Vagrus - The Riven Realms
Vagrus - The Riven Realms
Game
Game2022
Hero's Hour
Developer Benjamin "ThingOnItsOwn" Hauer
A fast turn-based strategy RPG with real-time combat. Develop your cities and armies, level up your heroes to gain new, powerful spells and skills, and explore the wonders and dangers of the procedurally generated maps as you aim to conquer your enemies before they do the same to you. From the Steam store page
206 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
69
Fresh
120 positive · 55 negative
95% range 61–75%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 120 | 55 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 5 | 0 | 17 |
| Lemmy * | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 2 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
2,538 of 3,149 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
67% recommend · 112 yes, 55 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 167 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mostly Positive (4,568 of 5,756 positive).
Players praise the game as a fast-paced, fun revival of Heroes of Might and Magic 3. [1][2][3] Some reviewers complain that the AI cheats and creates a single overpowered hero. [4][5][6] Others dismiss these complaints as a skill issue. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
This is a huge disappointment, because there is a lot of elements in the game, and they work. The problem is the AI ruins everything by how it creates a single steamroll hero and funnels literally all of its unit towards that hero, and then bullies the entire map with it until it kills you or dies. It forces you to do the same, or you get steamrolled over. It literally ruins the whole game, and difficulty settings …
- [21]
I'd like to start off by saying this game is enjoyable. However after about 8 hours of gameplay I feel like I already experienced just about everything it has to offer. After the tutorial I played three games. The 1st game was on easy. I enjoyed it while I was getting the hang of things but as you might imagine there wasn't much challenge. The 2nd game I played on challenging with a 3v3 team battle. This really …
- [1]
Overall Rating: 8/10 Positives: Fast-Paced Combat: It plays like Heroes of Might and Magic III but with much faster combat. It takes a little while to get used to, but now I actually prefer it. Great Visual Direction: Even though the graphics utilize asset packs, they perfectly nail the game's aesthetic. Keeping the visuals simple allows the core gameplay to shine, which is a massive plus. Excellent Replayability: …
- [12]
Not bad. Not great. I've gotten my fair share of fun with it. The big selling points of the game are: -The sheer quantity of factions, units, heroes, talents, and spells. -Games go by relatively quickly since the economy and city building is very simple, and battles are mostly automatically controlled. These two points were enough to keep me interested for a good while. However, after playing for a while, there are …
- [2]
It's Heroes of Might & Magic, but without turns, as you instead get huge pools of armies on your screen fighting in real time. You want something similar to HoMM, look no further. It is amazing, fun and will entertain you for hours.
Summarised from 34 of the 198 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 11, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Hero's Hour sits at 69% positive across 175 opinionated reactions from 4 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Reactions
60 of 206 · most liked firstThis is a huge disappointment, because there is a lot of elements in the game, and they work. The problem is the AI ruins everything by how it creates a single steamroll hero and funnels literally all of its unit towards that hero, and then bullies the entire map with it until it kills you or dies. It forces you to do the same, or you get steamrolled over. It literally ruins the whole game, and difficulty settings don't change it. There may be a ton of map features, but you don't get to explore…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just like Bethesda, new updates removed the ability for players to play the game the way they want. The entire map editor was removed, as well as a number of existing maps. There's less in the game now than there was at launch.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[Humble Bundle] Pixels with Porpoise Bundle ($6; $10). Steam Keys Pay $10 and get all the games below - Rivals of Aether - Anvil Saga - Children of Morta Complete Edition - Hero's Hour Pay $6 and get the below - Celeste - Webbed - Towerfall Ascension - Towerfall Dark World Expansion
neutral · AI labelView post →I'd like to start off by saying this game is enjoyable. However after about 8 hours of gameplay I feel like I already experienced just about everything it has to offer. After the tutorial I played three games. The 1st game was on easy. I enjoyed it while I was getting the hang of things but as you might imagine there wasn't much challenge. The 2nd game I played on challenging with a 3v3 team battle. This really didn't feel any more difficult than the first game. I was also disappointed the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It was good but there are just too many updates to the game. It was good the way it was and now it's just a bit too streamlined and 'automatic'. Also the HOMM feel disappeared in a recent update when they decided to just have text blocks for buildings rather than the images on the building screen. Nitpicky maybe, but why do you have change a nice game into something that's over-polished and streamlined and over-patched. A multiplayer mode would be nice, too.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A disappointed purchase. I was expecting more. AI just bloats a hero and tries to steamroll. Many units look the same and in general everything feels a bit dry. Despite random maps each map basically turns out the same due to how the AI behaves.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Update (April 23rd): The developer response claims that they've released a Linux version, but upon re-testing with Proton disabled and a fresh Linux OS install, no executable or game files were downloaded. SteamDB confirms the Linux depot remains unused since September 2022. Either the fix was not made public, or the developer attempted to set the Windows depot as the default, but this workaround failed (this last point is purely speculative, however). Original (February 24th): The…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If the game decides not to cheat or glitch, then you win every time and there's nothing the AI can do about it. If the game decides to cheat or glitch, then you lose every time and there's nothing you can do about it. 0/10
