Fire Emblem: Three Houses

 Switch
User Score
8.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2891 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,540 out of 2891
  2. Mixed: 124 out of 2891
  3. Negative: 227 out of 2891
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  1. Germaniumer
    Jul 26, 2019
    1
    Graphics and animations have progressed from those of FEs on 3DS.
    But level design,system, and UI became worse.
  2. GloriaVic
    Jul 26, 2019
    0
    It's not the best Fire Emblem, and nor is't close to being one of the best, this saga has lost every drop of its essence and original charm. I've played it for several hours and I can come to the conclusion that it's more of the same anime weaboo pandering, Fire Emblem will be Fire Emblem again when they worry about creating mature stories and stop implementing dating systems.
  3. ToshiKusakihara
    Jul 26, 2019
    0
    I only played a few hours and I have said that it has been a disappointing experience, I was sparing a better graphic performance for a Switch game, but this seems like PS2 game, and the story seems pretty boring, it doesn't hook me.
  4. SharonMeier
    Jul 26, 2019
    0
    I thought it would be a good fusion of what Tellius was on the Wii with the mechanics of handheld consoles, but the central mechanics of the game have not finished curdling for me. Previous games like Shadows of Valentia were much better, people are giving this game a very high score. I think it's a pretty deficient Fire Emblem to call it the "best."
  5. KarlitoZans
    Jul 26, 2019
    0
    It's ridiculous how they overvalue this game, it's really not that good, the story is not the best in the saga, the artstyle is poor and generic, and the gameplay is somewhat broken.
  6. AceAscendus
    Jul 26, 2019
    0
    This is not REAL Fire Emblem, it is some Harry Potter style school nonsense! Bring back Path of Radiance era Fire Emblem.
  7. TheGuyWhoHats
    Apr 21, 2023
    0
    Three Houses has a lot of problems, the monastery sections get boring after a few chapters, Some routes aren't finished, The gameplay is not as good as other games like Engage or Fates: Conquest. But i don't really care because I can make Ashe a great knight and I think that's funny.
  8. tobias007
    Nov 19, 2019
    4
    This game is WAY too freaking easy. Jesus Christ... I returned it after about 20 hours with the intention of rebuying when they finally get around to adding Lunatic/Infernal difficulty. "Hard mode" has literally never felt easier in a FE game before. This is like "baby's first Fire Emblem" in all honesty.

    A bit of a nitpick, but the graphics and art style really leave a lot to be    This game is WAY too freaking easy. Jesus Christ... I returned it after about 20 hours with the intention of rebuying when they finally get around to adding Lunatic/Infernal difficulty. "Hard mode" has literally never felt easier in a FE game before. This is like "baby's first Fire Emblem" in all honesty.

    A bit of a nitpick, but the graphics and art style really leave a lot to be desired. The game looks even more lackluster than Pokemon Sword/Shield. Well, at least 3 Houses has plenty of content to keep the player busy (unlike Pokemon). Credit where it's due.    … Expand
  9. Ughduty
    Jun 11, 2020
    4
    There is one bad thing that stands out and that is the handheld support. A lot of texts are far too small to be read comfortably.

    Further the tutorial is lacking and the in game documentation too. The learning curve at least for newcomers will therefore be relatively high. Other than that it is a very nice game so far. Currently around 15 hours in. The characters have a lot of    There is one bad thing that stands out and that is the handheld support. A lot of texts are far too small to be read comfortably.

    Further the tutorial is lacking and the in game documentation too. The learning curve at least for newcomers will therefore be relatively high.

    Other than that it is a very nice game so far. Currently around 15 hours in. The characters have a lot of personality and the longer the game goes on the more you are going to care about them. The things you can do between battle missions by exploring the monastery, talking to people, catch fish, grow plants and so on are a welcoming change. The strategic part of the game is demanding if you play the game on the hard difficulty. I chose to play in classic mode which means that if someone in battle dies he will be dead for good. However because you have a time turner to your availability that lets you go back up to 3 turns this is not such a big challenge. Up until now I haven‘t lost anyone.

