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. CrypticScrutiny
    Feb 17, 2023
    3
    Once titles like this become mainstream in the west, they're ruined. What you will see from the FE franchise, from here on out, is something akin to how titles like Pokémon have been handled. Churning them out one year after the next, with no real concern or attention to detail. The stories will be the same incipit, dull and vapid monotony. The characters lifeless and unrelatable. TheOnce titles like this become mainstream in the west, they're ruined. What you will see from the FE franchise, from here on out, is something akin to how titles like Pokémon have been handled. Churning them out one year after the next, with no real concern or attention to detail. The stories will be the same incipit, dull and vapid monotony. The characters lifeless and unrelatable. The combat? It's Fire Emblem mechanics. What you'd expect. The story and motivations are uninspired and fail miserably to capture interest or investment. For me, games like Fire Emblem have a unique tale behind the combat. Due to FE being a widely popular bankable property in the modern era, they now expect that you will pay them for brand notoriety alone. Barebones and without merit enough to justify it's existence in any fans library. Sad to see this series go the way of all properties that catch on in the west.… Expand
  2. Aespro
    Feb 17, 2023
    10
    Fire Emblem Engage is a modern throwback to the simpler times of the Fire Emblem series with some simple twists that don't change too much of the original gameplay the series is known for. The OST is excellent and the concept of the rings is fabulous. Seeing Sacred Stones to Path of Radiance throwbacks are nostalgic to my old soul.

    What I did not like about Three Houses has been pretty    Fire Emblem Engage is a modern throwback to the simpler times of the Fire Emblem series with some simple twists that don't change too much of the original gameplay the series is known for. The OST is excellent and the concept of the rings is fabulous. Seeing Sacred Stones to Path of Radiance throwbacks are nostalgic to my old soul.

    What I did not like about Three Houses has been pretty much removed in this game. Which in return, is a straight forward Fire Emblem experience.

    I hope this game inspires more to come.    … Expand
  3. MartinArganaraz
    Feb 16, 2023
    10
    I've played 3 houses and this Fire Emblem is way better. It has improved on everything as a game. The only stuff that is a little down is the story..... That's actually quite OK specially bear the end. The cut scenes are great. The models, the menues. They stream lined many options and info. Battle fields are much better. Animations are so over the top kind of anime style. And that's ok,I've played 3 houses and this Fire Emblem is way better. It has improved on everything as a game. The only stuff that is a little down is the story..... That's actually quite OK specially bear the end. The cut scenes are great. The models, the menues. They stream lined many options and info. Battle fields are much better. Animations are so over the top kind of anime style. And that's ok, it's what makes FE Engage different.
    Instead of doing different stories we get to know about twelve different emblems from the vast story of Fire Emblem. It's amazing.
    Seriously people who complain.... Don't judge this game on what you wanted to be a game but for what it offers. FE isn't a sim simulation nor a relationship simulator. But still we have a lot of content. And you can replay and use different characters and have fun, there are so many that you can't play with them all.
    Possibilities and combinations are endless.
    Totally recommended.    … Expand
  4. re9757
    Feb 16, 2023
    8
    Excellent map and game playing design.
    Battle animation has been improved a lot.
    Weak story and character design.
  5. marcololo
    Feb 16, 2023
    9
    I think Engage is a great game. I started the series with Three Houses but, in the interim, went back to play some older entries - namely the 3DS titles, POR, and FE7. I think that left me with a different set of expectations than those who came to this game after only playing Three Houses.

    Social sim aspects definitely take a backseat to the gameplay here - and its the best Fire Emblem    I think Engage is a great game. I started the series with Three Houses but, in the interim, went back to play some older entries - namely the 3DS titles, POR, and FE7. I think that left me with a different set of expectations than those who came to this game after only playing Three Houses.

    Social sim aspects definitely take a backseat to the gameplay here - and its the best Fire Emblem gameplay I've experienced. The return of the weapons triangle and the addition of the "break" feature means that weapon selection and choice in character deployment is more important than ever. Compared to 3H, where I could just use the same characters pretty much every battle, I definitely find myself tweaking my roster and experimenting more here.

