is a
tactical role-playing game
Tactical role-playing games (abbreviated TRPGs), also known as strategy role-playing games and in Japan as (both abbreviated SRPGs), are a video game genre that combines core elements of role-playing video games with those of tactical (turn-bas ...
developed by
Intelligent Systems
is a Japanese video game developer best known for developing games with Nintendo and the ''Fire Emblem'', ''Paper Mario (series), Paper Mario'', ''WarioWare'', and ''Wars (series), Wars'' video game series. Originally, the company was headqua ...
and published by
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
for the
Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
. It is an installment in the ''
Fire Emblem
is a fantasy tactical role-playing game franchise developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. First produced and published for the Famicom in 1990, the series currently consists of sixteen core entries and five spinoffs. Game ...
'' series and was released on January 20, 2023.
''Fire Emblem Engage'' received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the gameplay innovations, score, and visuals but felt that the story and
social sim elements were underdeveloped compared to its predecessor, ''
Fire Emblem: Three Houses''.
Gameplay
Gameplay is similar to previous games in the series, but with the addition of Emblem Rings that allow units to fight alongside the lords of previous ''
Fire Emblem
is a fantasy tactical role-playing game franchise developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. First produced and published for the Famicom in 1990, the series currently consists of sixteen core entries and five spinoffs. Game ...
'' games.
Plot
Setting
''Engage'' is set on the continent of Elyos and features previous protagonists of the series that can be summoned as spirits called "Emblems" with Emblem Rings.
Alear, a divine dragon, is awoken from a one thousand year slumber to help defeat the Fell Dragon Sombron by gathering the Emblem Rings spread across Elyos.
Synopsis
One thousand years ago, the evil Fell Dragon Sombron was sealed away by the Divine Dragon Lumera, but during the fighting Lumera's child Alear is gravely wounded and put into a slumber. One thousand years later, Alear finally awakens from their slumber and briefly reunites with Lumera. However, Alear has lost most of their memories prior to falling asleep, and can only remember how to use their Emblem Ring, which can summon the spirit Emblem Marth to assist them in battle. In addition, undead creatures called Corrupted begin to appear all across Elyos, signaling the return of Sombron. Lumera's castle is then suddenly attacked by an army from the Kingdom of Elusia, who seek to revive Sombron. The Elusians manage to steal most of Lumera's Emblem Rings and Lumera sacrifices herself to protect Alear from a sorceress' attack.
With Lumera's passing, Alear resolves to take up her mantle as the Divine Dragon and protect Elyros. With their companions, Alear ventures out and assists the Kingdoms of Firene and Brodia against attacks from Elusia, as well as recover several more Emblem Rings. Along the way, Alear also befriends a young girl named Veyle. Alear eventually confronts King Hyacinth of Elusia, but fails to stop him from reviving Sombron, who devours Hyacinth. Veyle then reveals she was the real mastermind behind unsealing Sombron, as well as being his daughter and the sorceress responsible for killing Lumera. She then steals all of the Emblem Rings Alear and their companions possess, allowing Sombron to corrupt them to his side. Without the Emblem Rings, Alear and their companions are forced to flee for their lives. They are assisted by Princess Ivy of Elusia, who decides to join Alear and gives them Elusia's two Emblem Rings.
Alear and their companions head to the Queendom of Solm to regroup and recruit more allies and Emblem Rings. They begin to combat Sombron's generals, the Four Hounds: Zephia, Griss, Mauvier, and Marni. They also discover that Veyle is in fact being controlled by Sombron through an evil split personality. During a battle, the real Veyle is able to temporarily break free of Sombron's control and returns one of the Emblem Rings to Alear before being taken away by the Four Hounds. Alear continues their pursuit of Sombron and the Four Hounds, but eventually learns to their dismay that they are actually Sombron's child. One thousand years ago, Alear rebelled against Sombron and was adopted by Lumera, who had steadily transferred her own Divine Dragon powers into Alear while they were asleep. Despite being born a Fell Dragon, Alear can still call upon the power of the Divine Dragon to seal away Sombron. Meanwhile, Mauvier and Marni defect to Alear's side in order to save Veyle, who is Alear's sister. They also warn Alear that Sombron intends to invade the Land of Lythos and revive his own land of Gradlon, from which he can take over not just Elyos, but other worlds as well.
Alear is forced to confront Veyle once again, but Marni sacrifices herself to damage the helmet controlling Veyle, which restores her true personality. Sombron then attacks Veyle, with Alear sacrificing themselves to protect her. With Alear dead, Sombron drains the power of the Emblem Rings and restores the land of Gradlon. Veyle's evil personality then reasserts control and she attacks Alear's companions. Meanwhile, Alear's spirit meets Veyle's in the afterlife, and they convince Veyle to retake control of her body and revive them as a Corrupted. Veyle permanently banishes her evil side and revives Corrupted Alear, who is able to retain their sanity and reactivate the Emblem Rings before their body crumbles away from the strain. However, the 12 Emblems, inspired by Alear's desire to keep fighting to save the world, unanimously agree to sacrifice most of their power to revive Alear as the 13th Emblem.