    If they would make the texts better readable in handheld mode I would give the game a 9 out of 10.    … Expand
  10. Hackattaque
    Feb 20, 2022
    4
    A very good, very solid turn-based strategy game, that only suffers from a hot anime mess of a plot line (which after a great start gets bogged down in endless exposition) and a lack of surprises after the halfway point (there are only a couple of fun maps with unique mechanics like warp points).

    The idea of playing through the game again twice doesn’t appeal — in hindsight I wish the    A very good, very solid turn-based strategy game, that only suffers from a hot anime mess of a plot line (which after a great start gets bogged down in endless exposition) and a lack of surprises after the halfway point (there are only a couple of fun maps with unique mechanics like warp points).

    The idea of playing through the game again twice doesn’t appeal — in hindsight I wish the game had fewer play throughs and one single kick ass consolidated story . But still a v v good game    … Expand
  11. mattyess
    Jun 19, 2021
    1
    Why is it so hard to find a challenging, or at least ‘balanced’, strategy game these days? There is no point in using strategy in this “strategy” game. The AI is as dumb as dirt. And it is far too easy to level up your players and end up with a team that is near invincible, at which point you can spam auto-battle on each turn and just roll over your opponent. It’s such a pity because thereWhy is it so hard to find a challenging, or at least ‘balanced’, strategy game these days? There is no point in using strategy in this “strategy” game. The AI is as dumb as dirt. And it is far too easy to level up your players and end up with a team that is near invincible, at which point you can spam auto-battle on each turn and just roll over your opponent. It’s such a pity because there is so much great customisation and thought that has been poured into the skill and character class creation. But what is the point when the AI just rushes head first in to each battle and throws themselves on to your sword?

    Hugely disappointing game.    … Expand
  12. Madethistowarn
    Jul 3, 2022
    0
    By far the worst in the franchise, 0 thought went into putting the fights together. The review you see above is bought and paid for. This game is water trash
  13. s2ada
    Sep 8, 2019
    1
    Un point juste pour le fait que les histoires diffère entre la personne choisis car tout le reste est chiant.
  14. GenkiYokota
    Jan 27, 2022
    0
    The worst Fire Emblem that exists and I don't shy away from saying it.
    The graphics are terrible for the console they came out on, the story is one of the worst in the entire series, and the game has been sullied with mechanics that have nothing to do with the general essence of FE.
    A total shame.
  15. tangledwings
    Apr 4, 2020
    4
    I played through the entire game. It is such a shame that this game decides to give you 1/5th of a game in a 50 hours+ playthrough. Such a tedious, repetitive, frustrating, waste of time. It is impossible to enjoy the game because every time something interesting happens, it's always like "we'll maybe explain it in a future playthrough or paid DLC." The result is an empty, soullessI played through the entire game. It is such a shame that this game decides to give you 1/5th of a game in a 50 hours+ playthrough. Such a tedious, repetitive, frustrating, waste of time. It is impossible to enjoy the game because every time something interesting happens, it's always like "we'll maybe explain it in a future playthrough or paid DLC." The result is an empty, soulless experience where it's impossible to be emotionally invested in anything.

    During your first playthrough, you will have no idea what is going on. It's hard to put into words just how poorly the story is presented. 95% of your dialog options go like this:

    "I am person X from place Y."

    A: "Person X?"
    B: "Place Y?"

    NPC Answer: The same no matter what you pick.

    There are maybe 2 choices that actually matter, though there are few that seem huge and yet turn out to be completely meaningless:

    "Will you be my ally or my enemy?"

    A: Ally
    B: Enemy

    NPC Answer: Ok, we will be enemies regardless of what you pick.

    The player has no control over any interaction. Half-way through you will be asked to pick a side in a war where nobody explains why they are fighting or tries to convince you in any way. You will have 0 context for this decision. That is the biggest choice in the game. Even after finishing the game, I don't understand why we were fighting. I guess I can play through 5 more times to find out!

    The relationship building system is also terrible. Characters will bond and trigger various cut-scenes. Half of them will be fights where the characters clearly hate each other, so it's weird to call it bonding but OK. Characters have 1 personality trait and all interactions revolve around that. The last cut-scene will largely be the characters asking other characters to consider marrying them. One character will propose to like 4-5 different people, it's so weird. At the very end, you will get a text box telling you that certain characters got married, which seems entirely random and no one really knows the formula. All my end pairings were between people I consider incompatible. The player's own marriage is awkward and sterile. And of course, lots of characters will seem to be in love with you before the last battle, because there is only one path for each relationship and all paths that can end in marriage, end in marriage. There aren't many. 3-4 very short conversations with each character.

