Four years after Fire Emblem’s impressive debut on Nintendo Switch with Fire Emblem: Three Houses, much has been expected since the launch of the next installment, Fire Emblem Engage. The three houses rekindled the great love for the franchise, and as the series debuted on the new system, it had to live up to many expectations. The popularity of the Fire Emblem series meant there were some big boots to fill with the launch of Engage, and while the latest installment offers something new without losing the charm of the traditional formula, the line remains a bit fuzzy as to whether the game lives up to the bar set by its predecessor.
As our story begins, we take on the role of the Divine Dragon, Alear, who has been asleep for a thousand years after being wounded by the Fell Dragon Sombron, but finally Alear has awakened. Instead of waking up and remembering the battle with Sombron and being able to return to normal life, as soon as their eyes opened, Alear struggles to recall their memories and understand where they are. Despite meeting a few excited citizens who do remember the story of the Dragon Child, nothing pulls back the memory of the Divine and it quickly becomes your responsibility to do what you can to remember their past lives and save the world from danger. again.
Comprised of 26 chapters, Fire Emblem Engage’s roughly 40-hour campaign will take you through Alear’s process of dealing with what happened as he faced the opposing force that hurt them in the first place, exploring the Alear relationships the characters encountered along the way. Instead of relying entirely on story to create an immersive experience, Fire Emblem Engage highlights a number of alternative features to enjoy, such as developing relationships with comrades outside of combat and building a safe space for everyone in the central hub, Somniel. .
Following the Three Houses, Fire Emblem Engage really ramps up its focus on combat, which is necessary as it’s the driving factor of the entire game. From the moment the game starts, you’re thrown head first into a battle sequence and it’s refreshing to get an instant hands-on experience instead of sitting through long cutscenes as the story unfolds. After a brief introduction to Franne, Clanne and Vander, the three characters that will first appear at the Divine Dragons bedside when you wake up, you jump straight back into battle, where you really take over and experience what Fire Emblem Engage has to offer.
The cutscenes you experience throughout the game and between chapters are visually impressive and incredibly well animated, making it feel like some of Intelligent Systems’ best work to date. As you explore new areas and meet eclectic characters, these cutscenes help you get to grips with the different personalities and relationships between them, which can also provide valuable insight into which characters can pair well in combat to create chain attacks, such as Boucheron and Alfred for example, which can deal significant damage to the enemy when they are in the same vicinity.
Additionally, these scenes help convey the desperation Alear feels for his opponents on the battlefield, aided by a cast that is fully narrated. Once you get back into the fight after the cutscene, everything is fluid and fast, which maintains every tension created in the film. Since you learn the basics of combat from the moment you start the game, you never feel intimidated by the mass of enemies you’ll face. This is ideal for new players of Fire Emblem or tactical RPGs in general, and the variety of units and abilities makes even longer combat sequences exciting. A heavy emphasis on exploiting the unique abilities of each unit and emblem keeps you on your toes and thinking about how you can succeed.
Furthermore, the emphasis on exploration and building relationships was also refreshing after combat, despite not being new to the Fire Emblem series, as Three Houses also heavily emphasizes the importance of building relationships with your units. Fortunately, this carries over to Fire Emblem Engage and is used to increase the power of your partnerships, meaning attacks during combat.
Once you’ve finished a battle, you’re free to explore the location and loot items placed around the map while talking to the units you fought alongside to get a different perspective on the battle. While not a huge part of the gameplay, it does help bring the characters to life a bit more, which is necessary considering the story leaves a lot of room for certain characters to slip through the cracks, which is where Fire Emblem Engage starts to let itself down.
When you consider its story, Fire Emblem Engage is lacking compared to previous games. A huge amount of cutscene content seems to take away from the plot and focus on the backstories and importance of characters, new and old, obfuscating the point of the game in places and making the elements feel more like extras. While the scenes are visually impressive, there’s a lot you can skip without losing important information. Most of the story often shifts from the focus of Alear recalling his memories to rest on the shoulders of returning supporting characters, including Ike, Byleth and Roy.
Given that Fire Emblem games tend to have a strong story focus, it was a bit disappointing to feel like corners were cut to make combat the main focus of Engage. The story itself is predictable in places and doesn’t feel as tight and tense as previous games, but the sheer nostalgia the cast offers players, along with the fascinating social aspects between the Dragon and the Unit, keep you locked into the game without feeling like things are quickly growing stale.
However, only a select few returning characters appear consistently in cutscenes and the central story, so unless you’re constantly fighting every emblem, chances are you won’t get much time among some of the more fan-favorites. characters. That said, a few of these cutscenes are crucial to character development, so even though the story is deflated in certain places, some sequences will leave you wide-eyed and feeling a little betrayed.
As a tactical RPG, it would have been nice to feel more committed to the motifs of Alear and their respective units. While there is a huge dose of nostalgia in bringing back returning characters for players already familiar with the franchise, for a brand new player, I can see the lack of a deeper story being jarring and causing some confusion. You never really find out who you’re working with and why they’re so important, and as soon as their backstory begins to develop, you’re thrust into the next zone to meet the next batch of new characters.
Overall, it’s impressive that Fire Emblem Engage manages to carve out its own identity within the franchise without straying too far from previous games. However, there are certain elements that let it down that are not small enough to go unnoticed. If the game’s core combat hadn’t been so solid, the lack of story drive might have been detrimental to the experience, but there’s still a lot of good to be gleaned from the title.
While it’s clear that some corners have been cut, with the focus being predominantly on returning characters and combat mechanics, there are numerous instances throughout Fire Emblem Engage that also make it a memorable experience. Watching your community hub grow alongside Alear as you progress, filling it with characters you’ve helped along the way, is all the incentive you need to fully enjoy each chapter and face the evil forces of Sombron once again.
8/10
A copy of Fire Emblem Engage was provided to iGamesNews by Nintendo UK for the purposes of this review.
