Without giving spoilers, how connected is this game's story to the Might and Magic universe? Is it like Crusaders, that was simply called Might and Magic without being at all related? Or is the story intertwined with HoMM5 like MM6-7 with HoMM3?

Just starting HoMM5, and it will probably be my last game from Might and Magic universe. At least for the time being, since it seems it has really gone downhill after that. I'm just wandering whether I should play Dark Messiah too, since it came out the same time as HoMM5.

It's the only Might and Magic game I've played, but from what I could gather it does take place in HoMM5's world and has no connection to the story of Five. But it's a great game and you should play it.

Yes. No. Yes. Yes. No.

It takes place 20 years after HoMM5 but outside of a few short dialogues where that is mentioned (for example with the Necromancers) there is no real connection. It's the same world but none of the characters appear and the story is completely stand-alone

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic is essentially the protoype of Dishonored.
The blink ability in Dishonored is replaced in Dark Messiah by the KICK ability.
Some say that the KICK ability makes Dark Messiah vastly better than Dishonored.
I am one of those people.

https://youtu.be/KnxgQMSsc8c

https://youtu.be/p7T9tJiw6AU

I think you could play Dark Messiah without even really sinking/thinking too deep into the HOMM universe - I didn't finish partly b/c I made a terrible build and need to restart, but it's an enjoyable stealth/FPSRPG game with mage/warrior/thief build options.

Some potential to make a hybrid, but from experience I'll say it's easy to go awry with that, too.

Thanks.

I'll give you the benefit of doubt, so just tell me something: which did you play and how far?

The adventurers of Sirkicksalot in the land of spiked rakes?

I only know it's a cracking game, played it through with each character/difficulty which is very rare!

The "of Might and Magic" part was just marketing.

I haven't played it; it's on my backlog but I think the laptop I have right now wouldn't run it very well. But enjoy HoMM 5! The writing and stuff can be a little... corny, but if you liked the previous games I think you'll have fun with the gameplay.

OK, and now I'm getting contradictory information.

Well, there was some token connections with HoMM V.

Oh yeah, if you choose the best girl, apparently that's the wrong choice. You'll know what I mean when you play it.