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game but giving it a negative review for recent heavy summoning nerfs. Will game developers STOP just endlessly "balancing" their games and forcing me with updates when I want to enjoy the game as I bought it in peace on my own computer? I think every strategy game is guilty of that. Which is why I enjoy games that stopped being constantly tweaked the most.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Edit: Okay, to clarify: There are a FEW maps where the AI "Cheats" but it is intentional. One of the maps "patience" has an achievement that involves beating a 1v7, on a map where the AI outpaces you. It is a game of literally patience and defense. The "Cheating" of the AI in the game is no different than that of say Age of Empires 2, with turn orders, and better managment as well as a heads start. ==== i have zero clue what the other negative reviews are talking about. (As someone who…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Same issues as already mentioned: the difficulty is completely random and the AI cheats. There's no handcrafted campaign and those auto-generated skirmishes are all over the place with your success depending mostly on your starting position and resources you'll have access to. Unlike in HoM&M series, you're often not given any time to compensate or conquer the land around, as within a week you can be ganked with multiple armies vastly exceeding any units you could gather even theoretically.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →AI cheats, AI has impossible level armies before you can even develop anything reasonable. Either the AI is super buffed even on easy or the AI knows where to get all OP equipment without losing before you do.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →when ppl cry about hard ai or cheating ai: skill issue
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →To celebrate #TurnBasedThursdayFest, here’s a reveal of Crypt Town and the town UI for Hero's Hour 2. 💀 🏘️Which building is your favorite? 🏘️ To follow development wishlist the game on Steam. 👉 store.steampowered.com/app/4043740/...
neutral · AI labelView post →Overall Rating: 8/10 Positives: Fast-Paced Combat: It plays like Heroes of Might and Magic III but with much faster combat. It takes a little while to get used to, but now I actually prefer it. Great Visual Direction: Even though the graphics utilize asset packs, they perfectly nail the game's aesthetic. Keeping the visuals simple allows the core gameplay to shine, which is a massive plus. Excellent Replayability: There is a lot of replay value packed into this game. Negatives:…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is unnecessarily hard. Every match is either a complete steamroll in your favor (very unlikely) or a devastating loss since your opponents have unbeatable armies by the start of phase 2 while you're barely getting started, there is no middle ground. And no, it's not a learning curve issue, it's the AI cheating, which takes all the fun out of the game. Shame.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do NOT buy at full price. It's a 3 of 10 game if you were to get it at full price. Recommending ONLY if it's on sale, more than 50% off. It's maybe a 6 of 10 game IF you can get it and the expansion for 5-7 bucks or less. It's a HoMaM game with it's quirk being battles are real time. It has some interesting ideas but they often aren't done to the best of their potential and that's before bug issues which, since they're now working on a sequel, may not ever be addressed. There's also a lot of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →after 23 hours of play time i just feel this game is a waste of time. limited skills and armies. not even gonna mention how unfair the ai is even on the easier difficulties... would not say its worth the money unless its free maybe for my worst enemy to be petty.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to like it, but didn't find it especially fun. It's an... interesting choice to set up a tutorial in a way that you lose if you don't do it a specific way. It kind of felt like the worst aspects of Heroes of Might and Magic with mind reading/cheating AI but you also can't control your units.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best things about this game was the editor. It now Sucks
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Only leaving this review to counteract all the negative reviews saying the "AI cheats hard and steamrolls the game." Huge skill issue on their part. I, the human, steamroll the game. So much so I try to preserve each faction, instead of fully destroying them, so I can trap them for lols.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Started a a HOMM ripoff and became it's own thing through time. One of the best titles in this genre imho. A lot of content, interesting mechanics, countless replayability. The only downside is limited amount of available maps. 4.5/5
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's Heroes of Might & Magic, but without turns, as you instead get huge pools of armies on your screen fighting in real time. You want something similar to HoMM, look no further. It is amazing, fun and will entertain you for hours.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Been playing Hero's Hour recently from the itch summer bundle. Never played any Civilization style games before but this one is really fun.
