Fire Emblem Engage

 Switch
User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 822 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 451 out of 822
  2. Mixed: 154 out of 822
  3. Negative: 217 out of 822
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  1. Sanick
    Feb 23, 2023
    0
    Pros: Squares and math

    The only positive thing I can really say about this game is that it is a tactical RPG. There are squares to count, and there's math to do. I guess that's fun, but Fire Emblem Engage does very little to make it refreshing or interesting compared to other games in the genre, and it sacrifices a lot of elements from its previous entry, Three Houses. Cons: Dull    Pros: Squares and math

    The only positive thing I can really say about this game is that it is a tactical RPG. There are squares to count, and there's math to do. I guess that's fun, but Fire Emblem Engage does very little to make it refreshing or interesting compared to other games in the genre, and it sacrifices a lot of elements from its previous entry, Three Houses.

    Cons: Dull Setting, Uninteresting Characters, Recycled Plot, Awful Writing, Poor Quality of Life, Bizarre Character Designs, Lackluster Cosmetics, No New Game Plus

    The writing in this game is crap.

    The game is all about rings, so they made the continent a ring. It's divided into four quadrants, each one with the climate of a Mario level. Original. There are some meager attempts at establishing political relationships between the four countries, but it's pretty bad, and doesn't make the setting interesting. Fodlan was infinitely better.

    The characters don't get even a fraction of the effort that the Three Houses cast received. There aren't even paired endings for any characters besides the one who the avatar S ranks. Character writing seems to have been a very low priority in this game and it shows.

    The story is about the main character traveling across the continent to find all the magical items so they can defeat the big evil. It's a story you've seen a hundred times and Engage does nothing to put a twist on it or make it original at all. Some plot points are rushed through with no time for characters to process information. Other times, characters don't even get an ounce of their backstory revealed until they're on their death bed, as though players should suddenly care for this character. At its worst, I found the story outright insulting as it expected me to accept blatantly ridiculous developments with a straight face.

    The game takes several steps back in terms of Quality of Life. Offenses include:
    - Can't rotate the camera 360 degrees around the map anymore
    - Can't remap buttons
    - Can't hide the dialogue box
    - The gallery of cutscenes, music, and Support conversations, is tied to specific save files instead of being on the main menu. This means you don't have a single gallery showing all Supports you've unlocked across multiple playthroughs.

    I greatly dislike most of the character designs. The main character's design is the worst for obvious reasons. Others just have stars or hearts on their face. Is it a sticker? A tattoo? I'm not opposed to a little color in character designs, but many of them cross the line into pure silliness. I can't take them seriously at all.

    The option to keep a character's default outfit in battle is gone. If you reclass them, they WILL use that class's outfit in battle with no exceptions. Cosmetic options in the Somniel (the base outside of combat) are unimpressive as well, often offering plain outfits with little to no patterning and color schemes which don't change between different characters. Oh, and these outfits cost valuable metals that you could be using to upgrade your weapons, so you must play inefficiently to use the cosmetics. Maybe they stay unlocked on New Game Plus? Except...

    There's no New Game Plus. This is inexcusable. Again, several steps backwards on something they already had in their previous entry. With the costs of cosmetics, weapon upgrades, and acquiring new skills so high, the game seems to be built around the idea that you could use NG+ to reach things you couldn't in a single playthrough. Yet, they dropped the ball.

    Mixed: Mechanics, RPG Stuff

    Engage's main brag is new mechanics, such as using the Emblem rings containing old characters, inflicting the Break status, and new aspects of classes. As much as some people are praising these mechanics, I felt that they had a lighter impact than I expected on the gameplay. I definitely wasn't willing to sacrifice all quality in the writing for a couple of mechanical trinkets.

    I felt that the variety in classes was lacking. In terms of magic, the Sage and High Priest classes are mostly clones of each other, leaving only two different magic classes: Sage and Mage Knight. Some classes, like Swordmaster and Royal Knight, are simply obsolete compared to others.

