Believe it or not, today marks five years since Fire Emblem: Three Houses launched on Switch. We’re guessing most SRPG fans have polished it off by now — we’ll go even further and bet you’ve probably done the same for its successor, Fire Emblem Engage, which is now just over a year old.
Despite being in the same series, anyone who has played the two most recent titles will notice the striking differences between them. Three Houses (the franchise’s first home console release in over a decade, let’s not forget) took things in a bold new direction, with gameplay that was as much about its social sim appeal as its tactical battles. The alternating shenanigans were still present and accurate — except for the removal of the iconic Weapon Triangle — but the moments in between were packed with OTT drama, romance, and life activities to make the whole experience a little different. Brilliant, but different.
Engage, on the other hand, is a completely different beast. You’d be forgiven for thinking that Intelligent Systems would release more of the same after seeing the wonderful success of Three Houses four years earlier, but no, this was a return to the series’ roots. The weapon triangle is back, the interpersonal dialogue has been reduced and the focus has been put back, firmly, on combat.
The two games are so tonally different, in fact, that it’s hard to definitively weigh which is which better. We’ve awarded both a 9/10 in our Nintendo Life reviews — you can read our Three Houses and our Engage for a refresher. And, much like cheese and chocolate, we’d struggle to put one on top of the other for more than two minutes before swapping them out again. The better question is which one do you want rather?
Did the narrative rollercoaster of Three Houses steal your heart, or did the heat of Engage’s battles really get your heart pumping? You can tell us your preferences by filling out the following survey and then tell us in the comments what convinced you.