positive · AI labelView post →Not bad. Not great. I've gotten my fair share of fun with it. The big selling points of the game are: -The sheer quantity of factions, units, heroes, talents, and spells. -Games go by relatively quickly since the economy and city building is very simple, and battles are mostly automatically controlled. These two points were enough to keep me interested for a good while. However, after playing for a while, there are some big things that hold this game back: -There isn't much strategy aside…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Heroes of might and magic 3 style autobattler. I was skeptical at first thinking it wouldn't hold a candle to the turn-based hex combat, but after trying the game I realized I was wrong. It feels thematically appropriate and even more fun trying to corral dozens and dozens of individual troops than just moving static stacks with perfect precision, and it makes sense to see smaller troops getting knocked back and scattered by huge monstrous units rather than locking them down toe to toe. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is unbalanced and AI cheats hard. so you cant win...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Small indie games: [Proximate](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2957800/PROXIMATE/) and [Security: The Horrible Nights](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2911390/Security_The_Horrible_Nights/) 500 hours game: [Hero's Hour](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1656780/Heros_Hour/) (I play a bit almost every night before sleeping on my steam deck)
neutral · AI labelView post →Just didn't meet my expectations, looked cool but felt like the AI where just cheating, tutorial bugged out, and in comparisons to even rts games on ROBLOX of all places it still falls short.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →HORRIBLY BALANCED TRASH + MATCHES TAKE SO LONG
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Cool concept but its just not fun. AI cheats and balance is bad.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is basically Heroes of MM 2, but with more fun and chaotic combat
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →you lose every time, even at tutorial.AI is stupid
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →ngl, i'm so used to not having social medias that i keep forgetting i have one now. this is my first attempt on whole illustration and also a bday gift for my friend. Urema from the game Hero's Hour. #pixelart #ドット絵
neutral · AI labelView post →It's Heroes of Might and Magic with real time combat that you can't control, but can interact with in a limited fashion. It's alright.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very fun, 8-10 hours in a session is not uncommon. The people complaining about how hard the AI is... Skill issue, get good
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →there seems to be too many mechanics to the point where they are all unimportant and are mostly glossed over leading to uninspired game play.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Did you follow the one exact strategy that works against the AI? Nope. YOU LOSE. Why give options when they aren't actually options?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There is also Hero's Hour, a fresh(relatively) indie take on the HoMM series. One major difference that might be polarising is that every unit is displayed rather than being a single stack, and combat happens live rather than in turns. But you can set it super slow and pause too if need be. I generally hate RTS, but I really enjoyed it. It's got a fair bit of content. And so many factions that are all quite different from each other. I have a fairly decent computer(4070s and a 7800x3d), it…
neutral · AI labelView post →🏰 Hero's Hour 🏰 Hero's of Might and Magic but CUTE. Goina check out this pixly game I've been curious about for some time. Lets explore and conquer a MASSIVE map! 🔴 Going Live in 30mins :3 #Furry #Femboy #PNGTuber
neutral · AI labelView post →Children of Morta, Celeste, Webbed, Hero's Hour and more in this pixel game humble bundle
neutral · AI labelView post →Not keen on it, the game has promise but the looks give you the impression it's chill. In reality it's a real sweatfest. As people have mentioned the balance and difficulty are wonky, it's not really intuitive what you should "do" to progress on the map, and it's surprisingly linear. By linear I mean that when you start out you have few options - most enemies around you are very strong, so you must find the one or two easier ones, then gradually scale up. This is not very fun - I'd prefer…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Balance is all kinds of wonky. Most fights are always "Hard" or "impossible" -- then as you are making progress and actually branching out and building up your town, the enemy will swoop in with death squads of 200+ units and be level 19 while you are like level 10 as obviously they had no problems just dominating their map to get to you. I've come back to the game time and time again and there's some fun here but the balance is awful.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →no controller support, I have no idea how this is steam deck verified because it is unplayable on one
