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
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. Profyt
    Jan 31, 2020
    2
    This game is terribly boring. The main point is to run around in circles reading dialogue, doing fetch quests and checking out the waifus. Even anime fans probably wouldn't like this game because the gameplay is soo boring! The combat isn't really innovative or very exciting, its ur typical tactical rpg stuff, deploy some dudes, run them to various terrains- use magic, melee or rangedThis game is terribly boring. The main point is to run around in circles reading dialogue, doing fetch quests and checking out the waifus. Even anime fans probably wouldn't like this game because the gameplay is soo boring! The combat isn't really innovative or very exciting, its ur typical tactical rpg stuff, deploy some dudes, run them to various terrains- use magic, melee or ranged attacks, kill the enemy- then run around hogwarts for another 20 minutes.
    idk, i guess some people are into it, but its a huge time sink just to read tons of dialogue...    … Expand
  2. Endrance09
    Jul 28, 2019
    0
    Don't waste your money on this trash game that looks like the PS2 era. Play 3 hours with 0 gameplay
  3. xaurax
    Jul 27, 2019
    0
    Malo con ganas y aburrido. Dando vueltas sin hacer nada. Si lo sé no lo compro
  4. Kleptomacer
    Oct 15, 2019
    0
    Obnoxious characters and boring story line make this game not worth playing. Avoid.
  5. Promotheus
    Oct 30, 2020
    0
    I like the Fire Emblem franchise so I decided to give this one a try out of sheer covid boredom. If you do not like anime aesthetics, or tropes when it comes to story telling and characters, give this one a pass. I understand that they are going for a Harry Potter thing with the three houses and all. But it makes zero sense to send young literally children out into war to be killed (not toI like the Fire Emblem franchise so I decided to give this one a try out of sheer covid boredom. If you do not like anime aesthetics, or tropes when it comes to story telling and characters, give this one a pass. I understand that they are going for a Harry Potter thing with the three houses and all. But it makes zero sense to send young literally children out into war to be killed (not to mention everyone being so casual about it).

    The characters are very stereotypical and predictable, you have your awkward shy emo girl who self quarantines even though there’s no pandemic and so on. The male characters are pretty much all this Japanese male ideal of being very thin and effeminate, which is fine it’s just a bit jarring as a westener.

    If you are Gen Z, and/or a weeb, you will love this game. Otherwise you will probably hate it like I do. It’s sad because the standard Fire Emblem tactical gameplay is fine, if only you didn’t have to deal with the chore of the dating sim/visual novel **** John Carmack said it best: ”Video games need a story just as much as a porn movie does”. I wish I could refund this but alas.    … Expand
  6. bruddawakka
    Jul 28, 2019
    0
    Awful graphics, awful romance options, broken unbalanced gameplay, way too easy,fix this immediately.
  7. pdecou
    Jul 26, 2019
    5
    it's different from the old fire emblems but it doesn't seem like a bad game after 8 hours, but the part in the academy isn't much fun to carry on.
    unfortunately the graphics are ugly, almost like the new pokemon. much better games come out on switch like dragon quest or valkyria chronicles, these results are unacceptable from nintendo.
  8. s1w1s
    Jul 30, 2019
    0
    Cons
    - Koei developer
    - Worst graphic
    - Worst user interface
    - Worst story
    - Battle is like retro game

    All the japan games in these days are bad.
    They only like your money.
  9. zxreo
    Dec 6, 2020
    0
    No gameplay. No ergonomy. No artistic direction. Grindy, waste of time. Play the GBA titles.
  10. sarisa
    Jul 27, 2021
    10
    Wow. Now this is a game!
    This game reminds me Attack on Titan anime in so many aspects: well expanded relationships between characters, astonishing music (strongest point in the game); various plots & twists; superb story involving real politics or strategy.
    I rarely give high notes for games. But this time it's well deserved 10 out of 10. Sure, this game has some problems -    Wow. Now this is a game!
    This game reminds me Attack on Titan anime in so many aspects: well expanded relationships between characters, astonishing music (strongest point in the game); various plots & twists; superb story involving real politics or strategy.
    I rarely give high notes for games. But this time it's well deserved 10 out of 10.

