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. Blueking640
    Sep 8, 2023
    9
    Very solid gameplay and interesting well written characters, Fódlan is one of the most fleshed out worlds in Fire Emblem, the overall atmosphere is just great. Replay value is also very high, but not all the routs got the same amount of attention (altough that never really bothered me.)
  2. Traumvita
    Sep 6, 2023
    10
    Another 10/10 game in the fire emblem franchise. The different branches are mostly done very well. 2 of them are weaker but still done well. Characters are great and a good chunk of them are memorable. The art design is great but visuals are rough. Especially after the visual spectacle done in FE Engage. Gameplay is great but I do wish maps were bigger overall. The persona like week byAnother 10/10 game in the fire emblem franchise. The different branches are mostly done very well. 2 of them are weaker but still done well. Characters are great and a good chunk of them are memorable. The art design is great but visuals are rough. Especially after the visual spectacle done in FE Engage. Gameplay is great but I do wish maps were bigger overall. The persona like week by week schedule compliments the game well but can be repetitive after multiple playthroughs. Music is top notch as well. For the first HD Fire Emblem game it was done amazing for an already prestigious franchise. Also, BLUE LIONS GANG… Expand
  3. Ulriken
    Aug 24, 2023
    10
    Fire Emblem Three Houses was everything I wanted in a game that I didn't know I did before I actually played it. It's the game I've put more hours in on Nintendo Switch and the one where every playthrough offered something fresh and my knowledge about the game was steadily improved. It also helped to steer away from internet guides and opinions about the characters and their intentions, asFire Emblem Three Houses was everything I wanted in a game that I didn't know I did before I actually played it. It's the game I've put more hours in on Nintendo Switch and the one where every playthrough offered something fresh and my knowledge about the game was steadily improved. It also helped to steer away from internet guides and opinions about the characters and their intentions, as well as interpretations of the overall story. Almost every question will be answered by playing and exploring the game from all perspectives, and thinking over newly acquired knowledge. It was a personal journey to me, where I had my favorites, my least favorites, the ones I straight up disliked and a very small but meaningful pool of romantic interests. The characters/lore were extremely well written and thought out to accommodate broader notions than good/bad. The combat, well, it's Fire Emblem, so we are always in for one of the most fun and engaging battle systems in all of strategy rpgs. I'm a big fan of the series and even thought the game doesn't focus more on the combat side of things it never felt lacking in content. There's many battles to fight, places to go and people to see. Honestly, the biggest challenge about this game is letting it go, picking another game and moving on.… Expand
  4. turbo_dweeb
    Aug 24, 2023
    10
    this game is a very good game but i have one question: why does rhea angry, is she stupid?
  5. Bugggger
    Aug 23, 2023
    10
    Fire Emblem Three Houses will forever hold a very special place in my heart. Fire Emblem is one of, if not my favorite series of all time, and Three Houses is my favorite of all of them, There's nothing to say about it that hasn't already been said.
  6. TruthSeaker
    Aug 11, 2023
    9
    There are very few games that I can return to and enjoy one more playthrough.
    This game is one of them.
    Great world-building, memorable characters, engaging combat system, phenomenal music.
    Shame that they dropped the ball with Engage after this masterpiece.
  7. Totoques22
    Aug 9, 2023
    2
    Worst Fire emblem experience ever and I’ve played revelations and **** romhacks

    70% of the game is social sim filler, avoid at all cost unless you’re into that The gameplay is awful by FE standards, and for a strategy game the mechanics don’t add up to each other and most combat arts/gambits are irrelevant outside of them few busted ones. Forget about any difficulty higher than normal    Worst Fire emblem experience ever and I’ve played revelations and **** romhacks

    70% of the game is social sim filler, avoid at all cost unless you’re into that The gameplay is awful by FE standards, and for a strategy game the mechanics don’t add up to each other and most combat arts/gambits are irrelevant outside of them few busted ones. Forget about any difficulty higher than normal since hard is only hard in the 1/5 of the game and maddening is some random unfair **** because the dev are simply incapable. And all that isn’t mentionning bad map design and absolutely terrible balance People keep mentioning a good story but that’s just not true only 2/4 routes have good story and one of the good ones is a secret route which is unfinished and unpolished,The only good story you will probably get is White Clouds in the first half of the game before the route split afterwards the story is mediocre on paper but bad when you consider that gameplay/story dissonance is very high, it’s like the gameplay is trying to contradict the story at every possible occasion(ex: crest as a whole)

