Heroes III, for all its greatness, never fully replaced.

Heroes III is deeper. It is better balanced. It is probably the game I would recommend to someone today. But Heroes II feels more innocent. More dreamlike. More personal. So my logical answer is Heroes III, but my emotional answer will always be Heroes II.

What about you?

If you had to choose only one, would you pick Heroes II or Heroes III?

Released in 2000 by Haemimont Games, Tzar was a real-time strategy game with three factions: European, Arabian, and Asian.

For me, the soundtrack was one of its strongest parts. It gave the game a distinct feel and still stands out when I think back on it.

Did anyone here spend a lot of time with it?

I’ve always felt like Rising Kingdoms never got the attention it deserved.

It came out in 2005, was developed by Haemimont Games, and mixed classic RTS base-building with some light RPG elements like hero units, skills, and inventory. It also had three main factions: Humans, Foresters, and Darklings. Plus independent races you could capture and use, like Elves, Trolls, Nomads, Shades, and Dragons. That gave it a bit more personality.

Maybe “one of the best ever” would be too much, but “one of the most underrated” feels fair to me.

Did anyone else here play it back in the day?

I went in hoping for that old Heroes feeling, and honestly for me, it is there. The map flow, the battles, the factions, it really brings back that classic PC strategy mood. The art is more modern, sure, but the soul feels familiar.

Best part, the demo is still free on Steam. --> https://store.steampowered.com/app/3241970/Heroes_of_Might_and_Magic_Olden_Era_Demo/

The full game hits Early Access on April 30, so this is a good time to see if it clicks for you.

There is also a short review here if you want more details:
https://bestclassicpcgames.com/homm-olden-era/

Would love to hear what old-school Heroes fans think.

This game and its standalone expansion were the peak of the series for me. That retro vibe in the expansion was pure bliss. Do you agree?

Lately, my news feed has been full of articles from different gaming websites talking about a recent Game Rant readers’ poll that put Red Dead Redemption 2 at number one. From what I saw, the poll first made waves at around 80,000 votes, and later coverage said it had passed 270,000 votes while RDR2 was still on top.

To be honest, seeing that result left me with mixed feelings.

I can fully respect what the game achieved. The attention to detail is incredible, the world feels alive, and the amount of craft behind it is obvious. The storyline is also really well developed throughout the game. In that sense, I completely understand why so many people admire it.

At the same time, I never managed to truly love it, because I have never been interested in that kind of setting. Cowboys, the Wild West, and that whole period of history just do nothing for me. So even though I can appreciate the quality of the game, I never felt deeply connected to the world it recreates.

That is why I wanted to ask this.

Do you really see RDR2 as the greatest game ever made, or do you think there are better choices? Or is calling any game “the best of all time” just too subjective to take seriously?

Mine is probably Wrath, with TBC just behind it.

Vanilla was the start of everything, obviously, but Wrath is the one that always felt the biggest to me. Maybe a lot of that is Arthas, but Northrend, Ulduar, ICC, that whole period just felt like WoW at its highest point.

TBC is really close though. It kept a lot of what made early WoW good and made the game feel better to play at the same time.

So yeah, if I had to rank them, I’d go Wrath, TBC, then Vanilla.

What’s your order?

Been replaying Deus Ex and honestly it still feels kinda unmatched in a few ways

Not saying every old game was better, but this one still has something a lot of modern games miss

So what’s the one thing Deus Ex still does better than most games now?