    Sure, this game has some problems - difficulty level called "normal" is way too easy.
    Some aspects about controlls like moving Byleth in monastery are, well... strange. Especially if you face even little drift in your joycon. Sure, some activities could be developed better, with more heart involved. They feel in generall like being little superficiall. But again, the game should always maintain proper balance. And it is what this game does.
    I never liked tactical RPGs, but this game is simply great. And I feel now being more interested in the genre. I want more!    … Expand
  11. Valkyrje
    Jan 7, 2021
    5
    So, after about 40h (some way into second part/act) I decided to drop this game. It was no longer enjoyable to me and I decided to not give in a sunken cost fallacy, as per my New Year's resolution :). I enjoyed the tactical gameplay until it rapidly became much too easy (I played on normal) but a myriad of not fun and full of anime-tropes activities on top of units micromanagement was tooSo, after about 40h (some way into second part/act) I decided to drop this game. It was no longer enjoyable to me and I decided to not give in a sunken cost fallacy, as per my New Year's resolution :). I enjoyed the tactical gameplay until it rapidly became much too easy (I played on normal) but a myriad of not fun and full of anime-tropes activities on top of units micromanagement was too much for me. If you like that, go ahead, but for me, I dream of a day when tactical games will give more freedom than old as a World moving on a square grid etc.… Expand
  12. amandra
    Jan 3, 2021
    3
    This game is very boring. I ended up dumping an above average amount of time into this because the reviews _must_ be justified eventually. They weren't and I'd love to have that time back. In the end this just seems like a game for prepubescents to gawk at anime girls...there's less time consuming ways to accomplish that.

    Pros: Polished Decent story Bones of a good strategy game, but just    This game is very boring. I ended up dumping an above average amount of time into this because the reviews _must_ be justified eventually. They weren't and I'd love to have that time back. In the end this just seems like a game for prepubescents to gawk at anime girls...there's less time consuming ways to accomplish that.

    Pros:
    Polished
    Decent story
    Bones of a good strategy game, but just bones.

    Cons:
    The maps have virtually no impact on strategy. Strategy has virtually no impact on winning (it's insanely easy).

    The school thing was pure grind. Unrewarding, soul-crushing grind, that you can't really skip if you want to try to craft a team. They even knew it was boring since for the second half they cut out quests and you simply run around to get instructed. Yay...

    Tea parties....wtf?