    In terms of customizing units, I would have liked more. Units only get two skill slots to use, and the SP costs of acquiring these skills are extremely high. So much so that some characters will wait most of the game before getting a skill you want for them. There wasn't a ton of variety in these skills either, with some skills standing out as the most obvious choice for nearly every unit.

    Overall, this entry completely lost my interest in the series. I won't pay much attention to future FE games unless they show a huge focus on writing, QoL, and greater customization of units in order to win me back.    … Expand
  2. Yarelis
    Jan 23, 2023
    0
    Uhhhhhhhhggg nopes!! Dissapointed. 3H better. This game is…. Idk… sorry but no
  3. DolphinReviews
    Jan 25, 2023
    0
    Awful. Anime is cringe as always. Turn based combat is outdated and dumb. Nintendo is Sintendo.
  4. avantic00
    Feb 6, 2023
    0
    Combat was great and all, but the amount of cringe it gave during gameplay kept distubing me from immersing into the game. I wasn't able to get a clean and comforting gameplay as my previous FEs. Even with good combat u can't cover the bad writing...It hurts to rate negative to my favorite series...But Imma also be harsh on this one, so they don't bring that scenario writer again.
  5. P1AVG45
    Feb 1, 2023
    0
    As far as gameplay is concerned, the gameplay mechanics of Engage are incredible and extremely fun, it is some of the best gameplay in the series. However, it is extremely unfortunate that the characters, dialogue and story have once again been deliberately sabotaged by the miserable localizers at Treehouse, rewriting characters, inserting cheesy dialogue, and completely censoring any andAs far as gameplay is concerned, the gameplay mechanics of Engage are incredible and extremely fun, it is some of the best gameplay in the series. However, it is extremely unfortunate that the characters, dialogue and story have once again been deliberately sabotaged by the miserable localizers at Treehouse, rewriting characters, inserting cheesy dialogue, and completely censoring any and all hints of romance out of the game. These translators must have a deep-seated resentment for the projects that they’re working on for them to end up with translations this poorly-made and low-effort. It is truly unacceptable.… Expand
  6. LosPollosAmogus
    Jan 22, 2023
    0
    I love fire emblem...buts gbis game is just sad. Bad Designs, worst fe story EVER, glitches and DLC before the game came out? I miss FE3H
  7. mathor
    Jan 21, 2023
    0
    bad story, but good system. The plot looks like a child playing house. The characters are also designed to look like children, which I think is bad
  8. Shayon_An
    Jan 21, 2023
    0
    Just like a rubbish. Worse than Three Houses. I don't know why Intelligent Systems create this Fire Emblem? Worse than every FE, Awakening is better and Three Houses is the best FE. Don't do this in next FE!
  9. Ihateminors
    Jan 21, 2023
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is complete garbage. The game is a shameful rehash of Awakening with the same gameplay mechanics, god awful support cutscenes that were written by a 3 year old who just learned how to speak, and story that is nonexistent because people didn’t like morally grey characters but instead like green dragon = good and purple dragon = bad. The voice acting is utterly laughable when compared to three houses. The game is just genshin impact with the surplus of child units and character designs. If you want an actually fun fire emblem game then play heroes because that is what this game is but free with a possibility of a lifelong gambling addiction instead of 60 dollars for a game that is so broke for ideas that they have to have characters from games never released outside of Japan.… Expand
  10. WorstFE
    Jan 22, 2023
    0
    This game should not exist. It insults past games and past lords. Be angry.
  11. Battlecorg
    Jan 22, 2023
    0