    This was my First fire Emblem game and yeah, I hate it. I don't understand what people find appealing about this mess. The music is terrible. The player character aesthetic, ugh. The empty coat sleeves flailing about, the fishnets with holes, the open fly, the floating collar, the green hair. It's everything that's ever been wrong about JRPGs. No customization, silent cardboard protagonist, grindy, bizarre color and style choices, tries to draw inspiration from medieval Europe but ends up just making everything weird.    … Expand
  16. Klansterjander
    Sep 7, 2019
    1
    Totally predictable and disappointing, do not touch even with a stick, get away from this game, do not be fooled. The worst video game of this year for my taste.
  17. CarlTheAwesome
    Jul 29, 2019
    3
    I applaud designer's intention to be creative and want to add more mechanics to the game. But for people who are not into ACG/life sim games, or who just don't get those anime/manga culture, the academic life sim part of the game is just a waste of time. You can skip most of those, but you lose lots of benefit and reward. So the life sim part is not really optional if you want to maximizeI applaud designer's intention to be creative and want to add more mechanics to the game. But for people who are not into ACG/life sim games, or who just don't get those anime/manga culture, the academic life sim part of the game is just a waste of time. You can skip most of those, but you lose lots of benefit and reward. So the life sim part is not really optional if you want to maximize your resources. The graphics, modeling and animation is somehow much worse than Fire Emblem Warriors which has a lot more characters on screen.… Expand
  18. Ctarblu
    Nov 3, 2019
    3
    The first half of the game is almost good though easy as hell even on hard difficulty. But the second half... Let's split it into the sections
    1. Balance
    Before the time skip you don't even need to think to go through most of the missions. After the *spoiler* there is a huge difficulty spike. And no I'm not a dummy who can't do good trades or use game mechanics. Instead of creating    The first half of the game is almost good though easy as hell even on hard difficulty. But the second half... Let's split it into the sections
    1. Balance
    Before the time skip you don't even need to think to go through most of the missions. After the *spoiler* there is a huge difficulty spike. And no I'm not a dummy who can't do good trades or use game mechanics. Instead of creating difficult lay outs or introducing new game mechanics to make fights harder developers choose to make corridor maps with infinite enemy spawns. I literally had a situation where after 25 minutes of clearing mobs I had more enemies on the map than on the start of the mission. It's not a good game design it's an artificial difficulty
    2. Story
    Again the first half is fine. There is not a lot going on, but it's basically introduction to the world. The second half is the problem. I went eagle route. There is 18 chapters in it if I recall correctly. Imagine the game where right after a huge plot point progression stops for 6-8 hours in the last third of the game. That is FE:TH. 4-5 chapters at the start of second half provide no story whatsoever. And don't even try to argue "you just didn't complete those side activities". Main story should NEVER be hidden under various side activities. There are a lot of gamers who play story base games for the main story.
    3. Characters
    This one is controversial but I just didn't like them. They felt generic and almost all of them lack in character development. But I get why some people like them
    4. UI
    Some texts are unreadable in portable mod. And overall UI is far from perfect.
    5. Performance
    There a some awful looking textures, awful backgrounds and frame drops but it's not that big of a deal. The game is playable and looks fine
    Can't rate it higher. I wanted this game to be good so hard but it's not even average imo    … Expand
  19. Eve84
    Jul 28, 2019
    3
    If this was a "proper" FE game, it could actually be great, but the endless monastery free exploration and anime relationship activities just drag the game down significantly. Especially since all it does is complcate actions that older FE games let you do with two clicks.

    Allocating extra skill points for example could be done between missions in other entries. Now you have to run    If this was a "proper" FE game, it could actually be great, but the endless monastery free exploration and anime relationship activities just drag the game down significantly. Especially since all it does is complcate actions that older FE games let you do with two clicks.

    Allocating extra skill points for example could be done between missions in other entries. Now you have to run around for half an hour, grabbing gifts from one student, bring them to others, then get vegetables as reward, which you use at the dinner activity to bring their motivation up, so you can use the motivation to lecture them personally and raise their skill points. Its just useless.

