Thoughts on the King's Bounty games? Or the Port Royale 3 vs Patrician 4?
King's Bounty: The Legend is a classic must play imo, the others I didn't spend much time with, maybe burn out from the first game. I wouldn't say they're too similar to HOMM because there's no overworld strategic aspect in competition with other entities, just exploration and quest taking, with strategy relegated just to the hex based battle encounters (and recruting troops from towns and what not). It's almost like a western JRPG. And I prefer it that way tbh. Great old trailers.
Very addictive set up, you always wanna keep going to finish another quest, explore another area, see what comes next, etc., almost like a MMORPG style roller coaster with tons of variety despite the simple set up. The story is mostly light hearted with some weird humour but there are plenty epic and oh shit moments.