Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Side Story: Cindered Shadows

Overall, the only real issue with Cindered Shadows is how rote the story feels. In particular, the "twists" players are subjected to are so predictable that they might as well be screamed in Byleth's face by the first guard they come across. Luckily, that's balanced by the truly great Ashen Wolves characters, who are both interesting in ways that make them feel like their own people and, in some cases, actually pretty useful in battle too.

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]

Cindered Shadows truly takes the playstyle of pre-Awakening Fire Emblem: map after map, limited things to do to prep, and forcing budgeting for most of the time. The maps themselves are about the same difficulty as about a chapter from 17 to 20 in the base game, but without the backup of possibly having higher-end classes. That said, it was still a fun experience, and the new options provided by having the Ashen Wolves in my class make me want to get back on the bike and finish the storylines I’ve yet to play myself.

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.

Crimson Shadows is the extra add on to Fire Emblem: Three Houses I didn’t know I needed. It’s a perfect blend of additional tasty gameplay (with some challenges for those who want it), a fun story, and great characters. To top it all off, it gives you some tools to replay the original game in a new way. What’s not to love?

Cindered Shadows considerably ups the difficulty of the fights, and this is by far its distinguishing feature. Otherwise, it's just more of the same of one of the best games in the library of Nintendo Switch.

Cindered Shadows is everything we expected from a Fire Emblem Three Houses DLC, turning the Season Pass into a great deal with its new characters, new classes, and tough battles. It removes the flaws of the main campaigns to give us a condensed version of intense battles and story, with enough new features sprinkled on top of it to extend the game experience an average of ten hours. If you plan to replay campaigns later on, its price is entirely justified.

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.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Cindered Shadows is one of those downloadable add-ons that’s solid enough. Overall this feels more in line with earlier entries in the series, stripping away most of the exciting newer features demonstrated in the original release. This makes for an experience that’s enjoyable but also rather unsurprising and straightforward. As far as story expansions go though, Cindered Shadows will likely have you hooked on Fire Emblem once again. It’s just hard not to be a little disappointed given how excellent Fire Emblem: Three Houses was.

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.

Cindered Shadows includes new characters, new classes and features some tough challenges but the story depicted in this DLC is quite disappointing and lacks of impact and creativity.

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.

Another good value expansion pass from Nintendo, that doesn’t quite make up for the flaws of the parent game but does manage to emphasise its most positive qualities.

Cindered Shadows brings the Three Houses’ Expansion Pass content to a definite conclusion, but without a bang. While its additions to the main campaign are somehow welcoming, the new story chapter is short and bland. Long-time fans of the series can be happy and excited with the challenging gameplay that has been a trademark of the series, but the overall quality of Cindered Shadows might not be enough to justify a Pass purchase, except to the players willing to experience all of the content Three Houses can offer.