After regrouping, Alear and Veyle lead their companions to destroy Sombron's Fell Dragon Shards to break the barrier protecting him. They end up defeating and killing Zephia and Griss in the process, though Zephia gives them a crystal to reach the next Fell Dragon Shard before she dies. Alear uses the crystal, but finds that has actually transported them a thousand years into the past where they meet their past self and is forced to fight them. Alear defeats their past self and destroys the Shard, unwittingly setting up events for their past self to meet Lumera for the first time. Alear then proceeds to the final Shard, which is guarded by Lumera revived as a Corrupted. Alear defeats Corrupted Lumera and manages to have parting words in her last moments when she regains her sanity.
As Alear and their companions proceed to the final confrontation with Sombron, Emblem Marth reveals that closing the portal Sombron has opened will cut off Elyos from the other worlds, meaning the other Emblems will cease to exist. Regardless, Alear presses on and confronts Sombron, who reveals he was exiled to Elyos from another world, and wishes to recover the Zero Emblem so he can return to his homeworld and take revenge. Alear and their companions kill Sombron and close the portal, putting an end to his ambitions, through Alear is forced to say goodbye to the Emblems as they disappear. Afterwards, Alear's companions return to their respective kingdoms to help rebuild Elyos while Alear succeeds Lumera as the new Divine Dragon Monarch.
In a post-credits scene, as Alear is preparing for their coronation ceremony, it is revealed that the Emblem Rings still retain some of their power and Emblem Marth muses that the Emblems and Alear will meet again someday.
Development
According to Tsutomu Tei, game director from
Intelligent Systems
is a Japanese video game developer best known for developing games with Nintendo and the ''Fire Emblem'', ''Paper Mario (series), Paper Mario'', ''WarioWare'', and ''Wars (series), Wars'' video game series. Originally, the company was headqua ...
, Engage has story structure simplified compared to the previous title in the series, ''
Fire Emblem: Three Houses'', focusing in only one major goal so that players can focus on tactical gameplay. Genki Yokota, producer from
Nintendo EPD
commonly abbreviated as Nintendo EPD, is the largest division within the Japanese video game company Nintendo. The division focuses on developing and producing video games, mobile apps, and other related entertainment software for the company. E ...
Group No. 2 says that while multiple story paths can be interesting for a game, players might feel its overwhelming, so for this title, they decided on not having more than one path to be played, instead having a focus on one path.
The idea of the Emblem system according to Kenta Nakanishi, director from Nintendo EPD Group No. 2, came up when the developers were discussing about the marriage system from previous titles such as ''
Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War,
Fire Emblem Awakening
''Fire Emblem Awakening'' is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released in April 2012 in Japan and 2013 internationally. It is the thirteenth in ...
'' and ''
Fire Emblem Fates
''Fire Emblem Fates'' is a tactical role-playing video game for the Nintendo 3DS handheld video game console, developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo. It was released in June 2015 in Japan, then released inter ...
,'' and as those games had a marriage system where the kids of the marriage inherit the abilities of the parents, the developers decided to create the emblem system to make the pairing more casual while also inserting the characters from previous games and merging them with other characters for experimentation.
Regarding the art of the game, director Tsutomu says that they were looking out for an artist with a design style which could appeal to a broader audience, including younger players, as well as having the ability to do many types of designs for the characters for the direction of a flashy direction they wanted to go in general. Among the candidates, it was Mika Pikazo, a famous illustrator in Japan since the 2010s she has worked on various genres of artwork including character design, logo and merchandise design for apparel brands, cover art for novels and CD album covers. The developers wanted Pikazo due to her vivid, vibrant and popping colors which they found to be a perfect fit to the game they wanted to make. According to the director, it was an unanimous decision from the development team to hire Pikazo for these reasons, with the artist accepting it as she was also a big fan of the franchise. Due to the amount of detail and colors of Pikazo's art, the 3D model team had difficult to bring it to life in 3D, to the point it was suggested to use the 2D art for dialogues like in previous games in the series, but in the end the team was able make it closer to the original illustrations after a hard work trying to make the models similar to it.
Unlike in previous games, which used custom engines, ''Engage'' is built in
Unity
Unity may refer to:
Buildings
* Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building
* Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper
* Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England
* Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...
, and is one of the few Nintendo published titles to not use a custom internal engine.
Release
The game was first announced in a 13 September 2022
Nintendo Direct
Nintendo Direct is a series of online presentation or live shows produced by Nintendo, where information regarding the company's upcoming content or franchises is presented, such as information about games and consoles. The presentations began i ...
. A "Divine Edition" of the game was also announced, including an artbook, poster, steelbook case, and art cards depicting the previous protagonists who can be summoned with the Emblem Rings including
Marth Marth may refer to:
* Marth, Thuringia, Germany
People with the surname
* Albert Marth (1828–1897), German astronomer
* Christophe Marth (born 1980), French rugby player
* Frank Marth (born 1922), American actor
* Tommy Marth
Thomas Christian ...
from ''
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' and Celica from ''
Fire Emblem Gaiden
is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Famicom. Released in March 1992, it is the second installment in the ''Fire Emblem'' series and the last to be developed for the Famicom. It bui ...