    Plot paths revolve around preposterous situations. Side with a traitorous serial killer or you current allies? Believe it or not the interwebs claims siding with the killer is a better story. I won't know cuz I couldn't be bothered to try a different story path. One was enough torture.    … Expand
  13. elandroid
    Jan 3, 2020
    6
    Nada mal con este Fire Emblem. Las mecánicas y las batallas siguen siendo las mejores del género. Pero la historia, los personajes, la tediosidad del juego entre fases es tan agotadora que acaba consumiendo más tiempo en tareas monótonas que lo soportable.
  14. lilboa
    Jan 6, 2023
    4
    can you remove the boring academy system?
    It looks like this game doesn't have a good enough story and enough game contents to hold up player's playing time. So you have to use this boring academy system.
  15. Halyo
    Oct 8, 2020
    3
    The maps are boring and uninspired. No strategy at all.
    The classes suck and most of the old classes were removed.
    High school setting is just annoying and is only there as a distraction from the terrible gameplay and progression system.
    TRASH. Buy FE Conquest instead.
  16. eR1c245
    Feb 20, 2021
    3
    I've played pretty much all of the FireEmblem games going back to the GameBoy Advance. Fire Emblem: Three Houses seems to be focussed on pointless side stories and tasks. Fishing, collecting lost items, cooking and buying birthday gifts to gain points seems pointless to me. The turn-based strategy is what I always loved about the FE series and Three Houses seems to be focussed on the wrongI've played pretty much all of the FireEmblem games going back to the GameBoy Advance. Fire Emblem: Three Houses seems to be focussed on pointless side stories and tasks. Fishing, collecting lost items, cooking and buying birthday gifts to gain points seems pointless to me. The turn-based strategy is what I always loved about the FE series and Three Houses seems to be focussed on the wrong things in my opinion. Play all the FE titles for the Nintendo 3DS, they are still the best.… Expand
  17. Nekster
    Sep 14, 2019
    5
    bueno, me ha parecido directamente atroz. Si esta es la dirección de la franquicia me bajo aquí. Nada que decir en cuanto a historia, que está bien, ni de los personajes, bien tratados. Tampoco de las infinitas interacciones entre ellos y Byleth. Aunque es precísamente a partir de ello que el juego me ha parecido horripilante. No esperaba encontrar un juego que es basicamente 70% socialbueno, me ha parecido directamente atroz. Si esta es la dirección de la franquicia me bajo aquí. Nada que decir en cuanto a historia, que está bien, ni de los personajes, bien tratados. Tampoco de las infinitas interacciones entre ellos y Byleth. Aunque es precísamente a partir de ello que el juego me ha parecido horripilante. No esperaba encontrar un juego que es basicamente 70% social links (subir niveles de apoyo tomando el té, invitando a comer y demás) y 30% srpg. Y lo peor es que ese 30% aun en hard / classic no tiene ninguna chicha, es un paseo y simplón, tanto que puedes enviar a tus 2 unidades rotas palante y basicamente solearte toda la historia con ellos. Yo buscaba un srpg y a este FE le queda poquito de ello. Coñazo indescriptible que no suspendo porque no lo hago con nada que me termine. Pero lo he hecho con la gota de sudor. Terminada ruta Golden Deer con Lysithea de waifu.… Expand
  18. Method__Man
    Jan 6, 2021
    10
    Lets out it this way. I vowed to only play a single path of this game before starting.

    Fast forward I have played ALL 4 paths and enjoy them all immensely. This is a wonderful game. Battles are challenging, customization deep, exploration of the monastery truly indulging, and most importantly... the story is marvellous. This game alone is worth buying a switch for. Ignore the haters, trust me
  19. jeffbizloc
    Apr 24, 2020
    3
    Fire Emblem Three Houses was a game that I would enjoy if it was focused on tactics. It wasn't designed for difficulty/strategy - way too easy on standard. That makes all the non-battle pieces not really matter in the end (unless you are really into the story).

    Game(s) like: Banner Saga, Persona 5 Pros: - Cool concept of mixing tactical battles with offline story to power up    Fire Emblem Three Houses was a game that I would enjoy if it was focused on tactics. It wasn't designed for difficulty/strategy - way too easy on standard. That makes all the non-battle pieces not really matter in the end (unless you are really into the story).

    Game(s) like: Banner Saga, Persona 5

    Pros:
    - Cool concept of mixing tactical battles with offline story to power up

    Cons:
    - Difficulty made the game boring; harder difficulties were apparently not tuned well either
    - Offline game became stale after a while and well didn't matter since the battles were so easy    … Expand
  20. Isteffy
    Jun 25, 2023
    6
    By far the most overrated Fire Emblem ever to be released, and one that tries so hard to give that ‘high school’ experience of Persona, but ultimately falls flat due to it’s uninspiring characters, lame dialogue, and the games insistence that a Fire Emblem game should have users spend 70% of their game playing a Persona knockoff.

    Worst is that if you are an old fire emblem fan, you will    By far the most overrated Fire Emblem ever to be released, and one that tries so hard to give that ‘high school’ experience of Persona, but ultimately falls flat due to it’s uninspiring characters, lame dialogue, and the games insistence that a Fire Emblem game should have users spend 70% of their game playing a Persona knockoff.

