History VideoGame / HornOfTheAbyss

* LizardFolk: The Nixes found in the Cove ''appear'' to be a sea-dwelling relative of the Lizardmen found in the Tatalian Fortress, although their origins are never explained except they had been thought extinct for a long time.

* SandWorm: Factory's tier 5 creature, which can burrow underground for a form of NotQuiteFlight and eat corpses they emerge under. Their upgraded form is the [[MinorlyMentionedMythsAndMonsters Olgoi-Khorkhoi]], better known as the Mongolian death worm.

''Horn of the Abyss'' is a mod for ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic III'' aiming to act as a third expansion pack, with high quality and a [[OriginalFlavour feel of consistency with the main game]], and has been developed since 2008. It also updates the software to allow newer computers to play the game which came at the TurnOfTheMillennium. Its major features are as follows:

* New terrain types: Highlands; a verdant grassland that acts as the new native terrain for Conflux[[labelnote:*]]Which also subtly {{nerf}}s them, since they no longer benefit from the very common Grass terrain[[/labelnote]], and Wasteland; a sunbaked desert that originally appeared in ''Heroes II'' and is Factory's native terrain.
* Tons and tons of new map objects, including things for the new terrain types but also new objects for existing terrain. Water objects in particular have been greatly expanded, and now feature a bunch of aquatic counterparts to common land interactables.

* LizardFolk: The Nixes found in the Cove ''appear'' to be a sea-dwelling relative of the Lizardmen found in the Tatalian Fortress, although their origins are never explained except in being mentioned to have been thought extinct for a long time.

* NintendoHard: The campaigns of ''Horn of the Abyss'' was designed by pro players, for pro players, and it shows. In several levels, you will be constantly starved of resources, be on a short timeframe to get things done before your enemies come in and wipe you out, and winning will require several high-level tactics just to survive. It's winnable, for sure, but not intended for the average ''Heroes'' player. The developers have even stated that it is not intended to be winnable if one plays on the Impossible difficulty setting (where you start with no resources). It is also worth mentioning that the higher level adventure spells like "Town Portal", "Fly" and "Dimension Door" are ''coded to not even spawn'' in the mage guilds, particularly in the third campaign in which their presence would've greatly reduced the difficulty and duration in their ''XL'' sized maps[[note]]Strangely, one of the factions (representing the Wizards of Bracada) still have access to Town Portal [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard despite that their Mage Guilds cannot carry it]][[/note]].

* NintendoHard: The campaigns of ''Horn of the Abyss'' was designed by pro players, for pro players, and it shows. In several levels, you will be constantly starved of resources, be on a short timeframe to get things done before your enemies come in and wipe you out, and winning will require several high-level tactics just to survive. It's winnable, for sure, but not intended for the average ''Heroes'' player. The developers have even stated that it is not intended to be winnable if one plays on the Impossible difficulty setting (where you start with no resources). It is also worth mentioning that the higher level adventure spells like "Town Portal", "Fly" and "Dimension Door" are ''coded to not even spawn'' in the mage guilds, particularly in the third campaign in which their presence would've greatly reduced the difficulty and duration in their ''XL'' sized maps.

* ObviousRulePatch: Steel Golems were added in the Wasteland update as a replacement for Iron Golems in the Experimental Shop. It was discovered that Iron Golems could be kited with Harpy Hags, allowing anyone with a Dungeon and enough patience to gain up to four Giants very early. Steel Golems have higher speed than Iron Golems, making this impossible[[note]]it was done as a separate creature to avoid buffing the Tower lineup solely for this one specific edge case, helped by Steel Golems being a ''Heroes II'' nod[[/note]].

* ObviousRulePatch: Steel Golems were added in the Wasteland update as a replacement for Iron Golems in the Experimental Shop. It was discovered that Iron Golems could be kited with Harpy Hags, allowing anyone with a Dungeon and enough patience to gain up to four Giants very early. Steel Golems have higher speed than Iron Golems, making this impossible.

''Horn of the Abyss'' is a mod for ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic III'' aiming to act as a third expansion pack, with high quality and a [[OriginalFlavour feel of consistency with the main game]], and has been developed since 2008. Its major features are as follows:

* NintendoHard: The campaign of ''Horn of the Abyss'' was designed by pro players, for pro players, and it shows. In several levels, you will be constantly starved of resources, be on a short timeframe to get things done before your enemies come in and wipe you out, and winning will require several high-level tactics just to survive. It's winnable, for sure, but not intended for the average ''Heroes'' player. The developers have even stated that it is not intended to be winnable if one plays on the Impossible difficulty setting (where you start with no resources).

* BilingualBonus: Fangarm, on the other hand, ''is'' a genuine word... in Danish, meaning tentacle.

* BlindIdiotTranslation: Haspid isn't an obscure mythological creature, but rather a mistranslation of aspis, the Latin word for viper. The same is probably also responsible for the bizarrely-named Ayssid and Fangarm.

* Fully-realized campaigns with animatics that serve to introduce the new towns and tell the story of the mod's titular ArtifactOfDoom.

* Cove, a piratical town based on the island nation of Regna. It employs a variety of sailors and nautical monsters in its ranks, and favours aggressive strategies. It also comes with a new siege machine, the Cannon, which acts as a stronger but more expensive Ballista that can also target enemy walls.
* Factory (upcoming), a reimagining of the scrapped Forge town, this time themed around CattlePunk instead of hard sci-fi. They have a mix of wasteland dwelling creatures and steampunk machines in their lineup. Uniquely, they have access to two tier 7 units, both of which can be built in the same town.

* Fully-realized campaigns with animatics and voice acting that serve to introduce the new towns and tell the story of the mod's titular ArtifactOfDoom.