    Playing on hard/classic, Emblems are powerful but definitely don't break the game. Their abilities are very strong but, since they are limited to once per engage and the meter can take a bit to recharge without standing on a specific area, they don't feel overpowered and instead add a unique tactical element to the game. Finding the right time to engage can make or break a battle, and I found myself waiting for the right moment instead of using them at random since I didn't want to be caught off-guard by a tough foe.

    The story is generic, but that's fine for me. Lots of the Fire Emblem games revolve around there being a big bad and you needing to gather strength to face them, and this does that well enough. The campy tone is a nice change of pace compared to 3H, even if the story is comparatively lacking in depth and emotional punch. I still enjoyed the continent-trotting narrative here quite a bit.

    I don't quite understand the criticism I've seen of some with respect to the characters. I get that the design is a bit divisive (though I personally enjoy them well enough and love the use of vibrant colors) but the writing is still pretty solid. Fire Emblem has always taken the approach of characters with one defining trait that have some more depth as you get into their supports - it helps a lot when the player has to differentiate 30 or so. I think the characters work well in that regard, and I found a lot whose supports I enjoyed just as many in 3H.

    Presentation on the whole is great - the art style adopted here definitely works better within the hardware limitations of the Switch. Environments are much cleaner, there are less jagged lines, and animation quality has taken a big step up. Walking around the battlefields after one is over is also very novel, even if they are a bit lacking in things to do, and really showcases how nice the game looks.

    This takes me to my main criticism of the game - the Somniel. While I appreciate it trying to be a more streamlined Garreg Mach, it only partially succeeds. After every battle, for the most optimal playthrough, you still have to walk/fast travel around the place to pick up a bunch of items, choose a meal, pick support partners for activities, do some fishing, and gain some experience in the arena. That's fine at first, but quickly gets dull. I wish there was a button to automate at least some of this by the mid-game, like automatically picking up all items or running support activities on previously selected characters. Sommie is adorable, though, so that helps.

    All in all, I love this game. It's sucked me in just as much as Three Houses, but for different reasons. I care less about the story, but I am ore excited to jump into battles than ever - even if they are just skirmishes on repeated maps. I hope that future entries can step up the story a bit and streamline the hub world, or adopt more of series like Persona to make that aspect of the game more consistently engaging, but this game's focus on gameplay pays off in a big way. If you are a fan of tactical RPGs, this is definitely a can't miss in my book.    … Expand
  6. L498
    Feb 16, 2023
    2
    As someone who's played and beaten every Fire Emblem game since Path of Radiance on the Gamecube, I can say with almost equal pride and shame, this is the first one I couldn't finish. There's no one in this story worth rooting for, nothing worth getting invested in, and the story itself feels like a crappy seasonal anime that no one would actually pay attention to if it didn't have "FireAs someone who's played and beaten every Fire Emblem game since Path of Radiance on the Gamecube, I can say with almost equal pride and shame, this is the first one I couldn't finish. There's no one in this story worth rooting for, nothing worth getting invested in, and the story itself feels like a crappy seasonal anime that no one would actually pay attention to if it didn't have "Fire Emblem" in the name... it's just painfully boring to try and play through.

    I wouldn't recommend it on sale, or at all for that matter.    … Expand
  7. Brainrot
    Feb 15, 2023
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I love Fire Emblem, I've been playing these games since the original US GBA releases, so it pains me to say this but this one just didn't hit right.

    I think my biggest gripe comes down to lazy design. This game feels like a step back in the areas I value Fire Emblem most, areas where the series is known to excel above other strategy rpgs; gameplay, character interaction and replayability.

    In terms of gameplay, the map gimmicks the game depends on to artificially increase difficulty are just boring and tedious. Miasma, a ground hazard that buffs enemies and weakens allies, is often thrown haphazardly over the map at random with no thought and feels too shallow and arbitrary to give any sense of achievement. It's an annoyance.

    I find darkness almost equally unfun as a mechanic, though it was used well in a certain chapter with a character who teleports, so I'll give it a pass.

    As for character interactions, the lack of S rank supports between allies was a huge disappointment, followed by the equally huge disappointment of the removal of support based end cards. The endings for characters are the same no matter what you do (short of letting them die in classic, in which case you just get "name died at place").

