Review: Fire Emblem Engage - Is the Latest Fire Emblem as Engaging as Three Houses?

After the major success that was Fire Symbol: 3 Homes, whichever entry ended up being the next in the franchise would have a tall job ahead of it. How do you enhance on a video game that so easily mixed the turn-based strategy of FE with the relationship-building mechanics and branching story beats of what some think about to be the franchise's magnum opus? The response, it seems, is Fire Symbol Engage, which eschews a great deal of that extra relationship things in favor of a more streamlined, standard FE experience. Is it much better? Is it worse? Truthfully, it's someplace in the middle.

Engage follows the story of Clear, the kid of the Divine Dragon that conserved the world from ruin one thousand years prior to the start of the video game. Clear awakens from a deep rest, but just as they are getting their bearings and adjusting to the new world around them, wicked forces attack and the adventure advances from there.

Combat is timeless Fire Symbol: all characters in a fight appear on a grid, and you can move each of your fighters a certain quantity of areas before attacking, using a product, or wait for the next turn. The rock-paper-scissors approach to weaponry returns, as do long-range outliers like bows and magic spells. Everything that makes the core Fire Symbol experience what it is appears here, and it's done exceptionally well to boot. Fights are tense-- specifically if you are among those permanent gamers (I am not)-- and the action streams simply as I'd hoped it would.

Leveling up the rings is very easy too, with each ring having 10 levels before opening a special challenge. Completing the challenge lets the ring level approximately 20, which turns these otherwise regular side missions into something much more significant. I like how the video game threw this extra obstacle in there, as just building each ring to its max level without an obstacle might make the rings seem more common, and not the unique video game changers that they are indicated to be.

There is a social component to the game also: the Spaniel, a massive castle in the sky that acts as a center world in between missions. I can speak with my soldiers, ready devices for the next battle, and even sign in with the Symbols whose rings I have actually acquired, but other than that there's not a great deal going on here. The Spaniel is fine, but eventually it feels inconsequential.

Where the game tends to suffer is that, while all of these systems work and permit for enjoyable to be had, they get recurring, even bordering into stagnant area, extremely rapidly. The chapter-based format offers clear places to take breaks, which is great, but a game like Fire Emblem ought to be aiming for a just one more battle, simply one more fight reaction from its players, and that did not happen to me.

Without diving into deep spoiler area, the story is rife with twists and turns, many of which fall under predictable area. That said, there is only one widespread storyline to follow-- rather than Three Houses and its branching, several story beats-- so staying up to date with the twists isn't as overwhelming as it sounds. I personally appreciate the more streamlined primary story approach here in Engage, though I want that story made more sense in some areas.

Engage's special gameplay component is the Symbol Ring, a product that lets the wearer summon a well-known face from Fire Symbol's past for support in fight. March from the initial game, Celia from Fire Symbol Echoes, Lynn from FE6, Sigurd from FE4, and more are discovered throughout the video game, with every one offering unique attacks and equipment to the wearer. The longer a character wears a specific Symbol Ring, the greater each character's affinity for one another will rise, which opens up a lot more choices in fight.

Engage's special gameplay aspect is the Symbol Ring, an item that lets the wearer summon a famous face from Fire Emblem's past for help in battle. March from the initial video game, Celia from Fire Symbol Echoes, Lynn from FE6, Sigurd from FE4, and more are discovered throughout the video game, with each one offering special attacks and equipment to the wearer. Fire Symbol Engage is a beautiful game, particularly through its usage of brilliant, dynamic colors. Fire Symbol Engage has a lot of great elements, from its striking visuals to the classic Fire Symbol turn-based technique gameplay. I take pleasure in the video game in spurts, but in the past long I discover myself questioning when I can stop engaging with this Fire Symbol.

Regardless of my fatigue at playing the video game, I never ever did get tired of looking at it. Fire Emblem Engage is a beautiful game, particularly through its use of bright, dynamic colors. Clear is among the most aesthetically interesting characters the franchise has ever produced, while the wispy appearances of the Symbols matched with the rest of the characters on-screen makes for some extremely cool impacts. When you combine that with anime-quality cutscenes and Engage is a real visual stunner, which is much more stunning thinking about the hardware is approaching its sixth birthday.

When I first utilized the Emblem Ring, it seemed like a pretty transparent gimmick. Equip this item and summon the Fire Emblem All-Stars seemed like, on the surface, something about the game didn't fill the dev group with a lot of self-confidence. Nevertheless, the more I experimented with Symbol Ring loadouts and the more effective I ended up being with them, I began to see how effective a tool this remains in fight. Emblems helped me win fights I must have lost more than once, making the additional layer of method they produce pay off several times throughout a play through. I also appreciate how the Emblems are involved in-- and straight impact-- the total story, however once again I wish that story didn't repeatedly stray into strange area.

Fire Symbol Engage has a lot of great elements, from its striking visuals to the timeless Fire Symbol turn-based technique gameplay. The story being told, nevertheless, does not measure up to the bar set by other video games in the series, while some fights drag out to the point where I'm eradicating a nap just as difficult as I'm combating the enemy armies. I take pleasure in the game in spurts, however soon I discover myself wondering when I can stop engaging with this Fire Emblem. There suffices here to take pleasure in Fire Symbol Engage, but only the most committed will have the ability to see this through to the end.