The latest addition to the Fire Emblem franchise, Engage is a true visual treat with a beautiful medieval fantasy storyline. However, its gameplay mechanics, with its punch-to-beat combat and its hundreds of variables, will confuse more than one.
Posted at 11:23 am
With Fire Emblem Engage we have the impression of falling into the middle of a party whose rules we know little about, and it’s not surprising: the franchise published by Nintendo was born in 1990 and has almost twenty shutters. Engage, hitting shelves this Friday, is the second for Nintendo Switch after Three Houses in 2019.
In this ultra-colorful decor that looks like Japanese cartoons, we embody Alear, whose first name and gender can be changed, who awakens from a thousand years of sleep and discovers that he or she is the divine dragon. .
SCREEN PHOTO
elders to the rescue
She – we’ve chosen the female character – is Queen Lumera’s heiress and must fight the fallen dragon Sombron by collecting the 12 magic rings scattered across four kingdoms and the sacred land of Lythos. Known in the air, the one who controls the 12 has supreme power.
Each ring contains the spirit of past characters from the franchise such as Marth, Celica, Byleth or Corrin. Each brings with it a new power to add to the companions recruited by Alear during his adventures, who must fight monsters and soldiers of evil, risen dead called aberrations.
Just so far, right? We immediately appreciate the disheveled combat cutscenes, the gorgeous graphics of the characters – like our Alear, who has one blue eye and one red eye – and the not-too-conventional dialogue.
SCREEN PHOTO
Yes, we’re in the usual mode of fantasy here, with a little pompous statements (in English with French subtitles), villains without nuance and lots of good feelings among the good guys. But we’re caught in the detour of real drama, dead ones to cry for, and an overall surprising narrative.
Chess
A note on a slightly disturbing aspect at this point: the characters, especially female ones, come across as childish but hypersexualized. We are warned about this in the presentation of this game, which contains “slightly suggestive themes”.
SCREEN PHOTO
The other aspect that frankly put us off at first contact is the combat mechanics. It is so complex that one article cannot describe all the subtleties here. The battles are of the “tactical RPG” type familiar to fans of Dungeons and Dragons. Our characters – we can have up to 8 in the team – are placed on the battlefield and each has a certain range in the number of fields. Each has their strengths and weaknesses, the knight Vander hits hard with his ax and Framme heals his allies, characteristics that can be modified by acquiring new weapons and special talents.
First of all, the fight consists of properly equipping the characters and letting them take turns advancing or attacking. The enemies then fight back. Nothing too gory, but hard-hitting cutscenes and real casualties.
SCREEN PHOTO
Infinite combinations
The more you progress in the game, the more the nuances emerge: you quickly understand that the weapons are hierarchized in a triangle, with the sword dominating the axe, which reigns over the spear, which itself dominates the sword.
In hard mode, an ally killed in combat will disappear from the team. However, we can appeal to the game’s leniency and leave it in the easier modes.
All of this adds up to an infinite number of combinations that left us totally discouraged. The length of the preparations and the choice of the individual strokes also seemed very unexciting to us. Luckily, after a teammate’s first move, we can ask the artificial intelligence to take over the other moves, ordering them according to different strategies that we can choose. Some regulars will no doubt howl heresy here.
If we overcome our reluctance in the face of such complexity of combat, we will end up with a game of incredible richness, with varied kingdoms to explore and an immersive narrative. Returning to the base called Somniel is also an opportunity to strengthen relationships with allies, giving them gifts and buying weapons and materials. There are mini-games, workouts and challenges to improve your skills. Enough to spend a few dozen hours on it.
Engage Fire Emblem
- Developer: Intelligent Systems
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release date: January 20, 2023
- Price (Standard Version): $79.99
Rating: 7 out of 10
Tried on a Nintendo Switch with a copy provided by Nintendo