The Dragoness: Command of the Flame Review (Lord_WC)
A pretty good HOMM game. It not only clones the original but in some instances it manages to find pretty good answers to the problems of the original (archer spam, turtling, 1 unit stacks, etc.).
In case of magic the emphasis is on supportive role but the bonuses granted are huge (double damage, +6 move, 30% miss chance), which I think is a good change.
Map design and variety is very good, the maps and their goals are varied and interesting. I'm around the 10th map of the campaign but none of them felt filler maps, every one of them had something interesting going for it. Map objectives are also a good addition, they promote different playstyles, and going out of your comfort zone can actually be entertaining.
Unlike others I also do like the restart from level 1 every match - not only you get a new hero with different strengths every time which means you can try and be effective with other units, it also saves you balancing issues as the power difference between a well-built hero and an average is huge by the end of a campaign.
For negatives, the general jank of an indy title is there - the animations and graphics are mediocre and voice acting quality wildly varies. I also would like to have randomly generated or individual maps so there's something else to play beside the campaign.
The combat AI is also pretty simple and unit variety is low - then again comparing the game to a decades old franchise isn't fair, but it feels like the first HOMM still had more units.
All in all I'm very satisfied with the game, especially considering its price. I really would like to see an expansion or a sequel down the line.