Fire Emblem Engage Review – Explosive Strategy with Dazzling Characters

Fire Emblem Engage, the newest entry in the classic turn-based strategy franchise, brings war and a dazzling of characters to the land of Elyos. Protagonist Alear, a Divine Dragon, must claim twelve Emblem Rings, infused with the power of past Fire Emblem heroes, to vanquish the Fell Dragon. Familiar faces and mechanics return in this latest entry in pristine condition as Fire Emblem Engage nails its core turn-based combat mechanics while offering compelling fanservice with the return of heroes like Ike and Marth.

Fire Emblem Engage proves that it is far more than its past, with explosive and strategic new gameplay features like the Emblem Rings, as well as fantastic art, animations, and voice acting for the game’s new original characters. Though this title’s story does not soar, Fire Emblem Engage has the complete Fire Emblem package that improves upon the series’ combat mechanics while delivering gorgeous, memorable worldviews and striking 3D graphics.

▍Fire Emblem Fundamentals, with Smart Changes

Fire Emblem Engage nails the franchise’s fundamental mechanics while expanding gameplay possibilities with the new Emblem Rings. The turn-based strategy game pits the player’s combatants against varied types of enemies, with a rock-paper-scissors style weapon triangle of swords, lances, and axes giving certain units an advantage against a particular type of foe. Sword wielders, for example, deal the most damage against axe-wielding units.

There are other advantages to consider, such as an armored knight’s weakness to magic, as well as character abilities that alter damage output and movement. Appropriately, the franchise is known for the diverse strategies a player can develop in order to make the best use of their favorite units.

Fire Emblem Engage adds to a player’s strategic arsenal with smart new features. Healers, who typically hide behind beefy units and spam recovery spells, are more interested in the game, with the Chain Guard ability allowing these units to deflect incoming attacks. The new Backup-type units are able to combo attacks with adjacent allies; both changes reward a player for smart positioning and tactics.

Various other tweaks make units feel more unique and interesting; the one questionable change is the addition of Break Status. When a unit attacks an enemy that has a weapon disadvantage, the enemy loses the ability to counterattack for an entire turn. Placing so much importance upon the weapon triangle and unit advantages limits a player’s ability to creatively use the units they prefer and overcome through strategy any weapon disadvantages. 

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▍Emblem Rings, A New Powerful Tool

But the central, pivotal addition of Fire Emblem Engage is the Emblem Ring, an object that channels the spirit of a previous Fire Emblem protagonist to empower a unit with passive benefits, the ability to enter an “Engage” mode, gain tide-turning new abilities, and even a signature Engage Attack. The various Engage benefits are diverse and impactful, and it’s incredibly fun to execute risky and explosive maneuvers with your powered-up heroes. A spellcaster Engage Attack warps across the map to deliver a massive, unexpected explosion. 

Initially, the Emblem Rings can feel a bit overpowered and cause a player to tunnel vision around the units with these rings, but the long cooldowns for the Engage mode, and the ability to use an Engage Attack only once per battle, prevent players from relying entirely on Emblem Rings. As the game proceeds and the player acquires more rings, more units gain their powers and possibilities, allowing you to distribute the Emblem Rings evenly across various types of units. 

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However, this mechanic is not perfectly balanced; units without rings feel weaker, and difficult enemies can be trivialized with the rings’ powerful abilities. But in general, Fire Emblem Engage does a great job of offering strategic options that are fun but not too overpowered. On the game’s Hard difficulty, I was consistently challenged by battles that never felt unfair. The maps are designed so that the player must maintain a smart distance from enemies, and use map features and chokepoints effectively. 

A returning feature from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the Draconic Time Crystal allows a player to rewind turns after a crucial mistake or unit death. This welcome mechanic, which may be used 10 times per battle in Hard mode, prevents you from having to reset over a critical hit or dumb mistake, though diehard Fire Emblem fans might think that the feature dumbs down the series’ difficulty.

▍Captivating Anime Characters Continues the Series’ Legacy

Some players play Fire Emblem for the mechanics, but the franchise has long offered an equally compelling feature in its cast of characters. Pursuing the anime art aesthetic that Fire Emblem has followed since Awakening, Fire Emblem Engage stars a wonderfully diverse cast of male and female units with a wide range of personalities and appearances. The art for the characters is gorgeous, and the character models are animated quite nicely during dialogue. 

Some character animations will end up feeling a bit repetitive, and the models look a touch rough at times, but in general, developer Intelligent Systems has crafted a lively, unique, and appealing assortment of heroes. Longtime fans will appreciate the fantastic art and voice acting devoted to past Fire Emblem protagonists, who appear through the Emblem Rings. 

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▍Writing and Story Woes

Support Conversations, a staple of Fire Emblem and character shipping, is, unfortunately, underwhelming in Fire Emblem Engage. Units that fight together in battle can deepen their bonds through support conversations, which reveal the two characters’ personalities and unique relationships. But the support conversations in Fire Emblem Engage feel surprisingly short and often go for a humorous tone that neglects characterization or reduces characters to a single quirk.

The support conversations speak to a larger problem with the game’s writing. The story is forgettable, and a few twists and interesting moments do not prevent predictable plot devices and bland enemies from producing snores. Fire Emblem fans will miss the grit and political drama found in the fantastic entry Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, and more recently with the Switch title Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

Though diminished by the game’s writing, the cutscenes in Fire Emblem Engage are redeemed by the superb character designs and animations, as well as consistently incredible Japanese voice acting for all of the characters.

The music within Fire Emblem Engage is treated with the same care as the characters and art; wonderfully deep and diverse orchestrations give story moments a soul and amplify the intensity of combat. The dynamic battle soundtrack also changes as a player switches between controlling their units and watching fight cutscenes.

▍Fun Features to Explore, Outside Battle

Beyond Support Conversations and battles, Fire Emblem Engage offers a host of interesting new features to keep a player engaged. Battlefields can be explored after a fight’s conclusion, offering an interesting perspective on scenes of intense strategy and combat.

A home base location, called Somniel, allows a player to converse with their units, train underpowered heroes, harvest animal products, fish, and more. These optional activities create a smart balance; players less interested in turn-based combat get downtime in which to strengthen their units and weapons, while players focused on combat are not punished for spending less time at Somniel.

▍Fire Emblem Engage Excels in Gameplay, But Not in its Story

Fire Emblem’s art style and storytelling have radically changed over time; other features, like the weapon triangle, have remained consistent. Fire Emblem Engage proves that Intelligent Systems’ name is no misnomer; the newest Switch entry tweaks the Fire Emblem gameplay formula just right, to increase the depth and provide fresh gameplay experiences.

The Emblem Rings can be a touch confusing or imbalanced, providing a player with countless abilities to comprehend and master, but this slight cost is more than paid for by sheer strategic fun. Fire Emblem Engage also adds varied and interesting side content, and beautiful 3D maps to explore. The story is a bit of a dud, but the two main strengths of the Fire Emblem franchise are in full force. It nails gorgeous characters with strong animation and voice acting, as well as interesting and innovative gameplay spread across a lengthy campaign which absolutely justifies a purchase of this Switch title.

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