    The lack of support based endings is one part of the replayability problem. Another is the extremely linear storyline. Maybe I was spoiled by Fates and Three Houses, but this return to one single storyline free of any player direction really didn't do it for me. It just feels like we've been given a lot less game this time around by comparison.

    I guess that (and the addition of currently broken online game modes) may be why they didn't include new game plus either, but that just serves to cripple the replay value even further.

    All in all, it's not a horrible entry to the series. It still offers some charming characters (I'm personally very fond of Alcryst, Ivy and Griss), decent gameplay, interesting new mechanics/strategic choices in the form of the emblem rings and skill inheritance reminiscent of FE: Heroes, and some fairly elaborate and sometimes aesthetically pleasing maps. It's just a shame it's a step back in the ways that really matter to me most.    … Expand
  8. Spacemerune28
    Feb 14, 2023
    10
    Easily the best Fire Emblem to date. Incredible graphics, best combat yet. I'm glad they went more on combat this time around!
  9. Swiftyb
    Feb 14, 2023
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Gutes Gameplay in den Kämpfen, aber die Story ist schlecht erzählt, Logikfehler, unlogische Motivationen, regelmäßig werden tragische Dialoge als Motivationserklärungen benutzt, so viel Geheule über Mütter … schwach sobald man aus den Kämpfen kommt… Expand
  10. IhSeVe
    Feb 13, 2023
    10
    The gameplay is fun and clean, the story may be kinda stupid but overall Fire Emblem Engage is a very solid game.
  11. hinst
    Feb 13, 2023
    6
    Here is my honest spoiler-free review for this game. I give it 6 out of 10.

    Fine: + Graphics + Animations + Battles + Support conversations + Characters + Battle preparations, equipment I put all 4 aspects above under the title of Fine; I mean that they're just good enough to be OK but nothing outstanding. Characters and support conversations range from decent to literally    Here is my honest spoiler-free review for this game. I give it 6 out of 10.

    Fine:
    + Graphics
    + Animations
    + Battles
    + Support conversations
    + Characters
    + Battle preparations, equipment

    I put all 4 aspects above under the title of Fine; I mean that they're just good enough to be OK but nothing outstanding. Characters and support conversations range from decent to literally clown and cringe. If you do not like the weird design of some characters you always have the choice of picking the other characters. There appears to be enough different characters for everyone

    Poor:
    - Paid DLCs
    - Nostalgia characters
    - Infinite grind
    - Locked on non-open gaming platform Switch
    - Poor plot

    I wish Nintendo just released Fire Emblem on PC so we could play in 4k 120 FPS. Some animations are too quick for 30 FPS so they wall apart.

    The predecessor game Fire Emblem 3 Houses casts a big shadow onto Fire Emblem Engage and this is the curse of this game. Fire Emblem 3 Houses is superior in many ways and people (myself included) judge Engage because of it.

    Overall I think this is an OKAY game, it gets well deserved 6/10 from me.    … Expand
  12. sunshinehairpin
    Feb 12, 2023
    2
    This game is definitely the next "black sheep" in the Fire Emblem series alongside Fates and Warriors. The story is hilariously bad (especially towards the end) and most of the characters are completely forgettable. I know people will argue that Fire Emblem "was always anime", but believe me and other older Fire Emblem fans (my first game was Path of Radiance on the Gamecube, currentThis game is definitely the next "black sheep" in the Fire Emblem series alongside Fates and Warriors. The story is hilariously bad (especially towards the end) and most of the characters are completely forgettable. I know people will argue that Fire Emblem "was always anime", but believe me and other older Fire Emblem fans (my first game was Path of Radiance on the Gamecube, current favorite is Echoes: Shadows of Valentia) when we say that this game ACTUALLY IS TOO ANIME. You can easily tell just from the art style and Vtuber aesthetics (if the story and voicelines weren't already big indicators). Completely far-flung from the more medieval fantasy-like world the series is more known for.