    The writing is so bad it makes the game unplayable. Even the support conversations feel like they were written by a 5 year old. No character has any shred of personality and its so cringe I can't even get through it. There's no excuse for it to be this bad. They've beefed up the fighting mechanics but it's clear as day that they did it by cutting all funding from the writing department.The writing is so bad it makes the game unplayable. Even the support conversations feel like they were written by a 5 year old. No character has any shred of personality and its so cringe I can't even get through it. There's no excuse for it to be this bad. They've beefed up the fighting mechanics but it's clear as day that they did it by cutting all funding from the writing department. I'd return it if the switch allowed that. Please learn from my mistake and do not buy this game.… Expand
  12. Mammospring
    Jan 22, 2023
    0
    Extremely soulless game with baby tier writing. Characters and story are awful. It's a downgrade from 3H in everyway. Sick of every game pandering to Vtubers. All it does is go for meme value rather than creating things with actual substance.
  13. FreshyPrince
    Jan 22, 2023
    0
    Usually it's 1 step forward, and 2 steps back with this company. With Engage, it's 10 steps back as it throws out everything 3Houses did correctly.
  14. NinoCortex22
    Jan 22, 2023
    0
    Not for me.... too much forced included. Sorry. System of "romance" made me sick. and the animations, NEVER
  15. lifeordeaf
    Jan 23, 2023
    0
    Beloved characters from older games are now personas for genshin impact rejects
  16. YouJustKnow
    Jan 23, 2023
    0
    Engage is the epitome of soulless and only IntSys apologists will defend it out of brand loyalty.
  17. carvelvsmapcom
    Jan 23, 2023
    0
    Undoubtedly the worst character designs in the series bar none, it's actually jarring to see someone like Sigurd next to some of these clowns that are trying to be passed off as FE characters. The story is just a hybrid of awakening and fates but somehow it's much worse. I would not recommend this game to my worst enemy as that would be too evil on my part
  18. DaliaMarth
    Jan 23, 2023
    0
    Muy decepcionante, personajes aburridos, historia muy mala, y el sistema de romance tanto versión japonesa como en inglés dan terror. Se les pasó la mano.
  19. Casplink
    Jan 23, 2023
    0
    Decepcionado del juego ,muy mala trama ,personajes aburridos ,no lleno mis expectativas
  20. Goonie_80
    Jan 24, 2023
    0
    This is a nursery school version!
    The Story is a bad Joke compared to the predecessor.
  21. Leaderelf
    Jan 24, 2023
    0
    Worst Fire Emblem game to date. Every single bit of dialogue feels like satire and the characters are extreme to a very unrealistic degree. Doesn't feel like they had the long time FE fans in mind when developing this, but rather leaning towards the younger generation and also with the latest trends in pop culture. That just seems too corporate to me and all my senses are telling to me toWorst Fire Emblem game to date. Every single bit of dialogue feels like satire and the characters are extreme to a very unrealistic degree. Doesn't feel like they had the long time FE fans in mind when developing this, but rather leaning towards the younger generation and also with the latest trends in pop culture. That just seems too corporate to me and all my senses are telling to me to hate this game.… Expand
  22. Rottencucumber
    Jan 24, 2023
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I am getting tired of the FE plot now. Because the Engage story was so childish, I was able to tell clearly the issue now. That 'I am the child/vessel of Final Boss???' setting has been used 4 times in a row now. They really have to stop using that setting now, because now it's becoming so predictable. Also I am not liking how most female characters faces look the same except for the hairstyle,eye and some tattoo. I actually tested myself by covering their hair and putting on grayscale. I could not tell who they where. Plus they all got babyfaced from previous FE games, I thought I was dating a minor during the pact ring confession scene. Please don't do that.… Expand
  23. Cococo
    Jan 25, 2023
    0
    Maybe good for old players, but I still prefer three houses
    The plot is too low to make people unable to insist on experiencing all the content. A three-year-old child can write a better story. She could have been the best work，but…
  24. minmaxer
    Jan 27, 2023
    0
    Engage undermines previous Fire Emblem games and characters. You hate to see it.
  25. Mornsong
    Jan 28, 2023
    0
    I have made an account simply to comment on this game. I'm seeing a lot of reviews that seem unfair to me although I understand the reasons for them.