    I’ve seen many claim that characters are at their best in the series but that’s just wrong many are insufferable and the practically all boil down to « I HAVE TRAUMA » also unlike any other FE you CANNOT just pick your favorites and have fun, you are stuck with who you got whether you like them or not. And sure you can recruit students but it’s too long, at the cost of training your main character and they join without any class mastery if not with terrible base stats for some adults

    Im giving it a two and not a 0 because white clouds is still a great story even if I am absolutely disappointed every time I want to absolutely continue the story only to end up in the awfully long, boring and repetitive social sim part

    Unit building is fun even it’s ultimately worthless to try to optimise your team since the difficulty will never hold up and the game is keen on never putting the player at any disadvantage (exactly how to NOT design a strategy game)

    Three houses is an SRPG in a series of TRPG

    I’ll reiterate my warning: avoid at all cost unless you’re into social sim and if you usually play FE for the gameplay    … Expand
  8. Borderlinez
    Aug 8, 2023
    10
    The game is full of memorable characters, each with their own unique personalities and stories. Players will grow attached to their students and be invested in their success. The gameplay is addictive and challenging, with a variety of maps and enemies to keep players on their toes. The game also features a deep customization system, allowing players to create their own unique units.
  9. Hajime23
    Jul 27, 2023
    10
    The best strategy RPG game and this is the game was creat this type of game
  10. Snowberries
    Jul 26, 2023
    10
    Fire Emblem Three Houses is an absolutely amazing game. I've played all 4 routes at least twice and sunk 800 hours into it. A huge majority of characters have a compelling depth to them and the story is very enjoyabe! You can choose between one of four routes in each playthrough and thanks to that, the game has a lot of replayability. Since all characters, to some extent, are "unrelableFire Emblem Three Houses is an absolutely amazing game. I've played all 4 routes at least twice and sunk 800 hours into it. A huge majority of characters have a compelling depth to them and the story is very enjoyabe! You can choose between one of four routes in each playthrough and thanks to that, the game has a lot of replayability. Since all characters, to some extent, are "unrelable narrators" in their respective routes, it is on the player to uncover the truth of the story by playing all four of them. There's so much to discover and so much to discuss about. Highly recommend this game!… Expand
  11. OmarVOOM007
    Jul 13, 2023
    9
    Gran juego de estrategia, grandes mecánicas, buen diseño de personajes y música, si bien hace falta más trabajo de voz, el subtitulado y la acción están presentes, uno de los mejores fire emblem y en general dentro del catálogo de Nintendo Switch
  12. drseven
    Jul 1, 2023
    10
    My favorite Nintendo Switch game. As a lover of the genre and the saga, it seems to me a sublime game. The story is explained from three points of view and you choose which house to live it with. Very good script twists and decisions to make that influence the course of this. Being a teacher and making your perfect team is very entertaining. Between battle and battle it is appreciated toMy favorite Nintendo Switch game. As a lover of the genre and the saga, it seems to me a sublime game. The story is explained from three points of view and you choose which house to live it with. Very good script twists and decisions to make that influence the course of this. Being a teacher and making your perfect team is very entertaining. Between battle and battle it is appreciated to be able to spend some time with your students and manage them at will. As a negative aspect, the map design is not one of the best in the series.… Expand
  13. ThatPSXBGamer
    Jun 27, 2023
    6
    Actual score: 6.5/10. Wow, what a lovely game coupled with a horse **** excuse for a final boss. Fire Emblem Three Houses is a wonderful game to play, Wii style 2007 graphics aside, to be fair, as is expected with most Switch games, this game was a blast. This game is everything we loved about the 3DS Fire Emblem Games, while not as good as them in my opinion, Intelligent Systems triedActual score: 6.5/10. Wow, what a lovely game coupled with a horse **** excuse for a final boss. Fire Emblem Three Houses is a wonderful game to play, Wii style 2007 graphics aside, to be fair, as is expected with most Switch games, this game was a blast. This game is everything we loved about the 3DS Fire Emblem Games, while not as good as them in my opinion, Intelligent Systems tried their best to