Is the Heroes: 30th Anniversary Retrospective Book worth It?

Author: Liso1 January 17, 2026 2 Comments

Here is my modest review of the latest and so far the only book dedicated to the Heroes series: Heroes of Might and Magic: 30th Anniversary Retrospective.

First of all, I want to say that I am genuinely very happy that this book was published at all. The book also briefly touches on the Might and Magic series, which started everything, including its sci-fi elements.

The book can be divided into three parts – the period before Ubisoft, the period after Ubisoft, and an image gallery. The first part, covering the era before Ubisoft, focuses on Heroes I through IV and, in my opinion, is very well done.

It tells the story from the one-man show, when Jon Van Caneghem was developing games alone at home, through the founding of a successful studio full of talented people, all the way to the studio’s perfect storm of mismanagement and bankruptcy caused by a single person (Trip Hawkins).

The second part is already presented from Ubisoft’s perspective, which likely had control over the book. Because of that, it felt a bit like an PR for the company and for one of its employees (Erwan Le Breton).

This section concludes with information about the new entry in the series, Olden Era. I did somewhat miss a proper conclusion to the whole book in the author’s own words, but it is what it is.

The third part of the book consists of an arguably oversized image gallery. It is really quite large and probably makes up around 20% of the entire book. Most of the artworks come from Heroes V and later entries.

However, one thing worth mentioning is a photograph of the Heroes III production team (page 56), which can truly be found only in this book and has not been published anywhere else.

The book is definitely worth reading, especially the first part, which is excellent.

When buying it, pay attention to the price. The standard price is €49.90, but it can easily be found for around €32, which already feels like a significant difference.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Rob King (sound and music for Heroes 1-7), Phelan Sykes (lead artist on Heroes 3), Neal Hallford (author of Heroes of Might & Magic: 30th Anniversary Retrospective) and Jon Van Caneghem (creator of Might & Magic / Heroes of Might & Magic / founder of New World Computing).