Kry Previews: Heroes of Newerth

Heroes of Newerth is a standalone game based on the very popular Warcraft 3 mod, Defense of the Ancients. In development by S2 Games, it is currently in closed beta, and as of now, strangely unannounced. I’m astonished that I’ve heard nothing about this game until I got in the beta last week!

HoN is a faithful adaptation of DotA, and at first glance, seems identical. I do not doubt for all of HoN’s lifetime that people will at first glance describe it as ‘dota with better graphics’. But, HoN innovates beyond that. The UI is improved in nearly every way, in-game voice has been added, and there are new maps and heroes.

The gameplay of HoN is like that of DotA, with the above additions. For those unfamiliar with DotA, it is a cooperative, team-based strategy game where you control a hero with unique abilities in an attempt to outmatch the enemy team and destroy their base. In addition there is a wide array of items to buff up your hero. With so much depth, and a reasonable balance, it’s understandable to see why DotA (and now HoN) is so popular.

There are a few things currently lacking in the HoN beta that are problems inherited from DotA. It has possibly the steepest learning curve of any game I’ve played in recent times. There are many minor nuances that must be learned to play effectively, in addition to becoming familiar with the many heroes and items. There is little to no help, and a new player is effectively on his own to learn the game. HoN direly needs a tutorial system before release.

The other current problem in the beta is the stat tracking system, and its unfriendliness to new players. As of right now, it is the main way you’re judged when getting into public games, and, since a new player can easily rack up a terrible record, they’ll get booted before the game begins. Though this is partially a byproduct of the terrible community DotA has, it is also a problem with the system in its current iteration. Planned quickmatching and advanced rating systems will hopefully alleviate this problem. I like having a stats system, but there’s definitely tuning needing in how it affects the new players and games.

HoN has the potential to be the biggest surprise in gaming this summer. It came out of nowhere and swept me off my feet. No pricing plan or release date have been revealed as of yet, but it is vital for S2 that this game be cheap and/or released before League of Legends (which recently announced a free to play model) in the fall.