Comedian Evgeny Chebatkov has stated that he enjoys Heroes of Might and Magic IV more than the third installment in the series. He shared this unconventional opinion in an interview on the “Navigator of the Gaming World” YouTube channel.
Chebatkov introduced his viewpoint as potentially controversial, noting the strong reactions it often provokes. “I want to start with a provocation, so I’ll talk about a game that historically – it’s generally accepted – is perceived very painfully and negatively by many. I’ve never argued about any game as much as this one. Many of my friends turned away from me after I said that I love it – this particular part, so to speak. Because the series is truly legendary. I’m talking about Heroes of Might and Magic IV.”
He elaborated on the common response: “Because everyone tells me: ‘You must have misspoke, you meant the third part, because it’s naturally Heroes III.’ And I say: ‘No, I love the fourth one.’ After that, the person looks at me a bit like I’ve said I’ve tasted human flesh. I say: ‘No, I like the fourth one.’ They say: ‘What? How can you like the fourth one? It’s just… They ruined everything, they screwed everything up.’ I say: ‘No, well, there’s a cool feature there, you can even play as one hero without an army – there’s some RPG element there, cool stories, pleasant graphics.’ With all due respect to the third [part], the fourth [‘Heroes’] after it looks very soft and cool to the eye, everything is so smooth.”
Chebatkov added, “I really loved playing as barbarians, with berserkers, centaurs, cyclops. They were full of some kind of brutalism, I really liked them.”
Chebatkov has previously mentioned his early start with gaming in childhood. Spyro the Dragon is among his favorite games from that time. He also expressed his admiration for Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Last of Us.