About this product

Product Information

The Immortal Hero, Tarnum, has been found wanting by the gods on Judgment Day and denied entry into Paradise. Given a chance to redeem himself for his bloody past and earn the favor of his ancestors, Tarnum is sent on a series of quests documented in the Heroes Chronicles. The series, published by The 3DO Company and designed by New World Computing, continues the expansion of the Might and Magic universe with four titles chronicling the exploits of Tarnum that take place in the "dark time" prior to his becoming an Immortal Hero. The four separately released, stand-alone titles, contain an interconnected storyline and promulgate the same turn-based system of gameplay and combat seen in the Heroes of Might and Magic series. The 3DO Company, at the time of release of the Chronicles series, offered a fifth game in the series, Heroes Chronicles: The World Tree, as a free download from their website upon condition the purchaser owned two of the four commercially released titles and had them installed when visiting the site. A deadline date of January 28, 2001 was imposed for the free download. In Heroes Chronicles: Conquest of the Underworld, Tarnum is faced with rescuing the soul of the man who killed him! The soul belongs to none other than Queen Allison's father and Tarnum must lead her through the scourge of the earth to undo the evils perpetrated on the king. While underground, Tarnum and his troops face hordes of demons, undead monsters and a plethora of ghastly beasts and creatures while journeying through caves, vile dungeons, fiery infernos and the foggy Necropolis. Eight scenarios await the intrepid warrior and all must be completed successfully to achieve victory. A single-scenario tutorial is provided for gamers not familiar with the Heroes of Might and Magic gameplay system. Options include five levels of difficulty, hero speed, enemy speed, video quality, map scrolling speed, move path (on/off), quick combat, subtitles, spellbook animation, outline display of town buildings and a "move hero" reminder as well as sound controls. Gameplay is affected through the use of a point-and-click interface in conjunction with on-screen icons and drop down menus. Heroes trade, build and maintain inventories, recruit armies filled with a wide variety of creatures and human troops, explore subterranean, water and land environments, learn and cast magic spells and hire other heroes throughout the quests. Wandering enemy troops are encountered in nine possible population sizes ranging from groups of 1-4 (few) to a thousand or more (legion). In addition to the bonus World Tree campaign, the series contains Heroes Chronicles: Conquest of the Underworld, Heroes Chronicles: Masters of the Elements and Heroes Chronicles: Clash of the Dragons. Each of the games has an interactive preview of the other games in the series as well as a training scenario and deals with an aspect of Tarnum's life.