''Horn of the Abyss'' is a mod for ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic III'' aiming to act as a third expansion pack, with high quality and a [[OriginalFlavour feel of consistency with the main game]], and has been developed since 2008. As of June 2019, its current headline features are the piratical-themed Cove town and three campaigns focused on the eponymous artefact, but both mechanics and content have seen other additions, and more towns and campaigns are planned, such as the wasteland-dwelling Factory.

* NintendoHard: The campaign of ''Horn of the Abyss'' was designed by pro players, for pro players, and it shows. In several levels, you will be constantly starved of resources, be on a short timeframe to get things done before your enemies come in and wipe you out, and winning will require several high-level tactics just to survive. It's winnable, for sure, but not intended for the average ''Heroes'' player.
** The developers have even stated that it is not intended to be winnable if one plays on the Impossible difficulty setting (where you start with no resources).
* ObviousRulePatch: Steel Golems were added in the Wasteland update as a replacement for Iron Golems in the Experimental Shop. It was discovered that Iron Golems could be kited with Harpy Hags, allowing anyone with a Dungeon and enough patience to gain up to four Giants every early. Steel Golems have higher speed than Iron Golems, making this impossible.

* FaunsAndSatyrs: Satyrs are a neutral creature. They can cast Mirth on ally to boost their Morale, just like their appearance in ''Heroes IV''.

* ObviousRulePatch: Steel Golems were added in the Wasteland update as a replacement for Iron Golems in the Experimental Shop. It was discovered that Iron Golems could be kited with Harpy Hags, allowing anyone with a Dungeon and enough patience to gain up to four Giants every early. Steel Golems have high speed than Iron Golems, making this impossible.
* QuickDraw: The special ability of the Factory's Gunslinger/Bounty Hunter creatures. The first time they're targeted by a shooter each combat, they pull out a pistol and fire at their attacker before the enemy has a chance to shoot.

* ObviousRulePatch: Steel Golems were added in the Wasteland update as a replacement for Iron Golems in the Experimental Shop. It was discovered that Iron Golems could be kited with Harpy Hags, allowing anyone with a Dungeon and enough patience to gain up to four Giants every early.S
teel Golems have high speed than Iron Golems, making this impossible.

* QuickDraw: The special ability of the Factory's Gunslinger/Bounty Hunter creatures. The first time they're targeted by a shooter each combat, they pull out a pistol and fire at their attacker before the enemy has a chance to shoot.

* GlassCannon: The Cove faction is generally this with its Tier 1-5 units, none of them having over 30 HP and having low Defense, generally relying on unique abilities or dishing out damage rather than taking it. Nixes and Sea Serpents, however, make up for this by being much tougher to kill (though the Haspid has relatively low Defense skill for an upgraded Tier 7 unit, it has 300 HP). The Cove's Might hero, the Captain, also leans more towards Attack skill rather than Defense.

* SeaMonster: The Cove's level 7 creature, the Sea Serpent/Haspid, is a classic example, a giant serpentine sea-dwelling being, based on the Sea Monsters (by that exact name for one of the variants) seen in ''Might & Magic VI''.

* GlassCannon: The Cove faction is generally this with its Tier 1-5 units, none of them having over 30 HP and having low Defense, generally relying on unique abilities or dishing out damage rather than taking it. Nixes and Sea Serpents, however, make up for this by being much tougher to kill (though the Haspid has relatively low Defense skill for an upgraded Tier 7 unit, it has 300 HP). The physical Cove hero, the Captain, also leans more towards Attack skill rather than Defense.

* NintendoHard: The campaign of ''Horn of the Abyss'' was designed by pro players, for pro players, and it shows. In several levels, you will constantly starved of resources, be on a short timeframe to get things done before your enemies come in and wipe you out, and winning will require several high-level tactics just to survive. It's winnable, for sure, but not intended for the average ''Heroes'' player.

* GlassCannon: The Cove faction is generally this with its Tier 1-5 units, none of them having over 30 HP and generally relying on unique abilities or dishing out damage rather than taking it. Nixes and Sea Serpents, however, make up for this by being much tougher to kill. The physical Cove hero, the Captain, also leans more towards Attack skill rather than Defense.

* ContinuityNod: Quite a few. Many map objects are inspired by ''Heroes II'', up to the Wasteland terrain being a planned addition and a design aspect of Factory being carrying over things and themes lost from the Heroes II Wizard town in the transition to the Heroes III Tower (a bit like Conflux did for Sorceress/Rampart), and the campaigns are littered with references to places and things from the [[VideoGame/MightAndMagic roleplaying games]] and events from the ''Heroes III'' campaigns (the three campaigns take place roughly concurrently with the ''Armageddon's Blade'' campaigns). The Cove itself is contextualized as a town associated with Regna, a nation referred to multiple times throughout ''Heroes'' and ''Might & Magic'' and seen in ''Might & Magic VIII''.

* ArtifactOfDoom: There are increasing hints as the campaigns progress that the Horn of the Abyss has a deleterious effect on the morals and perhaps sanity of its wielder. Beyond that its mechanical power (it is indicated to have more not represented in gameplay) is supremely creepy, allowing [[{{Cthulhumanoid}} strange tentacled beings]] with powerful mental abilities called Fangarms to rise from the corpses of slain beings.

* ArtifactOfDoom: There are increasing hints as the campaigns progress that the Horn of the Abyss has a deleterious effect on the morals and perhaps sanity of its wielder. Beyond that its mechanical power (it is indicated to have more not represented in gameplay) is supremely creepy, allowing strange [[{{Cthulhumanoid}} strange tentacled beings]] with powerful mental abilities called Fangarms to rise from the corpses of slain beings.