Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Side Story: Cindered Shadows

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Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Side Story: Cindered Shadows Image
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 67 Ratings

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  • Summary: Work with a group called the Ashen Wolves, a forgotten group of students who inhabit the underground facility called Abyss. Yuri, Hapi, Balthus, and Constance are the four members of the Ashen Wolves.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. GameSkinny
    Apr 10, 2020
    90
    Though a bit short, Cindered Shadows is top-notch new content for Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
  2. Nintendo Force Magazine
    May 1, 2020
    85
    In the grand scheme of things the sum of its parts makes for a fuller Fire Emblem, even if casual fans won't really notice some of the differences. [Issue #46 – May/June 2020, p. 26]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. IGN Japan
    Mar 10, 2020
    80
    The maps in Cindered Shadows feel different from the main game in a good way, and with enjoyable character dialogue and an interesting setting, this DLC is a treat for players who enjoyed the original game.
  4. Gameblog.fr
    Feb 17, 2020
    70
    While such side a story doesn't reveal crucial elements from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, this new underground location, the colorful additional characters and their radically diverse skills somehow deepen the adventure as a whole.
  5. Gamer Escape
    Jun 10, 2020
    70
    It is, ultimately, solid DLC that’s worth it for fans of the game, although if you’re already bought into the game you probably already have it. What it’s not is perhaps the big send-off for the game that it had been billed as…but maybe that’s unfair, since that was never really in the cards.
  6. IGN
    Feb 25, 2020
    70
    Fire Emblem: Three Houses’ Expansion Pass has no shortage of amusing characters and activities to interest anyone playing through the main story, be it for the first time or fourth. If you can get past the confusing nature of unraveling a story that seems to exist in its own universe before reaping the rewards back in a more familiar world, Cindered Shadows provides some great challenge that’s agonizingly close to being wholly unique to the rest of Three Houses, offering a few exciting new mission objectives while leaning a little too hard on familiar maps. Its missions may not be as replayable as the main story, but they do give an enticing look at what the four new characters are capable of, leaving me itching to recruit them into my team.
  7. Cubed3
    Mar 23, 2020
    60
    Fire Emblem DLC rarely comes in at a cheap price, and this is no different, and, disappointingly, this recycles existing maps, has very little in the customisation department, and removes many of the features that made Three Houses popular in the first place. There doesn't seem to be enough substance in this eight-to-ten-hour journey to really strongly recommend this as a must have, but for those itching to add to their Fire Emblem experience, will manage to enjoy this, even if it is a bit pricey.

See all 16 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 16
  3. Negative: 2 out of 16
  1. Ventu
    Apr 17, 2022
    10
    Cindered Shadows es un dlc muy completo que complementa perfectamente la historia original. Nos ofrece una nueva trama, mucho más corta, peroCindered Shadows es un dlc muy completo que complementa perfectamente la historia original. Nos ofrece una nueva trama, mucho más corta, pero con un grado dificultad superior. La historia es interesante, aunque no al nivel del juego base. Los nuevos personajes, que también estarán disponibles en las rutas habituales del juego son carismáticos y con nuevas clases y habilidades que dan aún más variedad al combate. En general, si lo tenemos en cuenta como un complemento de Three Houses, es totalmente recomendable.… Expand
  2. Energy97
    Feb 18, 2020
    10
    It is what I expected for a Fire Emblem: Three Houses DLC side story. I’m happy I got this DLC.
  4. MegaCaza1
    Feb 13, 2020
    9
    Just before I review this dlc I want to just add that I am quite new to the Fire Emblem franchise. Other than a handful of 3ds titles IJust before I review this dlc I want to just add that I am quite new to the Fire Emblem franchise. Other than a handful of 3ds titles I played, 3 Houses was the only Fire Emblem which was able to draw me in for +100hrs.

    Unlike many with regards to the season pass I didn't not mind spending $37 AUD on a season pass. Compared to some season passes, the $37 AUD is quite cheap, when compared to other expansion passes of the past. Before Cindered Shadows released, I had been quite happy with what I had been giving. The base game was already well detailed and enjoyable enough and any further support with extra quests, costumes and characters were greatly appreciated.

    To the dlc now, as part of the expansion for wave 4 there was quite a lot that was incorporated into the game. The biggest feature being the new side story featuring the secret fourth house. I just want to add, I would not recommend playing this side story before playing the main game. There's a few major storylines regarding the main character for 3 Houses in this dlc that get revealed. But there's also the increase in difficulty. I played through this dlc on normal, and most of the 7 chapters were quite annoying and difficult to work around, as you are limited to items, money and you aren't able to grind your team up outside of the side story missions.