    And combat is the easiest its ever been. There are so many crutches that you literally cannot do wrong. Not only can you turn back time, but also the game shows you exactly where and who enemies will target. Meaning that you literally cannot make a wrong move. There's no strategy involved and combat just revolves around exploiting this.    … Expand
  20. Bunniebun
    Aug 3, 2019
    4
    Start strong but falls flat. The gameplay become too repetitive and boring. Story is nice but story telling isn't very good. Art direction is also worse than previous versions.
  21. gnlarsson
    Aug 15, 2019
    3
    Let me preface by saying - I have been playing Fire Emblem since Path of Radiance. Been playing RPGs since NES. I have never reviewed a video game before, and created an account specifically for this. Love Fire Emblem series... or should I say I used to? Below is my breakdown on this game:

    Pros: -Nice graphics. -Fun additions to battles, including specialized items, new job class    Let me preface by saying - I have been playing Fire Emblem since Path of Radiance. Been playing RPGs since NES. I have never reviewed a video game before, and created an account specifically for this. Love Fire Emblem series... or should I say I used to? Below is my breakdown on this game:

    Pros:
    -Nice graphics.
    -Fun additions to battles, including specialized items, new job class promotion routes, and gambits.
    -Interesting new main plot storyline with fun characters and an interesting, fresh setting.

    Cons:
    -Exploring is tedious. Monastery feels like an early beta release. If you are obsessive like me, you will comb this monastery many many times over looking for insignificant items, only to inexplicably miss a support or story line item because it's not clear what conversation choices will be received well

    -A high focus on cheesy, terrible relationship building and chatter that is absolutely miserable to follow. This seems geared towards a small niche of people.

    -Side jobs that could be fun - gardening, fishing, building your professor ranking - seems interesting at first. Gardening is a chore with no finesse, fishing feels rushed and has no interest, and bears very little reward. Tournaments are simple - throw your strongest character in regardless of weapon (Or magic user) and smash B button to make it go fast. Also very little reward.

    -Character progression ends on some truly odd "Master classes". Sword and magic? Reason based attack classes? These demand you be poor at multiple skills instead of good or great at any one.

    -Tea time; Seminars; Instruction; weekly tasks; these are all a complete drag.

    -Shorter significant story line, which I suppose is supplemented by multiple houses (Storyline playthroughs) and all the dating-game nonsense? I hope you liked scumming the monastery for items and conversations 15+ times on your first playthrough, because there are more playthroughs after that.

    -Very, very easy.

    Summary: The main storyline has some fun aspects and battle is neat, albeit easy. But know that you are buying more of an anime dating game rather than a legitimate, gritty, difficult entry into what was an amazing series. My suggestion: Don't waste your money.    … Expand
  22. DrRob
    Jul 28, 2019
    1
    Borrrring., complicated, messy and the graphics are from an other decade. They wanted to do a game with a lot of content but at the end you don't know what to focus on. Not everything is explained which makes the game confusing
  23. crashman84
    Jul 28, 2019
    3
    - FPS drops in strategy maps as well as exploration
    - Exploration is completely unnecessary and puts the focus away from strategy maps
    - Tons of fetch quests just so you can give extra skill points to characters - Strategy maps are completely easy and without any challenge - You can turn back time as well as always know which character gets attacked before the enemies turn, removing    - FPS drops in strategy maps as well as exploration
    - Exploration is completely unnecessary and puts the focus away from strategy maps
    - Tons of fetch quests just so you can give extra skill points to characters
    - Strategy maps are completely easy and without any challenge
    - You can turn back time as well as always know which character gets attacked before the enemies turn, removing strategy aspects from the game
    - Typical anime trope school setting
    - Music is quite bad
    - Story in the last third makes no sense    … Expand
  24. velvet01
    Sep 4, 2019
    1
    muy mal juego ,, graficas pobres ,, todo repetitivo ... arrastra los mismos errores que tiene la franquicia desde el 3DS.
  25. RandomNetizen
    Jul 27, 2019
    2
    I was looking forward this game, after all the announcements about gay relationships and featuring a BoysLove artist for the character designs, but after release it became clear that this game is little progress compared to its predecessors in this regard and Nintendo still doesn't care about its anti-LGBT-messages in its games.
  26. Nowakowski
    Oct 17, 2019
    0
    This game is my biggest disappointment; possibly one of the biggest disappointments I have had from a video game. It makes very little sense and just feels half baked.
    However, the story is dreadful. Honestly, this one is a bit of a dud for me and I'm surprised.
  27. Vexxen
    Jul 27, 2019
    0
    I had to return the game once I found out it literally copied and pasted from Persona 5. The studio essentially took what Harry Potter did and implemented into their school system. Not only that but they also took alot from trails of cold steel 1 and 2 . I'll BE saving my money for an original abd innovative game like outer worlds. Devs like Obsidian that focus on making new games insteadI had to return the game once I found out it literally copied and pasted from Persona 5. The studio essentially took what Harry Potter did and implemented into their school system. Not only that but they also took alot from trails of cold steel 1 and 2 . I'll BE saving my money for an original abd innovative game like outer worlds. Devs like Obsidian that focus on making new games instead of ripping off other less known games.… Expand
  28. Calvotoxico
    Sep 5, 2019
    1
    Es un juego que objetivamente hablando no es del todo muy convincente. No me gusta la base ni los gráficos.. Quizá lo venda antes que se devalue.
  29. D3t0x15
    Sep 17, 2019
    4
    This game is a joke. I play the Fire Emblem saga since Seisen no Keifu ( who isn't even the "first one" that has been released in Europe) and many thing need to be reworked ....