modernize Fire Emblem. They tried to up the graphics, but they failed miserably, the open world aspect of the school and army fighting alongside the characters was a nice use of more powerful hardware. I chose Black Eagles, and up till a very specific point in the play through was splendid, however, unbeknownst to me, there was a very specific thing you had to do to get the Crimson Flower path, if you didn't know on your first play through like me, you were stuck with Silver Snow. While Silver Snow was fun, the final boss was absolute freaking horse **** Holy **** was that final boss was bad, they throw you against multiple different White Beasts which you have to beat to get to Rhea. This as a miserable, monotonous time and was a constant fight to keep playing, I got my ass handed to me on a silver platter the first time I fought them. I had to spend a couple hours grinding up with battles and building my team up to the task, this meanwhile I had no issues with previous missions. This was the most pathetic piss poor design of a final battle, having the final boss be leagues harder than previous missions, forcing you to grind up. After beating the final boss, the whole vibe was ruined for me, what felt like a strong, fun game became a chore to play because of this pathetic finale. Sleazy game design that forces you know what to do to get specific pathways are an abhorrent mess and should be abolished. Intelligent Systems, you failed to deliver, go back to the 3DS.… Expand
  14. 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
  15. tonberry_ftw
    Jun 24, 2023
    1
    Game mechanics were great, but really hated the hypocrisy for some of the characters that I wouldn't name for spoiler. I would give it 9.5 for golden deer, 8.5 for blue lion, but the other route was just terrible.
  16. matharwords
    Jun 24, 2023
    10
    Very well presented story about perspective with developed lore and characters, highly recomend playing all routes
  17. Shrijan1995
    Jun 22, 2023
    10
    Fire Emblem Three Houses is an excellent video game , one of the best Nintendo Switch Exclusive Game and my favorite tactical role-playing video game i have ever played in my life. The characters with exceptional personality , the magnificent soundtrack and wonderful story of this game are the 3 best things about this game for me. It took me 27 hours to complete the game in my first play through.
  18. HydrophobikFish
    Jun 9, 2023
    9
    Top tier turn based strategy game with a huge amount of interesting and engaging characters to get to know and train up. Highly replayable.
  19. Dantio
    May 30, 2023
    5
    I was really looking forward to a strategy or tactics game, like an Advanced Wars. This was my first Fire Emblem title. I knew about the school aspects beforehand and though they did make me hesitate, I played the game anyway. The first few hours went well, when everything was new, but then... that just stopped. It all turned into tedious work, leveling up, speaking to charakters thatI was really looking forward to a strategy or tactics game, like an Advanced Wars. This was my first Fire Emblem title. I knew about the school aspects beforehand and though they did make me hesitate, I played the game anyway. The first few hours went well, when everything was new, but then... that just stopped. It all turned into tedious work, leveling up, speaking to charakters that weren't all that interesting, each with their own sequences for bonding, and side quest too boot. But all the battles felt the same, or I would have liked to try other things, but didn't want to put in the time to grind to finally get to play some different classes.

    TL;DR: Okay Combat, way too boring rest of the game.    … Expand
  20. sleshdot
    May 15, 2023
    10
    Such an amazing game, both the story and characters are great! Especially how they develop throughout the story, you really feel attached to them. One of the best rpg game I've every played.
  21. Stjepan3203
    Apr 30, 2023
    10
    Fire Emblem Three Houses is a masterpiece on it's own. Funny enough I first started the series with Engage but found myself in LOVE with this one. Three Houses has both amazing gameplay and deep emotional and complex story telling with a huge cast of characters. The art style is also very well choosen, I definitely prefer the more darker, grimy, sad atmosphere of Three Houses compared toFire Emblem Three Houses is a masterpiece on it's own. Funny enough I first started the series with Engage but found myself in LOVE with this one. Three Houses has both amazing gameplay and deep emotional and complex story telling with a huge cast of characters. The art style is also very well choosen, I definitely prefer the more darker, grimy, sad atmosphere of Three Houses compared to the colorful artwork of FE Engage.

