Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Side Story: Cindered Shadows

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User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 67 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 52 out of 67
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 67
  3. Negative: 7 out of 67

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  1. badlatency
    Feb 16, 2020
    7
    A fun side adventure with some enjoyable characters and amazing music, though the story itself is on the weaker side and leans into some cliches rather hard and recycles a number of maps. It does provide an enjoyable peek into further world lore and the backstory of the main character however. And some of the chapters were especially enjoyable. Could have been better, but could have beenA fun side adventure with some enjoyable characters and amazing music, though the story itself is on the weaker side and leans into some cliches rather hard and recycles a number of maps. It does provide an enjoyable peek into further world lore and the backstory of the main character however. And some of the chapters were especially enjoyable. Could have been better, but could have been much worse.… Expand
  2. 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 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.
  3. Friendlyelites
    Feb 14, 2020
    9
    Over the course of the roughly 6-15 hour long side story I experienced the most bristling challenge I've seen in a Fire Emblem game since Fire Emblem Fates's chapter 10 of the Conquest route. Anyone who was disappointed in the lack of challenge in Three Houses campaign will be pleasantly surprised with this side story. The new characters are fairly interesting and the new classes for unitsOver the course of the roughly 6-15 hour long side story I experienced the most bristling challenge I've seen in a Fire Emblem game since Fire Emblem Fates's chapter 10 of the Conquest route. Anyone who was disappointed in the lack of challenge in Three Houses campaign will be pleasantly surprised with this side story. The new characters are fairly interesting and the new classes for units to upgrade into spice up the experience no matter how you like to play. Easy 9/10 in all regards, especially the music. Three Houses was robbed of best OST.… Expand
  4. KayThonkNoel
    Feb 22, 2020
    8
    This has its ups and down, the side story is okay but not fantastic, the characters are quite well-designed but obviously too OP even for hard/ classic mode, I expected a maddening mode for this side story but nope.

    For the maps and objectives, there are some new unique objectives comparing to the generic rout the enemies/ commander in the main stories, the locked roster/ skills    This has its ups and down, the side story is okay but not fantastic, the characters are quite well-designed but obviously too OP even for hard/ classic mode, I expected a maddening mode for this side story but nope.

    For the maps and objectives, there are some new unique objectives comparing to the generic rout the enemies/ commander in the main stories, the locked roster/ skills surprisingly bring some fresh air comparing to the main games where there are more options in building characters and making them OP rather than playing out what you are currently having. But again, the new characters are too OP in this side story to the point the final boss becomes a mindless HP grind by repeating the same moves over and over again.

    I haven't recruited any new char by the time writing this reviews, but giving how strong they are in the side story, I could imagine how balance will be thrown out of the window in the main game, not gonna lie, I like it and am very eager to try out glass cannon Constance build in the main game.

    The Abyss is also a new area that got added to the game with some new features that may help even more in making the game becomes imbalanced (I'm looking at you the offering table) or just don't do anything at all (e.g mysterious teacher), all in all quite lackluster since I expected a somewhat endgame dungeon series gameplay to have some experiences with the final build since everyone feels like a WIP in the main story.

    In conclusion, a good DLC to shaking things up, but disappointing as a final one, I expected more.    … Expand
  5. 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 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    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 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
  6. 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.
  7. bagelman
    Mar 14, 2021
    8
    If you want more challenge from Fire Emblem: Three Houses but find Maddening to be too cheesy, you will enjoy the scenarios this game provides. If you want a good story, I would avoid.
  8. Blester
    Feb 16, 2020
    9
    I really liked the Expansion. It's 7 chapters long, a full route is about 20. Really expands on the lore and world building of this release, also answers some interesting questions that I didn't know I needed, although it opens others that i'm sure will never have an answer.

    I completed it on Hard/Classic. If you are still kind of new to this franchise, you should stick to    I really liked the Expansion. It's 7 chapters long, a full route is about 20. Really expands on the lore and world building of this release, also answers some interesting questions that I didn't know I needed, although it opens others that i'm sure will never have an answer.

    I completed it on Hard/Classic. If you are still kind of new to this franchise, you should stick to Normal/Cassual for this one. Surprisingly, it's a very challenging story. The chapters I struggled the most were 3 and 6.

    You have a set numbers of units, you cannot aquire new classes nor you gain proficiency for weapons during combat, and you can only use Divine Pulse up to 5 times per map, which severlty limits your options, so every decision matters even more.

    I feel it's worth the money, once you complete the DLC, the game rewards you with new items, costumes, classes, and the chance to recruit 4 new characters with support conversations.    … Expand
  9. dr0nzer
    May 19, 2020
    7
    way too much text and the voice over drags this on, partly because there's nothing interesting to see on screen other than still and basic animated art in lieu of cut scenes, the battles takes too long, padded out with a mass amount of enemies and maps are recycled a lot. DLC felt like a cheap money grab. Story was cliché and predictable.
  10. 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 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    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
  11. GabFire
    Aug 9, 2020
    3
    DLC muito fraca para esse jogo, Nintendo às vezes consegue estragar algo que estava quieto, era melhor vocês terem feito um novo ''Zelda'' do que essa DLC!
  12. 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 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    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
  13. Mcmardigang
    Jul 18, 2020
    9
    La historia es muy entretenida. Tienes muchas horas de diversión. A nivel gráfico es más que suficiente. Es un juego muy original y que te garantiza horas y horas de entretenimiento puro.
  14. 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 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.
  15. 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, 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 aúnCindered 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
  16. Elias373
    Mar 21, 2022
    10
    Der Dlc ist etwas teuer aber trotzdem super
    Kämpfe und Musik sind immer noch sehr gut
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Awards & Rankings

78
#78 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. 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.
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  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]
  3. Nintendo Insider
    Apr 16, 2020
    70
    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.
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