    The game's story is horrible, it has an online mode that doesn't quite work, and you have to do a lot of mini-games and repetitive farming between missions (not mandatory, but it provides too much improvement to pass up, especially if you    I have made an account simply to comment on this game. I'm seeing a lot of reviews that seem unfair to me although I understand the reasons for them.

    The game's story is horrible, it has an online mode that doesn't quite work, and you have to do a lot of mini-games and repetitive farming between missions (not mandatory, but it provides too much improvement to pass up, especially if you play on high difficulty).

    Fire Emblem engage seems to me a game totally based on combat, very large scenarios, full of enemies with nice animations. The amount of emblems and characters that there are allow a huge (even overwhelming) customization and depth. It forces you to measure very well not only your movements on the battlefield, but also how to manage your resources, who to equip the emblems to, what class they should have, what equipment to buy or improve...

    In short, in this Fire Emblem they have completely left aside all the story and character interactions, but if you are looking for a real spectacular tactical challenge, Fire Emblem seems to me superior to Three Houses, although the latter is undoubtedly a much more rounded game.

    Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)I have made an account simply to comment on this game. I'm seeing a lot of reviews that seem unfair to me although I understand the reasons for them.

    The game's story is horrible, it has an online mode that doesn't quite work, and you have to do a lot of mini-games and repetitive farming between missions (not mandatory, but it provides too much improvement to pass up, especially if you play on high difficulty).

    Fire Emblem engage seems to me a game totally based on combat, very large scenarios, full of enemies with nice animations. The amount of emblems and characters that there are allow a huge (even overwhelming) customization and depth. It forces you to measure very well not only your movements on the battlefield, but also how to manage your resources, who to equip the emblems to, what class they should have, what equipment to buy or improve...

    In short, in this Fire Emblem they have completely left aside all the story and character interactions, but if you are looking for a real spectacular tactical challenge, Fire Emblem seems to me superior to Three Houses, although the latter is undoubtedly a much more rounded game.    … Expand
  26. MexicanGamer142
    Jan 28, 2023
    0
    I will leave this as a temporary review as I am around halfway point on my playthrough. So far, I am bored out of my mind. I will try to update this as I continue my playthrough if it gets any better.
  27. Literallymade
    Jan 29, 2023
    0
    As a person who's been playing since Fire Emblem Fates I have to say this is one of the worst most boring games I've played EVER, period. I'm sorry but I actually love Fire Emblem Fates for its flaws even if it was hated l, but for some reason I can't stand this game. The story is absolute nonsense, characters talk like they are in some kind of baby cartoon and not just one or two butAs a person who's been playing since Fire Emblem Fates I have to say this is one of the worst most boring games I've played EVER, period. I'm sorry but I actually love Fire Emblem Fates for its flaws even if it was hated l, but for some reason I can't stand this game. The story is absolute nonsense, characters talk like they are in some kind of baby cartoon and not just one or two but nearly every character is the "anime joke character" here. It hurts me after fire emblem three houses - one of my favourite games of all time to see it slip so much. The story in that game in my opinion was actually a masterpiece and gets you thinking about the morality of your actions with memorable characters and THE MUSIC IS SO GOOD. Sorry I'm going too much on about much better game that anyone reading this should buy instead of engage. I pray other entries in the fire Emblem series are not like this and if you are on the edge of considering buying this game JUST DON'T. It has day 1 DLC and a inbuilt (although free) gacha system. - and I like games with them in sometimes...

    I don't know if I'm going to continue playing...    … Expand
  28. thisaintitchief
    Jan 30, 2023
    0
    Engage and its consequences have been a disaster for the Fire Emblem series.
  29. alienant
    Jan 30, 2023
    0
    Once the novelty of the combat system wears off, there's nothing left to talk about as the characters and story line are both abysmal. Really wish Intelligent System could get their games right. There's always a glaring issue no matter what and with Engage it's more apparent than ever.
  30. lilybylanz
    Jan 31, 2023
    0
    U got to be kidding me. How did they go from Nintendo's Top RPG to a disastrous weeb game? This is exactly the 'Xenoblade 2' of Fire Emblem.

    Combat? Gameplay? Okay. I enjoyed it. UNTIL the ring polish. You think it's just a small little feature? Welp, Def not for someone like me who've built old memories with the series. I can't believe how they dishonored their entire hero with just a    U got to be kidding me. How did they go from Nintendo's Top RPG to a disastrous weeb game? This is exactly the 'Xenoblade 2' of Fire Emblem.