    Worst is that if you are an old fire emblem fan, you will find the combat maps extremely uninspiring and uncreative. A lot of maps were flat with no restrictions and enemies were randomly scattered through the map.

    I got bored and stopped this game 3 times. I wanted to like this, but ultimately this game is just mediocre and i don’t like the direction that this series is going so this will most likely be my last fire emblem game for a while    … Expand
  21. BirdSquanchy
    Sep 4, 2019
    10
    The best tactic RPG i have ever played. Great history with such different routes, lovely characters, and the most important: nice gameplay.
  22. Phuz
    Nov 14, 2021
    10
    Edit: A note about the 0/10 scores on here. People are allowed an opinion. Giving a zero doesn't mean they are counterbalancing 10/10's they don't agree with. For starters if you don't like playing with subtitles, then this is an instant 0/10. The voice acting is shockingly bad. The dialogue is just as bad with heirs to the throne all using the slang of a 10 year old and it just soundsEdit: A note about the 0/10 scores on here. People are allowed an opinion. Giving a zero doesn't mean they are counterbalancing 10/10's they don't agree with. For starters if you don't like playing with subtitles, then this is an instant 0/10. The voice acting is shockingly bad. The dialogue is just as bad with heirs to the throne all using the slang of a 10 year old and it just sounds stupid. Lorenz, Bernadette, Marrianne, (I could list more) are just total dick heads to put in a game. Claude isn't far behind them. Some people just outright don't like the anime art style, I prefer that style but not everyone does. There is dating, yes in game dating. It is **** stupid. It would be much better to give a prompt saying would you like to stare at Manuela's **** for 30 seconds and yes/no options. It is now possibly my favourite game ever and I am surprised still at how high it scores. It has some big gaping holes in its production.

    Anyone saying this voice acting is good, is either very young, or very deaf, or just accept crap acting.

    Permadeath is also optional, some reviews made out like you can't play with permadeath. You can.

    So after getting that out of the way, here is my review.

    I usually can't stand AAA games 'cos they are usually over hyped rubbish. At first I thought the same when I started playing this too. I expected a chess style game like the amazing FE Radiant Dawn on Wii but then started playing and thought what is this God awful walking sim. As I was ready to trade it/sling it across the room, something just clicked and I loved it.

    Now this has elements that I normally can't stand like levelling up, fetch quests, terrible voice acting, walking sim, I could go on forever but suddenly after a few hours, I enjoyed it. For some reason I got dragged in to the world of crappy dialogue, crappy VA (even the Jap VA sounds OTT and cheesy) and running around the base/monastry with pointless missions and thoroughly enjoyed it. Was it the music? Possibly, as I could sit and listen to the music and the game just be a bonus.

    I have seen people slating the graphics on this, I loved it. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to work in context and with the other game elements, which it does extremely well. It looked like a nice anime style to me.

    Sound - the music is amazing, the voice acting the same as every other game - totally annoying rubbish. Audio wise, this is at a level where I youtube the songs, or leave the game running even when I've finished play to carry on listening.

    Gameplay, I enjoy the strategy chess bits and I enjoy the in between sim bits a hell of a lot.

    For me this is a AAA deserving the price tag. Quickly becoming a favourite ever game of mine. The negatives with this don't warrant point deduction because my enjoyment, fun and value of this are all 10. I couldn't put it down, now on 2nd run and clocked 100 hours and bought DLC and still can't put it down.

    I've come back to this review, just to add that after A Link to the Past this is the only game that has left a void in my gaming life, when I finished it. Everything else just feels lame now.

    It is absolutely offensive that this beast of a game is only scored .3 higher than Persona 5. PUT is a boring boring game compared to this. FE3H has polish and flare. PUT feels childish.

