Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia (commonly referred to as Heroes of Might & Magic 3, or Heroes 3, or abbreviated HoMM 3) is a turn-based strategy game developed by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Computing originally released for Microsoft Windows by The 3DO Company in 1999. Its ports to several computer and console systems followed in 1999-2000. It is the third installment of the Heroes of Might and Magic series.
The game's story is first referenced throughout Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven and serves as a prequel to Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor. The player can choose to play through seven different campaigns telling the story, or play in a scenario against computer or human opponents.
Heroes III was released to universal acclaim and was praised by critics. The game received the expansion packs Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade and Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death. Heroes Chronicles, a series of short introductory games based on the Heroes III engine, was also released. A special version of Heroes III titled Heroes III Complete, which included the original game and both expansion packs, was released in 2000.
On December 10, 2014, Ubisoft announced an HD version of the game. The new version features updated graphics as well as widescreen compatibility and was released on January 29, 2015, for Microsoft Windows, iOS and Android.[4] The expansions have not been re-released because their source code was lost.[5] However, in 2017, source code for the full version of the game was found, when one of the contractors responsible for porting the game to Mac found the source, tools and assets on a hard drive, and uploaded it to Ubisoft.[6]