    First, a lot inconsistency are present in the story telling ( so much that i've lost the count before the 10th chapter) Secondly, when you try to introduce a new game mechanic, be sure that it has a purpose.    This game is a joke. I play the Fire Emblem saga since Seisen no Keifu ( who isn't even the "first one" that has been released in Europe) and many thing need to be reworked ....

    First, a lot inconsistency are present in the story telling ( so much that i've lost the count before the 10th chapter)

    Secondly, when you try to introduce a new game mechanic, be sure that it has a purpose. Cause putting a rewind time just "broke" the game. If you want to play on perma death it's useless; and if you don't want to use the perma death it has no purpose whatsoever.

    After that, the plot twist is ..... no comment..... ( you can clearly see who's going to stab you in the back and you can clearly see some ressemblances with other Fire Emblem character and their plot twist ...)

    Then, you are obliged to wait to get deeper in certain relationship ( obliged to wait for the history to move on) You can be in a S relationship before the second half of the game ...

    After that , we could talk about bad framerate, bad graphism, the UI who S*cks balls, having more than 4 times the same map to battle on, waifus and husbandos spitting the same line of dialog over and over till you begin to hate your own waifu, and so on ....

    Finally, to all of those who give a 10 to a game like this, I just want to say one thing: You're destroying the video game industry by having no freaking opinion 'where are the explication for your 10 out of 10 ? Finish the game totally then do your review, be a little more critical and the world will be a better place were people will work harder and harder for a better result.    … Expand
  30. RPSx
    Sep 23, 2019
    1
    The text is impossibly small. It ruins the entire game experience for me. I can't read a word of the tutorials. Complete and total design 101 fail. Please, game companies... don't design on a computer monitor. Design on the device you're creating for. Seriously, couldn't play this for more than 5 minutes. Selling it immediately.
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Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best Switch Game of 2019
4
#4 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2019
4
#4 Most Shared Switch Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 102 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 98 out of 102
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 102
  3. Negative: 0 out of 102
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Apr 28, 2020
    95
    There may be too much content here for busy adults to tackle! I don't know when I'm going to find the time to do full playthroughs of the other two Houses that I didn't choose to begin with! [Issue #41 – September 2019, p. 74]
  2. Universo Nintendo
    Oct 29, 2019
    90
    Fire Emblem Three Houses is one of Switch's best games of 2019 and a breeze of fresh air to this franchise. Unfortunately, its poor animations preclude any possibility of being the game of the year.
    Read full review
  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Oct 11, 2019
    86
    Large selection of classes, good AI and wide variety of missions make Fire Emblem: Three Houses one of the best turn-based tactics. [Issue#240, p.50]
See all critic reviews »