Heroes 3 Remake Closed Playtest: November 18 Start, PC Requirements and How to Sign Up

Ubisoft has finally put a date on the first public hands-on with its Heroes of Might and Magic III remake: the closed playtest starts on November 18, 2026. The publisher confirmed it on November 5 on the game’s Steam page, alongside a spec sheet that will raise eyebrows among anyone still running the 1999 original on a work laptop.

The date matters less than what it unlocks. Since the Gamescom reveal, the remake led by Ubisoft Chengdu and Ubisoft Shanghai has taken heat over its creature designs. This test is the first time players, rather than trailers and stage demos, will get to judge the result for themselves.

Heroes 3 Remake playtest: the PC requirements

Ubisoft deliberately set the hardware bar at the Medium preset planned for launch. The test targets 1080p at 60 fps. Here is what you need:

• CPU: Intel Core i5-10600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 8 GB or AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB
• RAM: 16 GB
• Storage: 45 GB on an SSD
• OS: Windows 11 64-bit

French outlet Spiritgamer carries the same list. In other words, this is not a minimum spec: it is the mid-range comfort target the team is aiming for. A Windows 10 machine or a laptop without a dedicated graphics card will not get in.

The engine goes some way to explaining that bar. The remake runs on Snowdrop, Ubisoft’s in-house engine, with a 3D world and a free camera replacing the fixed isometric view. For a turn-based game, the jump from the original is still striking.

Ubisoft Connect required, and no guaranteed spot

The playtest is PC only and runs through Ubisoft Connect. Ubisoft says the requirement is technical: it needs to manage access and gather feedback. To apply, you sign in with a Ubisoft account, pick PC as your platform and fill in a short questionnaire. As TechTimes points out, signing up is no promise of an invitation.

The team’s message still stresses that Steam remains a key platform for the game. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series players will have to wait for the full release, set for 2027 with no date or price yet.

Test length, playable content, whether feedback stays under wraps: Ubisoft has said nothing on any of it. Expect limited access, with no promise about how many maps or factions will be open.

What the playtest has to settle: art style and creatures

The test lands in the middle of an openly acknowledged course correction. On October 7, the team published a roadmap split into 4 cycles. The first covers “Playstyles”, a system meant to let players adjust object scale, colours, lighting and the interface. Game modes and quality of life come next, then user-generated content, then multiplayer.

On October 23, a dev blog on unit design made a rare admission. The Gorgon had been given lizard-like traits to fit the swamps of the Fortress faction. The team concedes it pushed the idea too far and is now reworking the creature, as AllKeyShop also reported.

The real value of this playtest is checking whether those fixes hold up in play. A creature you can recognise on a busy adventure map matters more than a polished still image. The risk is that a test filtered by hardware only hears from part of the community.

What to watch after November 18

Worth watching if you get picked: how readable the creatures are in combat, and how the game behaves at 1080p on an RTX 3060. If your PC falls short of the bar, you are better off waiting for the first impressions than hoping for an invite.

For series fans who want to play something right now, Olden Era remains the franchise’s other project, developed by Unfrozen and available in early access.

Going further

• All our Heroes III Remake coverage
• Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake Revealed at Gamescom 2026: Ubisoft Goes Full 3D
• Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era — Early Access Analysis After the Million-Copy Milestone