As you in-the-know PSN bloggers realize, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is our HD love letter to the original game that we released in 2009 to acclaim and awards. It’s not often that you get the chance to remake your own game, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bring this gem to a whole new audience: you guys! By now most people know about Clash of Heroes’ engrossing campaign mode, its innovative puzzle-strategy gameplay, and its tense turn-based battles. But what few realize is that those battles are even better when your facing off against your friends (or some random stranger who has an ass-whupping coming to him). So that’s why Might & Magic Clash of Heroes is dropping with full local and online multiplayer, in either 1v1 or 2v2 flavours. Not content to simply juice up the multiplayer mode and port the game over, we decided to redo the game from scratch with all new 2D HD art, hand-drawn by the same talented crew of artists that brought you the lush visuals of Critter Crunch. Puuuurtyyy!

Now you’re up to speed on why Clash is jumping from handheld to console, but what’s it actually about? There’s two core components to Might & Magic Clash of Heroes: Battles and Adventure. Let’s take a bit of time to dive into each one. And what better way to do this than through a special video made just for PlayStation.Blog readers…

Battle gameplay is the heart and soul of the Clash of Heroes experience, combining turn-based strategy and puzzle gaming. In Clash of Heroes, you can grab units from the end of each column, and place them at the back of any new column – just like how you moved critters around with Biggs’ tongue in Critter Crunch! Go on the offensive by matching three of the same units vertically, or build defensive walls by matching three (or more) of the same units horizontally. That’s the meat of the battle system, but trust me, there’s tons of gravy. Rarer and more powerful units get added to the mix, bringing with them special attacks and abilities. Also in your magical toolbox of magic are Hero Spells, your hero’s special attacks that have different attributes, and when triggered at strategic times, can turn the tide of a battle.

Clash of Heroes may have puzzle roots, but players will need to start thinking ahead, watching their opponents, and formulating a strategy if they hope to stay alive on the battlefield–all while keeping their puzzle-y eyes sharpened for potential combos!

Battle may be the guts of Clash of Heroes, but it’s got some mean adventuring as well.

Clash of Heroes takes place across the varied lands of Ashan, and over the course of five campaigns, you’ll take five distinct young characters and mold them into heroes through the heat of battle. Lots of battles! While adventuring, you’ll meet tons of kooky characters, find chests full of loot and wind up facing off against enemies of all kinds, leveling up your hero in the process. You can power through the game’s main quests, or choose to stop along the way to take optional side-quests, or make some extra coin bounty hunting, or even solve some Critter Crunch-style puzzle-mode battles!

Well, that’s enough blabbering for one post. In case you can’t tell, we at Capy are ultra-excited to unleash Clash of Heroes, and hopefully we’ll be back again soon to continue yelling at you over the internet about how proud we are of the game.

See you April 12th folks!

Now, some of you might be thinking, “what the hell is this game?” Well, imagine for a moment that the lovely Mrs. Puzzle and dashing Mr. Turn-Based Strategy got together and made a baby — that baby would be the battle system. Now, take that baby and raise it up on RPG adventuring, and you’ve got Might & Magic Clash of Heroes, a puzzle/strategy/RPG hybrid in 2D HD!

Now, when Clash of Heroes was first published last year, it was showered in critical love and received numerous glorious awards giving Capy lots of reasons to celebrate. And, to celebrate we have taken all the awesomeness of the original, and ratcheting it up to 1000. Now we’re back on the awesome PlayStation Network with online & local versus multiplayer, a new co-op multiplayer mode, tons of balancing tweaks, new unit abilities and so much more.

Also, we’ve taken our love of both high-definition 2D & traditional animation, and combined them to create the stunning visuals of Clash of Heroes. Critter Crunch artists Qiqo & Sylvain have joined forces with the rest of Capy’s amazing art team to bring you thousands of frames of 2D HD goodness. Capy believes that 2D gaming has a bright future ahead of it in the HD era, and we’re proud to be a part of a small group (alongside upcoming PSN awesomeness like Klei’s Shank) trying to push 2D HD as far as it can go.

I’ve included some screenshots in this post but, in September, you will be able to see the game in action on your PS3! As well, Clash of Heroes will be playable in the Ubisoft booth at this year’s E3, so definitely stay tuned for more news on this game.

Since you’re already online, you can hop over to the Might & Magic Facebook page and hit that trusty LIKE button. And while we’re talking “SOCIAL NETWORKING WEB 6.O DOT COM/INTERNETS”, you can follow Might & Magic Community girl Noemie on Twitter via @UbiXhane, as well as keep up to date with Capy via @Capybara_Games.

Just like the last time we were here, Capy will be answering as many questions as humanly possible. Ask away friends!