    Combat? Gameplay? Okay. I enjoyed it. UNTIL the ring polish. You think it's just a small little feature? Welp, Def not for someone like me who've built old memories with the series. I can't believe how they dishonored their entire hero with just a side feature. BRUH. It made me so uncomfortable. Some of them are married and even have a child. And I hear dirty lines and moaning from each historic characters for polishing... a ring...? That's a huge damage they've done to their hero's reputation AND their gaming history. I as an old FE fan, have to put this as the worst game released from Intelligent System. Terrible story, useless side features, and censored lines. Just nope.

    I would give 4 bc of gameplay, but decided to rate '0' so they can learn that Kitajima is ruining their game. Just like he did for FE Fates. That weird 'petting', line censorship, and terrible writing always happens only when he's assigned for scenario. That's how bad influence he is to this series.    … Expand
  31. pimpslickback
    Jan 31, 2023
    0
    Terrible designs, shallow writing, gameplay incentivizes you to replace characters ASAP. These three traits combined are toxic. It's the first game since like Radiant Dawn to be a true literal who fest where they spam you with filler. Fates and Awakening at least incentivized you to use every unit multiple times to get bonus chapters and their kids. 3H gave you a small, focused cast.Terrible designs, shallow writing, gameplay incentivizes you to replace characters ASAP. These three traits combined are toxic. It's the first game since like Radiant Dawn to be a true literal who fest where they spam you with filler. Fates and Awakening at least incentivized you to use every unit multiple times to get bonus chapters and their kids. 3H gave you a small, focused cast. Engage has gone back to dumping hundreds of pointless and expendable characters on you, which would be good for gameplay if so many of the characters weren't completely unusable so there's no variety to be gained from using them.… Expand
  32. MagiChrist2
    Jan 31, 2023
    0
    After the success that was Three Houses, Engage is a major disappointment. Generic anime garbage with Genshin Impact rejects as characters with a story that's made for 5 years old. What happened ????
  33. Anothergame
    Feb 1, 2023
    0
    I will just list what I felt throughout gameplay.

    - Satisfactory combat and animation. - Level of visual action lays on power rangers or precure - The artist doesn't seem to know what Fire Emblem is, or maybe her only FE game was the mobile Heroes. - Female characters full of lolis. - i thought to make comrades, but ended up with a bunch of ppl of cult of Divine Dragon (me). - No    I will just list what I felt throughout gameplay.

