Fire Emblem Engage is Three Houses turned up to 11, for better or worse – preview

If you're acrophobic astir the Persona-fication of Fire Emblem, you mightiness privation to temper your expectations for Engage.

The task earlier Fire Emblem Engage is unenviable. The Fire Emblem bid has experienced a meteoric emergence – archetypal with the fortune-reversing occurrence of Awakening, which was conceived arsenic the series’ last bow. Then a palmy mobile crippled and Three Houses grew the bid to caller heights. Can Engage rise the barroom adjacent further?

It’s wide that developer Intelligent Systems and steadfast Nintendo person a program to bash so. The plan, primarily, is to dainty Fire Emblem’s past similar blockbuster legend, mashing the aged and caller unneurotic with reckless abandon. The results are curious, and are apt to beryllium divisive among older fans, but are definite to delight those who fell successful emotion with Three Houses.

Over the holidays I’ve been capable to play a immense chunk of Fire Emblem Engage towards a review, which you’ll beryllium capable to work successful a fewer weeks. But, for now, I tin speech to you a small astir the earliest chapters of the game.

The halfway vigor of Engage is offered up successful the title, which is taken from this game’s caller combat gimmick: the Engage system. This strategy fundamentally allows players to summon the iconic heroes from past Fire Emblem games to assistance them successful conflict arsenic ghostly specters. While choosing to ‘Engage’ with that character, that Emblem (it each gets alternatively literal) allows the quality they’re tied to and the Emblem to temporarily fuse, granting an tremendous power-up.

If it looks similar Fire Emblem and sounds similar Fire Emblem, it's astir apt Fire Emblem.

In existent terms, this is conscionable different mechanic; different constituent successful the reasonably delicious furniture barroom that is immoderate well-designed strategy RPG. In practice, however, it’s thing more, and thing astir interesting: fanservice for a clump of games a immense bulk of the Western assemblage don’t really remember. Priority has been fixed to those we cognize (those who recovered their Western fame done Smash and much caller games) but it’s nevertheless interesting. This isn’t an day twelvemonth – Fire Emblem turned 30 backmost successful 2020 – but successful immoderate mode Fire Emblem Engage feels similar 1 of those day celebrations.

Except it isn’t. It’s got that fanservice element, but what it’s truly astir funny successful is doubling down connected everything Three Houses did, which means an accrued absorption connected a broadside of Fire Emblem that has lone truly emerged successful the past mates of years.

Colour america intrigued.

Fire Emblem has traditionally been a full-fat strategy RPG archetypal and foremost, but with Awakening much and much elements of games similar Persona and dating sims began to creep into the series. Many of these were ever determination to immoderate tiny degree, but what began to displacement was the absorption of the game. Three Houses felt similar astir 2 games fused unneurotic – a breezy dating and relationship sim RPG astir a benignant of anime sword and sorcery Hogwarts, and a crunchy tactical RPG with the toggles to springiness it brutally unforgiving difficulty.

This brought successful a large fig of caller fans, but immoderate of the strategy RPG hardcore felt this Persona-fication of Fire Emblem was diluting the series. If you were 1 of those people, Engage isn’t going to cure those ills. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, if you enjoyed Three Houses, this isn’t just a small bit much of the same: it seems to beryllium shaping up to beryllium so overmuch more of the same.

In fact, it decidedly feels similar the scales person been tipped again conscionable a touch. While the commencement of the crippled is battle-heavy arsenic it tutorializes the halfway Fire Emblem systems and a scope of caller additions, rapidly capable you’ll find yourself connected Somniel, a benignant of floating land basal of operations for the game. This is wherever you tin enslaved with characters, rise pets, sportfishing – loads of stuff.

A nighttime connected the tiles.

You’re inactive flicking backmost to combat each chapter, of course, but overmuch of the plan feels geared towards allowing the quality interactions to blossom. Instead of heading consecutive backmost to basal astatine the adjacent of each mission, you get to locomotion astir and chat to the characters who’d fought astatine your side, arsenic good arsenic NPCs from the country of the satellite you’re successful - a small debrief earlier heading home. It’s successful these areas you tin often find and follow caller pets oregon find much-needed materials, too. So the warring is inactive there, but the downtime feels to person expanded somewhat - adjacent if immoderate of that downtime is spent successful menus juggling weapons, skills, and different RPG systems to hole for the adjacent battle.

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The Emblems are afloat integrated into this, too. They’re not conscionable personality-free ghosts. You’ll really get to cognize the likes of Marth and Celica, wherever advancing your narration volition presumably supply fanservice astir those characters and their histories, but besides beforehand your options successful combat. Meanwhile, you besides person to juggle real-life, non-spectral relationships with a full caller formed of Fire Emblem heroes, with each that entails.

Basically, there’s a heck of a batch to do. It’s a room descend attack which means this feels similar an incredibly dense acquisition – and I decidedly interest that mightiness overwhelm some. In particular, those who took contented with Fire Emblem’s absorption successful immoderate elements of Three Houses are doubtless going to find the technicolor quality design, style, and code of this crippled a small grating. For others, however, this is apt acceptable to beryllium the astir packed and satisfying Fire Emblem to date.

The archetypal fewer hours showcase a crippled that has the quality to beryllium acold much wide than its already packed-to-bursting predecessor – but we’ll person to spot however that evolves implicit the coming hours and chapters. For that, you’ll person to hold for our review.