    The new area the "Abyss", is fairly limited in the side story, but once you complete the side story, it will appear in your main game save, and you will be able to travel to that location. This is quite good as they've added some neat features like a person who will evaluate the growth of your students and there's things like being able to use renown to purchase items or weapons (if you need to).
    The story itself is a bit slow, but it definitely picks up towards the end. However, for a side story it's not as bad. It's actually quite more than what I had initially expected. Game completion of the side story ranges anywhere between 3-10hrs depending on how quickly you get through battles. I completed the story at 5hrs and 10 minutes.

    It's worth noting that each of the 4 new characters all has support conversations with a handful of students in your "main game" and is all recruitable. I know for me this was a big seller as I had wanted more support convos or new students with supports with other students in the officers' academy. I am happy Byleth is able to have S supports with all the new students (depending on gender), but having more supports with ashen wolves students and officer academy students is a lot better for me, as those supports have more detail in them compared to a Byleth support and a student.

    There are some things I didn't not like though. Fire Emblem Three Houses was quite successful because it brought over a range of casual players or newer players to the series. This dlc is quite difficult if you aren't focused on what you are doing. For example, there's a mission in Chapter 4 where you effectively are given a time limit to escape a zone and no one in your team can be defeated, but the biggest issue I had was if I made one bad move (i.e move Edelgard for example in 1 spot) the CPU would take advantage of that are defeat me quite easily. This again is on normal. I have completed the 3 Houses main campaign on normal, hard and going through maddening on another save, but the normal difficulty in this dlc is underselling how difficult some missions can be. There's missions that are very "RNG" in this dlc, so please do not expect this dlc to be a cakewalk, and if you don't like missions like the "Forgotten Hero", or the last mission in Silver Snow, you will not like the battles in this dlc.

    Regardless, with the amount of content that was added (new characters, outfits, new quests, side story, activities, supports, weapons etc..) I am quite pleased as a fire emblem 3 houses fan and am pleased with the expansion pass. Whether or not they decide to do a season 2 expansion, will probably be down to sales of the expansion pass. If we do get a season 2 expansion it's probably going to be announced at E3 this year, but if not Fire Emblem Three Houses has been a terrific journey and I hope people can enjoy this last expansion.    … Expand
  5. xDestroid
    Oct 27, 2020
    8
    Edit:
    I originally gave this 3/10, but I must admit I was wrong. I really enjoy the content this DLC adds to main story, even if sole DLC is    Edit:
    I originally gave this 3/10, but I must admit I was wrong. I really enjoy the content this DLC adds to main story, even if sole DLC is not the greatest.
    I still stand by my words about DLC story fights - they are not entertaining, just made artificially harder by introducing specific rules. From perspective, I liked the story more than I wanted to admit while writing original review.

    Characters gain a lot if you interact with them in main story playthrough - I really recommend it.
    Constance and Hapi are just too cute for this world.    … Expand
  6. igolrum
    May 26, 2021
    8
    The story is nowhere near as good as in the main game, but it's still fine and fleshes the world out a bit more.
    The maps are good and more    The story is nowhere near as good as in the main game, but it's still fine and fleshes the world out a bit more.
    The maps are good and more unique than the average main game ones.
    The biggest value of the DLC comes in the form of the new classes and new units+supports, aswell as more quest and paralogue missions for the main game.    … Expand
  7. Aeron_ZX
    Feb 21, 2020
    7
    That's really deisappointing, after the precedent of Xenoblade 2 Torna expansion, this kind of DLC is a let down. A bland 5 hours storyThat's really deisappointing, after the precedent of Xenoblade 2 Torna expansion, this kind of DLC is a let down. A bland 5 hours story consisting of 7 maps, with some of them being recycled. Only 4 new payable characters and 4 new classes (which are nothing new in the series and should have been in the game in the first place).

    Expected a lot more and got a meh.    … Expand
  8. Phuz
    May 23, 2022
    2
    Very half arsed. It felt rushed.

    The characters are really annoying. I played a level at a time over about three sittings and that is all    Very half arsed. It felt rushed.

    The characters are really annoying. I played a level at a time over about three sittings and that is all I've done. I just don't have the interest to play it again. I would sit for hours with the main game and play level, after level for hours on end.

    FE3H is my favourite game ever and that is coming from someone that doesn't like full 3D games. I loved it though and have completed two run throughs. I started learning some of the songs on my piano and even started playing some on my phone when walking around at work

    I felt some of my characters were far too weak. This is DLC. I completed the game twice and was used to my characters being levelled, so it was weird them being rock bottom weak.

    I did like the new world but again, it felt half baked. Poor effort.    … Expand

See all 16 User Reviews

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78
#78 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2020

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