    The gameplay is very unbalanced. Hit rates are completely broken as more and more people are noticing that they're consistently missing attacks that have 80-90%+ accuracy and getting hit by enemy attacks that have 30% accuracy. I don't know if it's a coding error or what, but the RNG is completely messed up in a lot of cases. The ring system is interesting in concept, but the more I played with it the more I came to realize that the game pretty much wants you to spam Engage attacks throughout the fights which sort of kills the immersion of trying to formulate intense strategies while in the midst of battle. They at least brought back the weapon triangle tho, which was something I thoroughly enjoyed.

    Character growth rates are abysmal, and even worse most of the early units are easily replaceable with better units as you progress through the game. It's a HUGE step backwards from the level progression system of Three Houses and even the systems of older Fire Emblem games. You can somewhat mitigate these problems with giving your characters more skills via building bonds with rings, but it requires A LOT of grinding to give your characters the necessary skill points and bond points to get everything.

    Most of the maps are uninteresting. The only ones that have interesting mechanics going on for them are in the last few chapters of the game.

    The Somniel is a neat concept since it feels like an upgraded version of My Castle from Fire Emblem Fates, but even then towards the end I found myself feeling like it was there so that I could "do my dailies" after every fight like I'm playing some kind of mobile game (this game has a gacha mechanic as well).

    There's a big spike in difficulty at around Chapter 11, and it's way more noticeable when playing on the harder difficulty settings. I did two playthroughs on both Normal and Hard respectively. Hard mode felt A LOT more stressful than Normal, and it's not even the most difficult setting. The people playing on Maddening are an entirely different breed. Godspeed.

    Oh, and slight spoiler: You have the option to marry anyone in the roster, including two little kids and your little sister. The US version has been heavily localized to give the Pact Ring cutscenes different context, but overall you know what the original script was implying. Gross...

    There's some fun to be had in this game, but the good moments are so few and far between that I have to give it a negative review. I genuinely love the Fire Emblem series, and it seemed like the series was only going to improve after Echoes and Three Houses, but obviously not every game can be a masterpiece. Here's hoping they address these issues in the next installment. I'm not worried about DLC. I'm done with this game.

    Edit: I gave it a few points for good music and visuals. Like I said before some of the gameplay is fun, but it loses its novelty towards the end of the game on higher difficulties.    … Expand
  13. 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
  14. OliverGaming
    Feb 12, 2023
    3
    As a veteran of the series. I can tell you from first-hand experience that everything about this game fails in comparison to its predecessors. New players will be blissfully unaware of how bad the story, gameplay, music, and animation is through no fault of their own. What's worse is Engage constantly takes shots at veteran players who like characters such as Ike, Marth, or Roy over theAs a veteran of the series. I can tell you from first-hand experience that everything about this game fails in comparison to its predecessors. New players will be blissfully unaware of how bad the story, gameplay, music, and animation is through no fault of their own. What's worse is Engage constantly takes shots at veteran players who like characters such as Ike, Marth, or Roy over the cowardly, badly
    voiced acted, and completely forgettable Alear. When a character like Diamant actually goes through an arc, fits the world he lives in, and is hands down the best character in the game. It makes me question why he wasn't the protagonist instead. Worst of all, the series is so predictable that when I guess something would happen later down the line, it did. That's probably because Engage rips plot points from other fire emblem games and the supports and conversations characters have with each other are embarrassing and cringy at its worst. It's that bad.

    I'll just end it by saying this.
    The era of the avatar is over, and what we need desperately right now is another Ike.

    Edit: So I thought about it and realized my score was a little bit too harsh. So, I wanted to change it. It's still not a good game by a long shot, but I will admit some, but not all of the gameplay is fun. There are music tracks in this game that are composed really well, and characters like Diamont and Ivy were really the only things keeping me playing. Other then that, I still wouldn't recommend this to my worst enemy. Play Awakening first, or if you have a good way to do it. Fire Emblem Path of Radiance.    … Expand
  15. Lair0
    Feb 12, 2023
    6
    The gameplay in this entry is a improvement in te series but the story, characters and characters design are a jugar downgrade all the more coming from a Game like three houses
  16. KittyLove
    Feb 12, 2023
    3
    Diamant should have been the protagonist.

