Capybara, the genius developers behind Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery EP and Critter Crunch, are brining their immensely popular Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes to XBLA and PSN. For those, like me, who missed the first go-round on the DS, the game plays kinda like a RPG adventure board game with combat that fuses puzzle and card-fighting elements, all with new sprites done in glorious HD.

Capy has been around for a while, originally developing cell phone games and eventually moving up to iOS, but always showing their indie heart in everything they make. I’m a huge sucker for action-RPGs and initially got my hopes up that I’d be soon diving into a new classic, but seeing the puzzle combat in action has got me really excited about Clash of Heroes. It fuses a “match three” puzzle style similar to Puzzle Quest, but each piece has its own stats and can gain experience through battles. Players can also utilize certain pieces’ abilities to rampage through a column or row, or take out an area using spells.

Clash of Heroes was originally launched on the Nintendo DS, yet despite being one of the highest rated games ever on the system, saw disappointing sales. The DS version suffered from some overly complicated sprites losing detail on the tiny screen and some units that were completely unbalanced and basically broke the combat system. Capy listened and rebalanced the entire combat system for the HD release. Considering the effort Capy has put into recreating every asset in HD and updating the soundtrack for stereo and surround support, I think we’re in for a treat when Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes HD comes out next week. It is scheduled for release on April 12 for PSN and April 13 for XBLA.

GolgoHypeMachine is an open sounding board for our staff to concisely share their excitement about upcoming games.