Heroes of Annihilated Empires

2006 GSC Game World Strategy

Windows 11With a fix

MacNot sold

LinuxGold

Gamicality score

Metacritic 654

OpenCritic Not rated

Steam players 811

How it’s combined

Playability today

2.5

Runs today3.5/5

Design today1/5

Steam user reviews

Very Positive

85%

730 reviews1

Get it on Steam Watch the trailer

Facts checked November 1, 2026

Does Heroes of Annihilated Empires run on Windows 11, Apple Silicon Macs, Linux and Steam Deck?

Windows 11With a fix

Runs with a fix. See the steps below.1

Mac (Apple Silicon)Not sold

No Mac version is sold.

LinuxGold

Through Proton. ProtonDB: Gold, runs perfectly after tweaks.3

Played Heroes of Annihilated Empires lately?

One click, no account, so the next player knows. How we check where it runs

How to get Heroes of Annihilated Empires running today

Mark engine.exe as Large Address Aware with a 4GB patch tool so the 32-bit game can use more memory, which stops crashes after 5 to 10 minutes of play (Steam Community).
If sound effects loop endlessly, open Sound\Sounds.xml in the install folder and change each Looped value from true to false (Steam Community).
Install the HoAE Cutscenes Fix, which replaces theovorb.dll to restore the black video cutscenes on Windows 8 and later and includes a 60 FPS limiter.
If the game still crashes in large battles, set engine.exe to Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode and limit it to two CPU cores with Set Affinity in Task Manager (Steam Community).

Synopsis

Heroes of Annihilated Empires is a fantasy game from GSC Game World that mixes real-time strategy with role-playing. In the campaign, players guide the elven ranger Elhant, who levels up, learns spells and gathers gear while leading armies and building bases against an undead invasion. Skirmish matches against the computer or other players let a hero play alone or summon builders to start a base.

Developer: GSC Game World
Released: 2006
Genre: Strategy
Where to get it: Steam

Reception

Critics in 2006 gave it middling scores, with a PC Metascore of 65, liking the large battles, bright visuals and strong voice work but calling the units, story and missions generic. Several reviews faulted a weak enemy AI and a hero who becomes so strong that the army barely matters, and the retail release carried StarForce copy protection. Steam players, who rate it Very Positive, call it a forgotten RTS and RPG hybrid with a long 16-mission campaign, though some say it feels unfinished, since only the first of a planned trilogy shipped. Recent players often need compatibility fixes to stop crashes, and threads report looping sound and missing cutscenes on modern Windows.

Trailer from Steam

Playability today

The average of two parts, each from 1 to 5. Tap a check to see why. How it works

Runs today

3.5/5

Sold or given away today by an official source
Needs fan patches to run well on Windows 11
?Not confirmed yetSingle-player works without an internet connection
No source covers the current version yet, so this check counts as open, not passed. Played it lately? Tell us
All of its content still works (servers, DLC, unlocks)
The full campaign, skirmish and LAN play for up to seven players are present, though cutscenes stay black without a community fix (PCGamingWiki).
Supports modern resolutions and widescreen
Widescreen and ultrawide resolutions are supported in game, with a WSGF gold rating, but the main menu is locked to 1024×768 (PCGamingWiki).
No full controller support and no remappable controls
There is no controller support (PCGamingWiki).
?Not confirmed yetSteam Deck Verified or Playable
No source covers the current version yet, so this check counts as open, not passed. Played it lately? Tell us
No intrusive DRM or required third-party launcher account
No pay-to-win or pushy microtransactions
Known game-breaking bugs in the current version
Players on Windows 11 still report crashes after minutes of play, endlessly looping sound and garbled menus, and the fixes come only from community patches (Steam Community).

Design today

1/5

Controls feel awkward on a modern controller or mouse and keyboard
Units react to orders with a noticeable lag and move slowly, keys cannot be remapped and there is no controller support. Source: gamingnexus.com, gameswelt.de, pcgamingwiki.com.
Menus, text or interface are hard to read on today's screens
The main menu is locked to 1024×768 and the interface does not scale, so it is tiny at high resolutions, units are hard to tell apart in battle, and some players see garbled squares over the menu text. Source: pcgamingwiki.com, gamingnexus.com, steamcommunity.com.
Saving is harsh: few saves or checkpoints, progress gets lost
Saving is allowed during missions, but frequent crashes cost progress, and one player reports a long skirmish save that no longer loads, backup save included. Source: gog.com, steamcommunity.com, steamcommunity.com.
Hard to make progress without a guide
Mission goals are often unclear, players have posted step-by-step guides to get through the first campaign mission, and skirmish offers no easy difficulty. Source: armchairgeneral.com, gog.com, steamcommunity.com.
Pacing drags: grind, filler or forced backtracking
Missions offer little variety, and the hero soon grows strong enough to wear down whole armies with repeated hit-and-run attacks. Source: armchairgeneral.com, gameswelt.de, gamingnexus.com.
Camera or movement fights the player
Zooming the 3D camera works only from the keyboard, which a critic found impractical, and mouse sensitivity cannot be changed. Source: gameswelt.de, pcgamingwiki.com.