At first glance Hero’s Hour looked like some kind of pixel art Might and Magic, with a few twists in the way combats worked and with more modern design sensibilities, but I absolutely bounced off it almost immediately.
On paper, this was a fair assumption on my end; You select a race that comes with their own units, buildings, spells and heroes, then you explore a map, collecting resources, fighting enemies, leveling up and ultimately defeating other factions in order to win. Instead of turn-based grid-based battles, the game would switch to something more real time where you move units around and cast spells. Three things, however, tanked my interest immediately.
First, this is a “versus” only kind of game, there is no campaign to introduce factions, units, and mechanics, after a tutorial you’re just creating custom maps, picking whatever you want, and go at it. Without any hooks for progression or narrative, I wasn’t very engaged. Secondly, with the lack of onboarding, the sheer amount of mechanics just overwhelmed me. Lastly, I gave the game a fair shot and started a map, only to be defeated almost immediately (in a manner of minutes) by another faction. I’m sure Hero’s Hour is for some people, but it really wasn’t for me.