    If you are a SRPG fan you should DEFINITELY pick this one up, it's a masterpiece and desirably so!    … Expand
  22. 6500
    Apr 27, 2023
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The characters, story, and combat are all great. Among the Switch software, it is personally the best masterpiece.… Expand
  23. GamerDad2023
    Apr 22, 2023
    10
    Just as Persona 5 was surprising for its impressive quality content, so too is Fire Emblem: 3 Houses. While the tactics gameplay mechanics haven't evolved much, when combined with a great story and role-playing aspects including story routes, character classes, and characters' stories, this becomes a masterpiece.
  24. 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.
  25. BlueGuyTalks
    Apr 12, 2023
    8
    Despite including somewhat barebones strategy mechanics, Fire Emblem: Three Houses is the franchise’s true introduction to strategy RPGs with its multiple story paths and always-approachable character interactions.

    FULL REVIEW: Despite being one of Nintendo’s most famous franchises, the Fire Emblem titles have always lacked the player base to support them. Strategy RPGs are in a niche    Despite including somewhat barebones strategy mechanics, Fire Emblem: Three Houses is the franchise’s true introduction to strategy RPGs with its multiple story paths and always-approachable character interactions.

    FULL REVIEW:
    Despite being one of Nintendo’s most famous franchises, the Fire Emblem titles have always lacked the player base to support them. Strategy RPGs are in a niche portion of the gaming industry. As such, many Fire Emblem titles went unlocalized in the NES and SNES era of Nintendo systems, and some of the franchise’s greatest titles went unnoticed despite Nintendo’s circulating popularity in the gaming industry. However, with the introduction of Fire Emblem: Awakening on the Nintendo 3DS, the series finally hit mainstream popularity. It’s known by now that the most accessible Fire Emblem games are the most successful due to a combination of gameplay and narrative. Awakening may have introduced the world to Fire Emblem, but Fire Emblem: Three Houses showed them how to love it.

    There is one part of Three Houses everyone raves about: the campaigns. Four are available to players, depending on which house they pick at the game’s beginning and the connections they make throughout. War is a running theme in many Fire Emblem titles, but Three Houses is more approachable due to its substance. Its characters mature and grow as the game progresses, evident through a given character’s support level interactions. It helps players connect to several characters across all three houses, regardless of their depth or personality. In turn, players put their lives on the line against their enemies.

    Speaking of enemies, the long-lasting turn-based strategy mechanics keep the game from its full potential. It’s easily accessible to newcomers, despite the weapon triangle’s removal. The game allows players to continue using characters after they lose on the battlefield before starting, often leading to a dull experience in the long run. However, players cannot change the game’s difficulty after starting, making the gameplay experience tough to balance. Luckily, it’s solved and complicated by Three Houses’ replayability through its multiple campaigns.

    Three Houses also introduces a calendar system, where players and their classmates study and improve their talents, offering multiple advantages on and off the battlefield. The calendar system compliments the game’s hub world, where players interact with NPCs and complete side quests. It’s also where players build character support levels and collect items and weapons for battles. However, the calendar system, and the hub world, lack substance as the game progresses. It’s one of the only parts of the game that lacks replayability, making subsequent playthroughs more enduring in nature outside of the game's storyline and battles.

