Nintendo Fire Emblem Engage Switch

Although the game is bright, colourful and fun, I can’t help but feel that Fire Emblem Engage is a bit of a backwards step for this franchise. And anyone expecting the next evolution in FE should temper their expectations.

Story

The story is a simple good guy versus bad guy affair with a few twists that aren’t earth-shattering or shocking. Divine dragon versus dark dragon stuff. If you are a fan of the series, think about early games before Path of Radiance introduced deep world-building and political intrigue into the mix.

The world-building is kind of flat. There are different nations but you don’t get a deep sense of politics between them, different customs or anything. You recruit all the royalty of every nation – and they generally just get on. So, very simple plotlines in the story.

Although simple, it isn’t bad. Just kind of bland with very little curve balls.

Characters

The character designs are bright, cheerful and unique. It is one of the best things about the game. But the interactions and writing around them are a little lacklustre.

They just feel very one-dimensional, not really integrated into the world – you could drop them into any FE and they’d feel okay. As they are just usually defined by one thing that they talk about in every support like Alpacas, Partying or People-Watching or Food.

This kind of means they’re totally divorced from the world around them and lends to the weak world-building. But there is nothing to dislike about the characters, and a few have decent lines like ‘I never knew the pain was a flavour’ when eating failed cooking attempts.

The training and investment in these characters seems like a big back-step when compared to Three Houses, mainly due to the in-depth training system there where you focused on how to train them, unlock hidden talents and find personal items. Interaction with characters is nowhere near this level in Engage and feels a little lacking in comparison. About all you can do is have a meal with them.

So if you’ve only played Three Houses and that was the big thing you liked, you might want to avoid this game.

Gameplay

Gameplay is enjoyable. The maps are varied, there are some interesting variations on goals and a lot of mini-games at your base. The ring system is an interesting mechanic and gives you a good sense of what made each character from previous games unique.

Some maps will offer unique challenges like surviving the avalanche, avoiding the bombs, and dodging the ballista’s range. This keeps gameplay varied, fresh and fun as you won’t be doing the same thing over and over again. Some of these challenges make good use of the engaging skills of emblems too.

The game is kind of like Fates: Birthright and Sacred Stones – where skirmishes and challenges appear on the map between missions. This always makes a less interesting Fire Emblem for me, as it allows you to level everyone and there is less of a focus on levelling up the best. But I’m sure some people will like the more relaxed and less restrictive system where you can level everyone.

I ended up over-levelling most of my characters by hitting the side missions. So, the side mission requirement was advanced 20 and the main advanced 1. That kind of made the main missions super easy and uninteresting. Through the use of second seals, my MC was around level 51 end game and the final boss suggestion was 40. So, if want to be challenged, ignore the skirmishes.

This is kind of compounded by the decision to have weapons with no durability limits. This means it doesn’t feel about resource management and strategising about funds and weapon use as much. Which lessens some of the planning elements of previous titles. Kind of takes away the improvised army feel.

There is a good amount of content – especially with the online modes and trail maps. The one piece of content that is lacking is a new game-plus option. There is no new game plus – although you can continue playing after you beat the game.

You do get some more options after beating the gaming when starting a new game too, like randomised stats. But this does limit the replay value a little.

The AI is kind of dense too. It is just designed to charge towards – especially in skirmishes. This means you don’t have to devise ways to dig enemies out of forts, survive ambushes from forests or anything. Just form a defensive wall and survive the waves of attacks. That is challenging on some maps and does need some tactics to ensure your weaker units survive the onslaught, but don’t expect to be challenged too much.

There are a few maps where enemies will use skills to freeze your movements as area attacks are incoming, but it isn’t a challenge – and I don’t feel this idea was used to its full potential. They even had enemies steal your time crystal once, but the enemies never rewound time – which seemed like a missed opportunity for some unique combat challenges.

Promotions seem to have taken a backwards step too, as there are only two tiers (only one for some classes such as thieves) and the next stage depends on the first stage. This is one huge step back from the flexible designs of Three Houses.

You can change class to promotion paths with a second seal, but the advantage of doing this limited. By changing classes you lose access to the previous class’ skill. So, you can’t max a thief for the skill pass and then change to a cavalry class and use that skill – as that skill will be lost. And to change back into a thief you’ll need another second seal. Which limits their functionality a little and means your ability to build unique characters is restricted.

Second seals are much more about unlocking more levels after advanced classes hit level 20.

The game does re-introduce the weapon triangle – which does make tactical placement on the map important. It also introduces some good mechanics such as breaks, which leave units unable to counterattack, and smash weapons which push people backwards. These are interesting, but again not used to their full potential.

The smash would be great for moving enemies from forts or defensive tiles, but as the AI charges you instead of digging in around defensive areas, it is usually better to just wait.

Overall gameplay is easy and fun – but is a little lacking in challenge due to the AI’s charge towards them mentality. And there is loads of content to enjoy.

As a FE game it is kind of mediocre. Has taken a huge step backwards in a lot of ways, and is one of the least enjoyable since Sacred Stones. As a game in its own right, it is still a pretty solid game that is fun to play – especially for children that might enjoy the stripped-back tactics and more bright, simple storyline.