    I can pick apart everything wrong with this game. The gameplay, the music, the animation, everything, but the biggest grievance I have with Engage comes from the avatar once again. This is the third game since Fire Emblem Fates where I had to sit down and ask myself "why wasn't this character the protagonist?" Before, it was Xander with    Diamant should have been the protagonist.

    I can pick apart everything wrong with this game. The gameplay, the music, the animation, everything, but the biggest grievance I have with Engage comes from the avatar once again. This is the third game since Fire Emblem Fates where I had to sit down and ask myself "why wasn't this character the protagonist?" Before, it was Xander with Conquest. After that, it was Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude with Three Houses, and now it's Diamant with Engage. He is one of the very few characters that actually goes through an arc and character development. If you compare all the stuff he goes through to Alear's story. They have no where near the same level of writing and voice acting, not even close, and after feeling this way for the third time. The avatar character is starting to get under my skin and I believe they really need to go.

    There are a good amount of characters in the Fire Emblem series since Fates that I feel deserve a second shot. Diamant is definitely one of them. He is the protagonist that I desperately wanted for so many years, and yes. A character like him deserves his own game, or a least a series of maps where the avatar is not involved.    … Expand
  17. karican
    Feb 12, 2023
    5
    (On chapter 21 out of 27) I'm a long term Fire Emblem fan and was disappointed by this game. The only thing that keeps me playing it is that the gameplay is good. And what you would expect from Fire emblem. Maps had pretty good variety but it wasn't a great challenge (played on normal, classic). The emblem mechanic was enjoyable and interesting. Gameplay isn't amazing but it's good.(On chapter 21 out of 27) I'm a long term Fire Emblem fan and was disappointed by this game. The only thing that keeps me playing it is that the gameplay is good. And what you would expect from Fire emblem. Maps had pretty good variety but it wasn't a great challenge (played on normal, classic). The emblem mechanic was enjoyable and interesting. Gameplay isn't amazing but it's good. Music is good graphics are fair.