    It is very hard to get a good grasp of a game these days from reviews. People will rate any old junk 10/10. This though, absolutely deserves it.    … Expand
  23. L0RDFR3NCHY
    Sep 29, 2019
    5
    Played about 30hours and don't feel like going back to it.
    Not a terrible game but way overrated.
    The soundtrack is one of the few redeeming qualities of this game, the writing is absolute trash. This is very basic anime writing , there isnt much world building, conflicts between kindgoms that you only hear about through text has always been boring. If you love Naruto/One Piece and    Played about 30hours and don't feel like going back to it.
    Not a terrible game but way overrated.
    The soundtrack is one of the few redeeming qualities of this game, the writing is absolute trash.
    This is very basic anime writing , there isnt much world building, conflicts between kindgoms that you only hear about through text has always been boring.
    If you love Naruto/One Piece and dont like Studio Ghibli/cowboy bebop/etc , this is for you    … Expand
  24. EevieRoseAmalee
    Jan 28, 2023
    0
    What to say really. As a classic Fire Emblem fan and one who appreciates some of the newer games like awakening this game just isn't fire emblem. I get it's mainstream and in turn was many peoples first "fire emblem" game and that's okay if you like it, but this game isn't Fire Emblem it should have been a persona spinoff. If they really wanted to make a persona game they should have askedWhat to say really. As a classic Fire Emblem fan and one who appreciates some of the newer games like awakening this game just isn't fire emblem. I get it's mainstream and in turn was many peoples first "fire emblem" game and that's okay if you like it, but this game isn't Fire Emblem it should have been a persona spinoff. If they really wanted to make a persona game they should have asked atlus because atlus does it better. Instead we got a game where boring and mundane social mechanics are integral to the story progression and they removed the weapon triangle something that gives fire emblem it's identity. That would be like removing pokemon types. It removes the identity from the game. As a fire emblem fan I can never recommend this game to another fire emblem fan simply because it spits in the face of what fire emblem is known for and does it's own thing all the while waltzing around with the name "fire emblem", but it isn't even fully made by intelligent systems. If you enjoy half baked social mechanics and baby mechanics that make a game way to easy with no challenge then this game might be for you, but if you're a fire emblem fan who appreciates all the good things that the series has done then just stay away from this one because it takes away so much and instead turns this game into a social sim with no real accomplishments in return for them.… Expand
  25. Lesh0
    Sep 12, 2019
    6
    Tbh i expected more from the hype this game had. Sadly it didnt deliver to me, the beginning of the game was boring, every moth activities were interesting in the start but also got fed up with them too quickly. On the other hand chapter 2 had its good moments and was way better delivered than chapter one. The game overall is beautiful and has its charm, you also will get attached yourTbh i expected more from the hype this game had. Sadly it didnt deliver to me, the beginning of the game was boring, every moth activities were interesting in the start but also got fed up with them too quickly. On the other hand chapter 2 had its good moments and was way better delivered than chapter one. The game overall is beautiful and has its charm, you also will get attached your students which is a + for me too. Overall an ok game but could do better in many aspects 6/10… Expand
  26. Luahanseng
    Aug 12, 2020
    6
    Freakin boring story and narrative. Things are a bit repetitive. you just want the game to end
  27. Jgalvis
    Aug 1, 2019
    10
    Increíble juego, no son los mejores gráficos, pero FE nunca se ha tratado de eso. Historia de mucho trasfondo. Sin lugar a dudas de los mejores juegos del 2019
  28. Davpoi79
    Aug 9, 2019
    10
    Je découvre fire emblem avec Three Houses. Je ne suis pas déçu. Plus on avance et plus le jeu dévoile sa profondeur. Un plaisir.
  29. Starlord87
    Aug 31, 2019
    9
    Tattico a turni esaltante e soddisfacente, storja eccellente. Gli do 9 perché ha cali di frame nell'esplorazione del monastero e la parte del monastero è pico soddisfacente
  30. Nekogeta
    Sep 2, 2019
    5
    I haven’t put this game down since I got it! I just finished all routes and am about to start some challenge runs until the dlc is released. Blue Lions ftw
Page:

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

All reviews »
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 »