Heroes of Newerth Reborn: Everything we know

Before Dota 2 and League of Legends became staples of the MOBA scene, Heroes of Newerth was one of the earliest titles to introduce modern features to the genre. Developed by S2 Games and later acquired by Garena, the game became a cult classic because of its complex mechanics inspired by the original Dota.

At its peak, it boasted 150,000 concurrent players and a competitive global esports presence, fostering the next generation of MOBA talents like N0tail. Unfortunately, it wasn’t able to retain a sustainable player count and officially shut down in 2022.

In an unexpected revival, Heroes of Newerth: Reborn is set to return, rebuilt from the ground up to compete with the same games that overshadowed it over a decade ago. What’s new and when can players get their hands on it?

HoN: Reborn is the official revival of Heroes of Newerth, led by Kongor Studios in collaboration with Garena, who acquired the rights to the game in 2015. Kongor Studios is an indie group comprised of many of “HoN’s original developers, Frostburn Studios veterans, and current Project Kongor community contributors”.

When Heroes of Newerth first announced that the game was reaching the end of its lifecycle, Project Kongor immediately went to work to preserve the game. Fans of HoN didn’t need to wait long after its closure before the community servers went live to welcome them back. So if anyone is fit to bring back HoN to its former glory, it’s the studio that kept the game alive with its passion project.

Heroes of Newerth: Reborn open beta is set to release on November 11, 2025. This version will be completely free-to-play on PC, and it will be the inaugural title for the Juvio client (formerly iGames), a proprietary launcher built by the developers themselves. 

The development timeline has already had a few shifts. A closed alpha/beta was run for early backers in mid-2025. Initially slated for early July 2025, Kongor Studios announced that beta was pushed a couple of weeks later for extra polish. That phase was limited to “Genesis” supporters (players who pledged to fund the project). 

Notably, the game will not be available on Steam or any other third-party platform at launch, and when asked on official channels, the devs are particularly tired of the conversation. One staff member on Discord responds to not adding the game on Steam for visibility:

Over 5000 games released in 2025 on steam didn’t make them enough money to recover the $100 cost. What im getting at is, steam taking a 30% cut of profit while not guaranteeing a 50% increase in players without steam is a huge risk.

There are no plans for HoN Reborn to release on Steam, and it will remain committed to its native platform.

As HoN: Reborn is an officially licensed revival, Kongor Studios promised “improved graphics, performance, and a better multiplayer experience compared to its predecessor”, which includes 100-tick servers and low-latency netcode.

The campaign page for the game lists all the key features for the game:

Beyond that, there’s no word yet on an anti-cheat partner or what specific anti-smurf systems will be implemented. We also don’t know the long-term funding plan: outside of the Genesis campaign.

There are plenty of red flags in players’ minds that have veterans worrying about this revival. First, OGs are split on the new gameplay changes and whether they’re doing too much to modernise the formula. 

HoN’s appeal is that it’s perhaps the last pure, hardcore MOBA experience, far away from modern Dota and League of Legends. In introducing many of the changes to HoN Reborn, it has moved away from the original feel to appeal more to fans of MOBAs today.

As one staff member on Discord explained: 

People need to understand that retail HoN died for a reason, its illogical to just bring it back the same as it was before and expect it to succeed. Not only do we want to retain existing players, but we also need to attract new players who haven’t played MOBAs/players from other MOBAs.

Next, Juvio is an unknown platform, and there’s scepticism around its past. Originally known as iGames, the platform was previously criticised because of its vague messaging about its currency system, which some speculated was tied to blockchain or crypto integrations. Kongor Studios has said that the platform doesn’t have any connection to crypto and NFTs.

Although Kongor Studios has since clarified that HoN: Reborn will not use any form of cryptocurrency, and that the Juvio Wallet is simply a traditional store credit system. Regardless, HoN Reborn not releasing on Steam or even Epic Games would severely limit its visibility on launch.

The biggest concern is about Marc “Maliken” DeForest, the former director and face of Heroes of Newerth during its peak years. Maliken is a polarising figure and was the source of multiple controversies that contributed to HoN’s toxic community culture, mismanagement, and eventual decline.

After S2 Games shifted its focus from Heroes of Newerth to a new MOBA project called Strife in 2013, they attempted to fix many of HoN’s underlying problems. But in doing so, this left Heroes of Newerth without much support, and eventually the rights were sold off in 2015, and development was handled by Frostburn Studios. The worst part is that the project collapsed, and S2 Games laid off most of its remaining staff without public warning. 

Fast forward to today, the million-dollar question is how involved Maliken is in HoN: Reborn, especially given that some former Frostburn developers and Project Kongor contributors now work at Kongor Studios. Although the studio has not officially listed Maliken as part of the team, neither have they publicly denied his connection. 

However, a quick visit to his LinkedIn shows that Marc DeForest is the executive producer of iGames (rebranded to Juvio), and HoN Reborn will be the flagship title of the platform. Maliken’s reputation and iGames’ bad first impression are precisely why every public discussion of HoN Reborn quickly turns into a warzone, where once loyal fans are telling everyone to be more cautious. 

All that said, why does this matter? HoN Reborn is more than a simple revival of an old title; it’s a nostalgic game that helped hook a generation into MOBAs during its peak. For this comeback to work, Kongor Studios needs to do more than update textures or change the whole formula; it also needs to earn the trust of its community. 

While it’s definitely tiring on the dev team to keep hearing the same arguments, some empathy and open communication can ease anxiety and show that this time things will be different.

That being said, the open beta is only a week from now, and this will be HoN Reborn’s first real exposure to the public. If Kongor Studios is serious about bringing HoN back to its former glory, it all depends on how they respond to the feedback before the full release.