    The story very predictable and dull. The things that the characters say they feel seems so fake and contrived because the game doesn't work to show the player why they feel anything. The characters aren't great. They all are unbelievably smitten with the main character, its weird. The voice acting is not good, particularly for a lot of the emblems. I'll likely finish the game since the gameplay is fun and it isn't a huge time investment but it's not a game I would recommend unless you just love tactical gameplay and would play it for the ganeplay only.    … Expand
  18. Marcooooooooooo
    Feb 12, 2023
    10
    amé, devoraron, almorzaron, desayunaron, publicaron, crearon, ejecutaron, diseñaron, comieron
  19. Maestr
    Feb 12, 2023
    5
    Unfortunately, this game was not so much interesting as I wanted. Most main battles are boring and did not push me to try different tactics. Base is awful, story is stupid. I do not want to hear listen again and again about Divine Dragon. Craft is useless as much as level up mechanics. Only during additional battles I'm stressed.
    If only I could do refund. And I'm definitely sure that    Unfortunately, this game was not so much interesting as I wanted. Most main battles are boring and did not push me to try different tactics. Base is awful, story is stupid. I do not want to hear listen again and again about Divine Dragon. Craft is useless as much as level up mechanics. Only during additional battles I'm stressed.
    If only I could do refund. And I'm definitely sure that only big fans could try this game.    … Expand
  20. Bonni44
    Feb 11, 2023
    4
    Three houses is one of my favorite games on the switch, so my expectations for engage were really high. I saw people say you can't compare engage to three houses if you haven't played other fire emblem games......yes I can. It's like telling me I can't say I prefer apples over oranges because I never tasted bananas..... that's just stupid. So let's start with the pros: - Beautiful graphicsThree houses is one of my favorite games on the switch, so my expectations for engage were really high. I saw people say you can't compare engage to three houses if you haven't played other fire emblem games......yes I can. It's like telling me I can't say I prefer apples over oranges because I never tasted bananas..... that's just stupid. So let's start with the pros: - Beautiful graphics (I'm not talking about the artstyle here). It looks better than most switch games.
    - Fun combat (not that different of 3H like people say but it's a plus for me, I love 3H).
    - Good music (not on 3H level) but a few tracts were really good. Now the cons: - Horrible characters. 90% of the cast looks underaged, male characters are just effeminate losers, except like one or two. Main character is really bland and worshiped by everybody and it's not earned. Characters are way too colorful to fit in a medieval setting.
    - Dialogue is super cringe, support conversations have no depth and don't develop the characters. They just talk about tea and things they are scared of etc. It's literally the conversations I was making my barbies have when I was 5. The supports were so boring I just started skipping them after a few. S support was also super dissapointing.
    - Story is not great. It's cliche and linear and with no choices at all.
    - Less classes with no visual preview of your character.
    - Skirmishes give no gold.
    - Somniel mini games are boring and useless.
    - Latest heros, Dimitri, Claude and Edelgard are locked behind an expensive dlc. Emblem's outfits are locked behind amiibos. I would have to spend hundreds of dollars to unlock everything in this game. Three houses was a more mature game, with incredible dialogue and voice acting. With grief, loss, romance, and difficult choices to make. Fire emblem is a game about war, and engage felt more like a morning cartoon. I know some people didn't want to do the other routes in 3H because they didn't want to do the monastery stuff again, but you can literally skip it with new gameplus. I personally loved the social aspect in 3H, it was a nice change of pace in between battles. It made me really care about my students and I was really motivated to build them right and use them on the battlefield. I could also pick which characters I wanted to recruit. In engage, they just give you a ton of characters for free, and I just didn't care about any of them. I just felt like I was fighting with a bunch of clowns... Overall this is a stepback compared to 3H and I was dissapointed enough to write this review.    … Expand
  21. awilson1978
    Feb 11, 2023
    9
    While the social link elements have definitely been toned down from Three Houses, the visuals are a definite step up, and the gameplay itself is some of the best the series has ever seen.
  22. Steyraus
    Feb 11, 2023
    10
    The cry baby fanboys review bombing this game because it not a bloated visual novel like Three Houses, better not complain when we don't get another emblem game for eight to ten years. That what happens when you trash a perfectly great game just cause it tries something different and might not be exactly what you want. Engage was clearly tring to bring new people into the series and whatThe cry baby fanboys review bombing this game because it not a bloated visual novel like Three Houses, better not complain when we don't get another emblem game for eight to ten years. That what happens when you trash a perfectly great game just cause it tries something different and might not be exactly what you want. Engage was clearly tring to bring new people into the series and what do the origional fans do, cry offcourse.

    As someone who has never had an interest in the Fire Emblem Games I was drawn to Engage by its buetiful colourful Anime aesthetic and amazing sexy and cool character design. I has played Three Houses for a bit and found it utterly boring. Three hour has hours of reading and exposition it almost a visual novel. I was skeptical when getting Engage but luckily I was not disappointed, Engage lives up to the series high standard and I quickly fell in love with it tactics and world.
    Why a tiny handfull of Emblem fans are negative towards Engage is a mystery to me, but with complacent whiney fans that review bomb a great game like Engage its no wonder the Fire Emblem series never hits the heights of being main stream. These complacent fans clearly enjoy the dull visual novel approach to these games over good pacing and a focus on tactics and getting to the action. But for be Engage is the direction I wish the series to go.    … Expand
  23. 5PercentCrit
    Feb 10, 2023
    6
    Anyone else really hyped for this after 100's of hours dumped into Three Houses?! Shoot I know I was and as a big fan of the series I must say I had a lot of fun with this game. The new gameplay mechanics and difficulty on maddening (usually what I play) were a welcome addition. This game is hard on Maddening, like vastly harder than Three Houses where you could break the game with aAnyone else really hyped for this after 100's of hours dumped into Three Houses?! Shoot I know I was and as a big fan of the series I must say I had a lot of fun with this game. The new gameplay mechanics and difficulty on maddening (usually what I play) were a welcome addition. This game is hard on Maddening, like vastly harder than Three Houses where you could break the game with a bit of understanding and effort. So Difficulty and skill ceiling, definitely there. But Story, and game progression from Act to Act (if you can say there are) is very poor here. Story is a shallow 3/10 at best and I often didn't feel like I was moving forward due to some new leveling and skill mechanics (only two tiers of classes and SP). The Engage mechanic was fun to experiment with on a first run and swapping Emblems felt neat for a while, however I feel this game has very little replay value and that was something I was really looking forward to. If you are a long time FE fan then I would recommend and am sure you will enjoy your time. But with a bland paper thin story, lack of compelling game progression, and removal of loved mechanics(NG+, rotating the freaking camera on a map) this game doesn't quite reach the highs of Three Houses or older titles and will certainly disappoint some.… Expand
  24. PlayorNaygames
    Feb 10, 2023
    5
    If I had to review FE: 3 Houses I'd give it a 10/10. I absolutely loved it and played it for over 500 hours. FE Engage was not mostly developed by TecmoKoei like 3 Houses was and is back in the hands of the creators, Intelligent Systems. What this means is that many of the things that really turned me off on FE Fates are back in perhaps an even bigger way. I'm going to break down this gameIf I had to review FE: 3 Houses I'd give it a 10/10. I absolutely loved it and played it for over 500 hours. FE Engage was not mostly developed by TecmoKoei like 3 Houses was and is back in the hands of the creators, Intelligent Systems. What this means is that many of the things that really turned me off on FE Fates are back in perhaps an even bigger way. I'm going to break down this game by several categories for review. Let's start with the elephant in the room that many reviews are missing: the DLC.

