VCMI
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 7 of 20 game engines by recommenders
Open-source engine that lets you play Heroes of Might and Magic III natively on modern systems, with HotA mod support.
Open-source engine that lets you play Heroes of Might and Magic III natively on modern systems, with HotA mod support.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 93%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 14 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Supports HotA and custom content
“There's support for HotA, I've been playing with the mod installed on both Android and Windows”
Comment from 11 Dec 2025 in “VCMI: An open-source engine for Heroes III” “add new towns, creatures, heroes, artifacts and spells without limits or conflicts”
Comment from 11 Dec 2025 in “VCMI: An open-source engine for Heroes III” “VMCI and HotA go way beyond 'Heroes III on modern machines'”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “EDuke32 – Duke Nukem 3D (Open-Source)” Plays natively on modern systems
“VMCI and HotA go way beyond 'Heroes III on modern machines'”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “EDuke32 – Duke Nukem 3D (Open-Source)” “it is nice to play natively”
Comment from 11 Dec 2025 in “VCMI: An open-source engine for Heroes III” Open source Heroes III engine
“I've made a couple of contributions to VCMI, an open source implementation of heroes of might and magic 3”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “I Write Games in C (yes, C)” “an open source engine for HoMM3”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder: What it means for you” Nostalgic and fun to play
“Lost couple of evenings to nostalgia because of this recently”
Comment from 11 Dec 2025 in “VCMI: An open-source engine for Heroes III” “VCMI (the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 one) is amazing!”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “OpenMW 0.50.0 Released – open-source Morrowind reimplementation”
Other game engines people recommend
The four most recommended other game engines, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Godot | 213 | 57 | 79% | 12 | 2 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Unity | 110 | 165 | 40% | 12 | 16 yrs8 owners | — |
| Unreal Engine | 104 | 89 | 54% | 12 | — | — |
| Bevy game engine | 50 | 18 | 74% | 11 | — | Approved |
| VCMIThis page | 14 | 1 | 93% | 4 | — | Approved |
What people said
15 of the 18 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it's really fun nonetheless to try new stuff”
“VMCI and HotA go way beyond 'Heroes III on modern machines'”
“I've made a couple of contributions to VCMI, an open source implementation of heroes of might and magic 3”
“an open source engine for HoMM3”
“typically nothing game-breaking. I am yet to see it actually crash though”
“There's support for HotA, I've been playing with the mod installed on both Android and Windows”
“This is awesome, going to check it out.”
“Lost couple of evenings to nostalgia because of this recently”
“They're still not too bright, which is kind of faithful to the original game.”
“It's certainly the easiest way to play Heroes 3 casually”
“add new towns, creatures, heroes, artifacts and spells without limits or conflicts”
“Very cool! I have one non-technical friend who occasionally wants to play HOMM, and she often has issues getting it working”
“I wholeheartedly commend the developers' effort in making VCMI I still prefer the original + HD/HOTA.”
“it is nice to play natively”
“VCMI (the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 one) is amazing!”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.