    Fire Emblem: Three Houses deserves to be a mainstay in the Fire Emblem franchise. It's characters and overarching narrative offer multiple paths and allows new experiences in each playthrough. Each character offers something different from another, both in personality and battle skills. The game may lack innovative battle mechanics and a game-changing calendar system, but what’s there is already bound to impress many incoming players. Three Houses may not be a fantastic game that changes video games forever. However, it welcomes newcomers to a dedicated, long-lasting franchise known for its characters and strategy mechanics.    … Expand
  26. imalynxcat
    Apr 1, 2023
    10
    One of the best games I've ever played. Romance system is very satisfying. Combat is the best turn-based combat so far. Seeing your students' progress is also satisfying 100/100
  27. TianLong1
    Mar 31, 2023
    10
    One of my favourite Fire Emblem games, with great choice of characters for all the three houses and they all have so much depth and personality, you want to know more about every one of them, interact with them as much as possible and possibily find your romance interest. The main story is very engaging and is unique depending on the house you choose to play, so a lot of replayabilityOne of my favourite Fire Emblem games, with great choice of characters for all the three houses and they all have so much depth and personality, you want to know more about every one of them, interact with them as much as possible and possibily find your romance interest. The main story is very engaging and is unique depending on the house you choose to play, so a lot of replayability value. The gameplay and maps are well done. The story takes place in a military school with three different houses, an amazing concept which reminds of Harry Potter. I love how the artwork and the portraits of the characters overall.… Expand
  28. Kostas_Spirou
    Mar 27, 2023
    9
    The Apex of the tactical role playing strategy genre.
    Three Houses was my very first Fire Emblem game, and surprisingly, it's very beginner friendly, the gameplay itself is smooth, simple and straight to the point, and the overall difficulty is quite easy. As for the combat mechanics, they're very well made, everything works as intended, overall it's a blast.
    The social simulation    The Apex of the tactical role playing strategy genre.
    Three Houses was my very first Fire Emblem game, and surprisingly, it's very beginner friendly, the gameplay itself is smooth, simple and straight to the point, and the overall difficulty is quite easy. As for the combat mechanics, they're very well made, everything works as intended, overall it's a blast.

    The social simulation aspect is very enjoyable, I really liked exploring the Garreg Mach Monastery, bonding with the characters, doing side activities and interacting with the things around me. It does get slightly repetitive after a while though, because the amount of things you can do are limited, but it never really bothered me.

    I also want to point out the fact that the music is great, Japanese Role Playing games usually tend to have an exceptional soundtrack and this game is no different, especially when it comes to the battle themes.

    And now, arguably one of the most interesting parts of the game, the story... it's pretty good, but the pacing is questionable, some plot points are solved very quickly, which results in confusion. The lore is intriguing and deep, every House has a different story to tell, you will meet new characters and learn more things about the world.

    The characters are cool, every single one of them is likeable and they all have their own little personalities and quirks. You can also recruit some of them in your team, and even change their class to make them play however you please, which I really appreciated.

    Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a fascinating game, it was enjoyable from start to finish even with the pacing issues, and I genuinely had a phenomenal time playing it. I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to get into the series, even if you've never played a Fire Emblem game before, this is the best place to start, probably the best strategy game I've ever played.

    Final Rating: "Amazing" ~ 9/10.    … Expand
  29. Paradov
    Mar 26, 2023
    9
    Very fun game. Lots of good waifus. I loved the art direction, the combat is pretty good.
  30. keanex
    Mar 21, 2023
    9
    70 hours in this game, played through Silver Snow route as a first time player. Normal/Casual mode.

    Graphics & Sound: Decent looking game and a pleasant soundtrack, though forgettable. I loved how almost every character was voice acted. 3.25/5 Story: I loved the vibe of the game, the story was good enough to keep me engaged from start to finish. While the sim stuff eventually got a    70 hours in this game, played through Silver Snow route as a first time player. Normal/Casual mode.

    Graphics & Sound: Decent looking game and a pleasant soundtrack, though forgettable. I loved how almost every character was voice acted. 3.25/5

    Story: I loved the vibe of the game, the story was good enough to keep me engaged from start to finish. While the sim stuff eventually got a bit old, I genuinely loved it at first. It was a nice way to spend time in-between battles. Some memorable moments. 3.5/5

    Technicals: No bugs noticed, framerate was a bit rough at times. Didn't hurt my enjoyment, but could have been better. 3.5/5

    Gameplay: I loved upgrading the weapons, leveling up the classes, customizing my characters, and the challenge in some fights. The difficulty had some jarring spikes though. Tons of fun, I found myself constantly going, "One more battle..." 4/5

    Replayability: Multiple routes to go through, but the first-half felt very "samey" in my second play-through and I knew how to play a lot better so it made it mindlessly easy. Unfortunately you can not adjust difficulty to be harder. 4/5

    Overall: I really loved this game in my first play-through. I have issues with the game, but the sum of everything was greater than everything individually. I whole-heartedly recommend this to new-to-tactics players, it revitalized my love for the genre. 4.25/5    … Expand
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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

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 »