    DLC: You might be thinking "why is DLC a topic for review"? Let me explain. While the game can be beaten without DLC, just like FE: Fates, it deeply impacts the experience. The entire game is designed around incentivizing you to by the DLC packs ($30 total). You're probably confused at this point, because most games have figured out how to do DLC without greatly affecting gameplay balance. Let me go over the systems affected, so you can understand:

    Gold and metals are very scarce. You can farm them in side missions, but at a very slow rate. There are some cheese methods that slightly enhance your rate, but if you really want more gold and metals, you're going to spend many hours farming. These side maps are set 2-4 levels above your highest character and have over 50 enemies, so they aren't trivial either. Do you see how that might incentive someone to buy DLC when DLC packs give you weapons, permanent stat boost items, gold, and SP scrolls (a currency used to purchase skills)? Speaking of SP, I should mention how agonizingly slow it accumulates from killing enemies and how many skills are priced so expensive that I could not afford them by the time I beat the game. You will earn about 4-5k SP normally per character over the game, but I've seen skills cost as much as 8400 SP. There is no new game plus either and none coming later either. So seriously, you can see how their desire to have you purchase DLC permeates the whole game's design.

    Then there is a spot in the game's story where they take away a large chunk of your power. Also, unlike 3 Houses, reinforcement spawns are infinite and provide low exp, but are just as powerful. If you have all the DLC packs the give you 7 powerful bracelets that are just as powerful, if not moreso, than this obstacle is a lot more trivial. Hardcore players will be fine, but this heavy handed approach hurts the game balance as a whole because they wants casual players to feel like they need an edge and buy the DLC.

    I know it's bad form to spend half a review talking about the DLC and its impact on game design, but it's not talked about by major outlets and Intelligent Systems needs to be be called out for doing it wrong again. Fates had the same problems, but to a lesser degree. 3 Houses figured out how to do a fair DLC, but it probably didn't sell as well, so we're back to this model from Fates. With that out of the way, lets break the game down into its core bits:

    Story:

    Well, if you've seen anything, you've read that the story is bad and it is. Worst in the series bad. Some of the hammiest, cringiest dialog I've read from a 1st party, AAA game. It feels like they wrote the whole game for the mobile game audience (that spends way more than us normal FE players, btw). There's many times in the story things happen for no other reason than the writers will it to happen. It constantly breaks whatever immersion you have and the world does not feel believable or real. There is very little world building and what is there is lock into support conversations with your allies. Most of these support conversations revolve around 2 characters with 1 personality trait/hobby talking about that in the most boring way possible. The only thing that saves it from being a complete waste of times is the voice acting. They spared no expense and hired many top tier voice actors that you'll recognize if you watch any anime. They do a great job. It's a shame that Bernadetta voice actor from 3 Houses players the main female character, because she is given nothing to work with. The main character is the worst thing about the game. Everyone loves you and even those that don't usually end up loving you. There's no tension in the plot at all. It's closest to maybe the Pokemon kids show from the 90s. Be aware the player has no agency whatsoever over the story as well. Routes are gone, as well as dialog choices. It's the biggest letdown of the game, considering what 3 Houses gave us.

