Anime chess enjoyers have been eating well these past 4 years, from the success of Fire Emblem Three Houses back during the 2nd year of the Nintendo Switch lifecycle to what one might assume is their twilight years, now with Fire Emblem Engage, still “Switching” along.
Perhaps its main themes are appropriate as well, with new and old characters working together in harmony to create something that also brings something new to the series, whilst looking back at the past to make something that feels good to play and experience.
So how did it do?
Presentation
The game looks mighty fine thanks to Intelligent Systems using a rather interesting change towards the game engine, with a switch to Unity instead of the Omega Force engine by Koei Tecmo back in Three Houses, and whilst some stuff like character animations feels quite clunky (especially during the few opening cutscenes), it lends towards the charm of this new entry rather well.
This switch (no pun intended) makes the colors of this game feel more vibrant than both Three Houses entries, and it also renders the older Fire Emblem characters during the “Engage” sequences in much more detail also keeps the charms of its original style back in their older respective games.
Speaking of characters, both the new and old cast of characters feel very much in tune with each other as they head across various places to stop evil, much like most of the Fire Emblem games.
It does away with the branching story paths for a more linear story beat that might feel like a welcome change for most fans, but there is still the hub world stuff that you can do to advance your Bonds with both Engage characters (the old cast like Celine and Marth) and the folks you’ll be bunking with across this journey. You are the Divine One after all, so expect some funny shenanigans along the way.
Gameplay
Besides returning to the more linear stylings, one best addition of Engage has to be the movement systems now being almost real-time, with your selected character moving as you directed them instead of the previous game’s way of arrow input before the character moves.
It also means that using an Engage before or after a move turn can see you doing an attacking way quicker than ever. Especially, with some characters within the Ring support cast that can help teleport you to an attacker, which in turn, you will have way more unique ways to deal with the enemy from any side.
And by jones, is the weapon durability now better than both Three Houses and even Fates combines because some weapons will sometimes refresh themselves when you end a chapter within the Hub World area, making it much easier to manage weapons as you go along the game’s progression in unlocking more characters to adopt into your party and NPCs to fill your world with to buy stuff.
Though my only gripe is how small the Hub World is when compared to Three Houses, with how tiny all of the explorable space is when compared to their previous game, even with some places being the map location that you had a battle within it (which was cool, mind you), it’s a minor complaint in an otherwise great way to wind down after an intense session of chess batling.
Content
Bear in mind that Fire Emblem, like most JRPGS within the Nintendo stable, is LONG. Like 36 hours worth of content and a “time you will not see pass” type of long. And it’s no surprise that it is also very much engaging in all of its factors: from its gameplay mechanics, story and even mini-maxing the living heck out of your party members and their movement tiles.
And you will get to do the party stuff that when level up to a certain degree, you can either focus on it more or change classes like any staple Fire Emblem series, but you also can switch around Engage characters between yourselves and even your party members.
For example, your Player character with Lucina is a combo that can be done once you unlock her by progressing through the chapters and it can lead to more unique dialogue and Bond events, ditto with the main party as well if you want them to be inspired by any of the old FE cast for their skills. Making your attacking pattern very varied in choices at the end of the day.
Personal Enjoyment
Fire Emblem is one of those Nintendo titles that I will get, if the premise is quite interesting, and it is safe to say that I do enjoy what Engage brings to the table. They have a pretty good character design, and I love how it incorporates the older-gen characters into the story while playing like a good throwback game with mechanics from its modern counterpart.
If you haven’t played any Fire Emblem before this or your last one was during the 3DS era, you can either get this one or even Three Houses, because both of them shine within the Switch catalog of JRPGS.
Verdict
Intelligent Systems brings back its classic gameplay with a modern twist that not only innovates how it plays but also celebrates its 30 years of history by making them a part of the game as well, blending together to make Fire Emblem Engage one of the best JRPGS on the system this year.
Review Copy purchased by Reviewer.
Fire Emblem Engage
Mixes the classic gameplay with a modern twist that not only innovates how it plays but also celebrates its 30 years of history by making them a part of the game as well, blending together to make it one of the best JRPGS on the system this year.
- Presentation 9.5
- Gameplay 9
- Content 9
- Personal Enjoyment 9.5