In Heroes of Newerth, two teams of up to five players each take on the role of special Hero units. With the assistance of AI-controlled armies, each team sets out with the sole objective of destroying the other team's base. As a match progresses, players can earn experience and gold which can be used to upgrade skills or purchase items to make their character more powerful. The team-oriented design of HoN coupled with unprecedented in-game Voice-Over-IP controls and Clan Support allow for an incredibly deep, tactical team-based experience.

S2 Games is best known for its critically acclaimed online multiplayer Savage franchise (Savage: The Battle for Newerth and Savage 2: A Tortured Soul), which created the RTSS (real-time strategy-shooter) genre. Heroes of Newerth is the vision of S2 Games CEO and Founder, Marc DeForest, who after years as a die-hard fan, set out to create a standalone version of Defense of the Ancients (DotA) that would incorporate all of the features he felt were lacking, while still remaining true to the frenetic, yet heavily team-reliant style of gameplay that had kept him hooked for so long. In the short three months of closed beta there have been over 1.3 million matches played. There are over 350,000 registered beta players and the game sees upwards of 25,000 concurrent players during peak hours.

Some of the unique features of HoN include the following:

• Dozens of playable Hero characters, over 100 items as well as regular content updates to ensure no two games of HoN will ever be the same.
  
• Client/Server Architecture eliminates lag, cheats and map hacking
  
• Quick reconnect feature allows players to jump right back into their game should they get disconnected
  
• In-game VOIP for fast and easy communication with teammates
  
• Game archives and replay support for all games played on official servers (players can rewind, slow down, fast forward, and otherwise pinpoint the exact part of a match that they wish to view)
  
• Built upon the proprietary K2 engine to deliver enhanced graphics while maintaining low system specs
  
• Powerful map editor and mod capabilities
  
• Available in six language translations: English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Russian.
  
• Available for PC, Mac, and Linux