    Gameplay:

    I'm running out of characters, so I'm going to have to keep this more brief than I would like. Many people have praised the gameplay. It's mostly what you would expect from a FE game that gets rid of all the enhancements of 3 Houses. It's closest to FE Awakening, but we now have 12 rings and 7 DLC bracelets. All of which are varying degrees of extremely powerful. Which leads me to say that this is the easiest FE to date. I think they had real trouble balancing the game.    … Expand
  25. Bkillinm
    Feb 3, 2023
    10
    This game is excellent, don’t let the poor user rating turn you away. People are just but hurt about the lack of social sim which is not a big deal. The battle system is superb and it looks amazing on the switch. Besides maybe the story and some of the characters being boring there’s not much else to complain about.
  26. Mandra
    Feb 10, 2023
    5
    The MC is bland and their hair color is weird, combat is good (hard to **** that up), music is mid at best, social interactions have been reduced to bare minimum, the main hub is boring.
    Not a fan of the main feature of using rings and merging with emblems, also dealing with who equips which ring at all times is not fun at all.

    5/10, made me wanna replay Three Houses even more.
  27. Quilly89
    Feb 10, 2023
    9
    This is an interesting game. A lot of the people complaining about the game are newcomers to the series. (Yes. Even those of you whom started at awakening). This game is much more reminiscent of old school fire emblem than the newer titles. No Marriage, No Children, Basic Storyline. Does that mean the characters are bad? No. Is the story bad? No. Its more followable than a lotThis is an interesting game. A lot of the people complaining about the game are newcomers to the series. (Yes. Even those of you whom started at awakening). This game is much more reminiscent of old school fire emblem than the newer titles. No Marriage, No Children, Basic Storyline. Does that mean the characters are bad? No. Is the story bad? No. Its more followable than a lot of the previous titles. Sure. It isn't bad though. If you grew up with a Gameboy advance, give this one a try. You will likely enjoy it.… Expand
  28. Raulgarcia2
    Feb 9, 2023
    10
    Testing Testing. Making sure that this works. The combat is very nice. The weapon triangle is back which is good.
  29. voc
    Feb 9, 2023
    3
    I created an account just to leave a review on this game. Honestly it is a chore to play. Even though I love turn based combat games, it gets stale midway in as you basically only have one class upgrade for characters (dumb as it limits possibilities and discourages you from exploring builds and going in a designed path imo). Then, you have a generic and bland cast. What was once an areaI created an account just to leave a review on this game. Honestly it is a chore to play. Even though I love turn based combat games, it gets stale midway in as you basically only have one class upgrade for characters (dumb as it limits possibilities and discourages you from exploring builds and going in a designed path imo). Then, you have a generic and bland cast. What was once an area of excitement has now become unbearable. Most charachters have 0 development. I am in chapter 22. 4 more to go. But this game is a mess compared to 3 houses. I think Nintendo rushed this one out.… Expand
  30. Starfree
    Feb 2, 2023
    6
    This is my least favorite FE game. There isn’t anything bad about it, just a pretty standard story with obvious twists. The ending for lack of a better word is **** And a lot of small gameplay and mechanic changes that I don’t personally like. And after the massive deal that was 4 stories in 3 Houses I kinda feel cheated by getting just one story. In a positive note with only wave 1 dlcThis is my least favorite FE game. There isn’t anything bad about it, just a pretty standard story with obvious twists. The ending for lack of a better word is **** And a lot of small gameplay and mechanic changes that I don’t personally like. And after the massive deal that was 4 stories in 3 Houses I kinda feel cheated by getting just one story. In a positive note with only wave 1 dlc the dlc has already proven itself to be the best FE DLC to date. Already leagues better than 3 houses’ dlc imo. If you buy the game I recommend picking up the dlc as well. But if you are picking between this and 3 houses, 3 houses is the better game.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

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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.
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