    - Satisfactory combat and animation.
    - Level of visual action lays on power rangers or precure
    - The artist doesn't seem to know what Fire Emblem is, or maybe her only FE game was the mobile Heroes.
    - Female characters full of lolis.
    - i thought to make comrades, but ended up with a bunch of ppl of cult of Divine Dragon (me).
    - No reason shown why they see me as their Idol, except that I'm just a Divine Dragon. Creepy.
    - Lines and actions that only weebs would take. JP players hated it even more than us.
    - ItnSys did not learn and inherited in the cursed scenario writer along with the weird petting. But worse this time.
    - No respect shown to old fans by making us listen dirty unpleasant lines from past heroes (ring cleaning minigame).
    - Definitely not worth for $60. It should be $10 or under.    … Expand
  34. sushiroll
    Feb 1, 2023
    0
    Don't know why they decided to throw good writing and good characters out the window with this latest installment in the FE series, but they did.
  35. daniellaplays
    Feb 4, 2023
    0
    Great gameplay but everything else is horrible. Characters are paper thin, with very little to offer by way of meaningful conversations. Alear is so stupid, and believes everything at face value - even from the villains. I was so frustrated by how little effort was given to the writing. Story was predictable at best, and disappointing at worst. I found myself skipping through theGreat gameplay but everything else is horrible. Characters are paper thin, with very little to offer by way of meaningful conversations. Alear is so stupid, and believes everything at face value - even from the villains. I was so frustrated by how little effort was given to the writing. Story was predictable at best, and disappointing at worst. I found myself skipping through the cutscenes, because I could care less about what was happening.… Expand
  36. alcueid_814
    Feb 4, 2023
    0
    the vetical drawing of the game is too navie, and the plot is too bad!it’s a disaster
  37. radiantmirror
    Feb 4, 2023
    0
    Even though the strategic battle is exceptionally interesting compared to past works, the clichéd and shallow storyline ruins everything.
    As a rpg, the story needs to be the motivation for playing, and if it doesn't have that ability, at least make it bland. The thought of manipulating children like childish and clueless virtual youtubers is getting on my nerves.
  38. NinjaCockStudio
    Feb 4, 2023
    0
    Mickey ass maps bruh I played this game for 3 hours and the nasty sus shi got me wanting to blow my brains out.
  39. Traumereix
    Feb 7, 2023
    0
    Such a waste of money. This game is not even fun. The characters are completely one-dimensional and stupid. Their design are bland and terrible. The story is terrible. And the ring system breaks the game entirely, every character has thousand of skills and can become thousand of stuff. I hated this in F3H. I wish they would bring back a more basic system like its old entries.
  40. Amama
    Feb 12, 2023
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Pathetic excuse for a game. Please don't buy this laggy hunk of trash.. play a real game… Expand
  41. q420572640
    Mar 8, 2023
    0
    Is this a piece of garbage?Except for the fighting, I didn't have any impressions, which made me very uncomfortable playing.
  42. Edele
    Feb 22, 2023
    0
    I prioritize the story, performance, character design first, and then gameplay. Although the combat system in Engage is excellent, the other aspects of the game fall far short of Three Houses. Playing the game was a frustrating experience. Each character felt like a soulless tool, and they lacked memorable personalities, making it challenging to recall their names and images.

    The story    I prioritize the story, performance, character design first, and then gameplay. Although the combat system in Engage is excellent, the other aspects of the game fall far short of Three Houses. Playing the game was a frustrating experience. Each character felt like a soulless tool, and they lacked memorable personalities, making it challenging to recall their names and images.

    The story was a significant disappointment, failing to meet my expectations. While some might argue that the combat system in the Fire Emblem series is all that matters, I believe that a good game requires a reasonable story, character design, scene design, and music to support it. Investing all resources into one aspect does not make it a good game.

    Overall, Engage fell short of my expectations. While the combat system is enjoyable, the lack of memorable characters and plot hindered my enjoyment of the game.    … Expand
  43. Willwick9000
    Mar 31, 2023
    0
    You need 12 individual amiibo to access all content. Disgusting Nintendo…
  44. JugdralCHAD
    Apr 16, 2023
    0
    Awakening, Fates and Engage are a collective embarrassment to the FE franchise. Go back to making Fire Emblem games please instead of this cringey post-ironic otaku slop.
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Awards & Rankings

51
#51 Best Switch Game of 2023
2
#2 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2023

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 129 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 102 out of 129
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 129
  3. Negative: 0 out of 129
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 24, 2024
    80
    Hogwarts Legacy is definitely a beautiful-looking game that doesn't have a groundbreaking story, but does have a beautiful world, a fun combat system, broomstick flying, and of course an incredible amount of side quests and missions. [Issue#325]
  2. Gamereactor Spain
    Oct 16, 2023
    80
    It’s a title where difficulty isn’t just about advancing mission after mission but doing so with as few casualties as possible. This makes Engage the perfect gateway to the series, as well as a handful of good memories for those already familiar with it. A game which perfectly balances periods of action with quiet, enjoyable interludes in which to chat with other characters, play minigames and try out new weapons.
    Read full review
  3. Pocket-lint
    Jun 23, 2023
    90
    Fire Emblem Engage is a superb strategy game that has taken a major technical leap forward, graphically superior to its predecessor in every meaningful way.It tells a well-meaning story that still manages to pack in a few surprisng twists, and while its social features are a little extraneous this time, it's still super relaxing to fall into its world.Multiplayer expands things even further, leaving us confident that the future is very, very bright for this excellent series.
    Read full review
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