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Whelp. Just had to report a game on steam for stealing assets from one of my all time favorite games, Hero's Hour. It's a very specific pixel art style that's very apparent. I hate what we did to the internet 😭
positive · AI labelView post →no campaign weak tutorial you can freely customize your game and achievements are still enabled rendering them useless and giving the game no direction
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not an enjoyable version of Heroes of Might and Magic. Even the tutorial isn't working right.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →DEAR DEVS, DEAR PLAYERS. THIS GAME IS ABSOLUTE PEAK I LOVE TURNBASED GAMES THIS IS A VERY GOOD TURNBASED GAME ENEMY TURNS TAKE A LOT OF TIME AND MY CPU RARELY GOES BEYOND 30% USAGE PLEASE MAKE HERO'S HOUR 2 FASTER WHEN IT'S NOT MY TURN AND THEN IT'LL BE THE PEAKEST GAMING EXPERIENCE
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Another game built for excel spreadsheet autists.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →• Balatro • Monster Train • Dicey Dungeons • Despot's Game • Gladiator Guild Manager • Hero's Hour • Monster Sanctuary • Path of Achra • Rack and Slay • Tactical Breach Wizards • Casette Beasts • Gunpoint • Long Live the Queen • Almost any of the Steamworld games
neutral · AI labelView post →Alive and well in the indie scene. HoMM specifically has two spiritual successors I'm keeping an eye on in Hero's Hour (fun and absurd, but doesn't work on linux), and Songs of Conquest (haven't played it yet, looks very promising).
neutral · AI labelView post →I couldnt even play THIS game because there is a Bug which hardlocked most of my runs in the long term and they announce part 2 ? I dont care anymore I want my Money back
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is fundamentally broken. There is a 'building planner', and you can select the buildings in your main town screen to build them. Sometimes you can build a building in the planner, but not by selecting the building, and sometimes it's the other way around. I tried playing two games, one game the monsters and such were around a power I could fight, the second game everything was 'impossible', so I just couldn't actually fight anything or gather anything. Apparently they are working on…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i got this game when it was free on opera gx a few years ago, and, despite frequent bugs and crashes, i loved it. they seem to have fixed SOME of these, but whenever i try to make custom content i do still crash instantly. i will admit, the gameplay loop does have some amount of interesting decision-making, and it is rather fun. most of the reason i'm reviewing this well is just nostalgia, though. i can't bring myself to hate this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →AI cheats its own face off. Did multiple maps, team combos, even tried playing with modded factions. The AI cheats so friggin much that I played every single game I played the AI came to wipe me with armies that are double my level, and 3 times as large before week 1 is even over. Avoid buying this unless you like losing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is very fun if youre interested in finding out how to break the game. Its engaging, challenging and every faction and hero type adds a unique playstyle. Like magic? find a way to cast spells that cause multiple echo casts and rain hell on the map for minutes on end with your massive mana pool. Want unstoppable troops? use consume to eat your units and gain huge permanent stat increases. My only recommendation: create story driven quest lines.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Created a grand army. Cleaned most of the map. Last enemy came in 5 different hordes. Got wiped. 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you have ever played Heroes of Might and Magic 3, you know what you're getting into. Some gameplay mechanics are new, some old, a good game imo. I haven't played mp or co-op.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sadly no way to adjust the difficulty. The tutorial doesn´t help at all.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game does not have proper online co-op multiplayer. Also, Remote Play together does not work. A 32 bit game based on a 27 year old title that does not have this basic feature on one of the greates co-op games of all time is unacceptable. 2 of my friends that bought this so we could all play together wasted their money. The devs should be ashamed. Do not buy this game. I won't be buying the second version either.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
Posts are quoted from public profiles with links to the original. Want yours removed? Contact us.