''.
On November 16, a story trailer was released, revealing story details including Alear's promise to their late mother and a dark version of Marth.
The following week, Nintendo uploaded a gameplay trailer showcasing new characters and more returning protagonists from the series. In addition to Marth and Celica, Sigurd from ''
Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War'', Lyn from ''
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade'',
Corrin
Corrin is a heterocyclic compound. It is the parent macrocycle related to the substituted derivative that is found in vitamin B12. Its name reflects that it is the "core" of vitamin B12 (cobalamins).Nelson, D. L.; Cox, M. M. "Lehninger, Princ ...
from ''
Fire Emblem Fates
''Fire Emblem Fates'' is a tactical role-playing video game for the Nintendo 3DS handheld video game console, developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo. It was released in June 2015 in Japan, then released inter ...
,'' and
Byleth
In demonology, Beleth, also spelled Bilet, Bileth, Byleth, or Bilith, is a king of Hell who has eighty-five legions of demons under his command. He rides a pale horse, and a variety of music is heard before him, according to most authors on d ...
from ''
Fire Emblem: Three Houses'' were also confirmed to be returning.
During
The Game Awards 2022
The Game Awards 2022 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2022. The event was hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on De ...
, a new trailer was shown announcing an Expansion Pass for the game. The first wave was set for release alongside the game and includes
Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude from ''
Fire Emblem: Three Houses'' and Tiki from ''
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' appearing as Emblems. Three more waves of content will be included in the Expansion Pass and will be released throughout 2023.' Additionally, the remaining Emblems for the base game were revealed as Leif from ''
Fire Emblem: Thracia 776'',
Roy
Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin.
In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...
from ''
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade'', Eirika and Ephraim from ''
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones'',
Ike
Ike or IKE may refer to:
People
* Ike (given name), a list of people with the name or nickname
* Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and President of the United States Surname
...
from ''
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance'', Micaiah from ''
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn'', and
Lucina from ''
Fire Emblem Awakening
''Fire Emblem Awakening'' is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released in April 2012 in Japan and 2013 internationally. It is the thirteenth in ...
''.
On December 12, a tie-in "A Hero Rises" voting event with ''
Fire Emblem Heroes
is a free-to-play tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for Android and iOS. The game is a mobile spin-off of the ''Fire Emblem'' series featuring its characters, and was released on February 2 ...
'' was announced focusing on the twelve characters featured as Emblems in ''Engage'' with voting remaining open until December 25. On December 15, Nintendo released a trailer revealing Somniel, a location visited between battles similar to Garreg Mach Monastery from ''Three Houses''. Numerous activities in Somniel were shown off including Emblem Ring management, working out, fishing, dining, and battling in an arena. The game released on January 20, 2023. Later that day, a
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
adaptation by Kazurō Kyō was announced to begin serialization in
Shueisha
(lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...
's ''
Saikyō Jump
is a Japanese monthly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Shueisha. The magazine was started on December 3, 2010 with three completely original titles and seven spin-off (media), spin-off manga from series in ''Weekly Shōnen Ju ...
'' magazine and ''
Shōnen Jump+
is a Japanese online magazine for manga created by Shueisha, spin-off from its ''Jump'' line of magazines. Launched on September 22, 2014, the magazine operates as a free mobile app and website. The magazine serializes original titles and titles ...
'' website on March 3, 2023, with a prologue releasing the month prior.
In a
Nintendo Direct
Nintendo Direct is a series of online presentation or live shows produced by Nintendo, where information regarding the company's upcoming content or franchises is presented, such as information about games and consoles. The presentations began i ...
on February 8, 2023, Hector from ''
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade'', Soren from ''
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance'', and Camilla from ''
Fire Emblem Fates
''Fire Emblem Fates'' is a tactical role-playing video game for the Nintendo 3DS handheld video game console, developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo. It was released in June 2015 in Japan, then released inter ...
'' were announced as Emblems in Wave 2 of the Expansion Pass, which released later that day. Additionally, Wave 3 was announced to include
Chrom
Chrom is a fictional character in the video game ''Fire Emblem Awakening'' and its related ''Fire Emblem'' franchise. Chrom is the prince of the Kingdom of Ylisse, and a descendant of Marth (Fire Emblem), Marth. He is the brother of Lissa and Em ...
and
Robin from ''
Fire Emblem Awakening
''Fire Emblem Awakening'' is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released in April 2012 in Japan and 2013 internationally. It is the thirteenth in ...
'' and Veronica from ''
Fire Emblem Heroes
is a free-to-play tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for Android and iOS. The game is a mobile spin-off of the ''Fire Emblem'' series featuring its characters, and was released on February 2 ...
'' as Emblems with the fourth and final wave containing a new story titled "Fell Xenologue". On March 3, the first chapter of the manga adaptation was released in ''
Saikyō Jump
is a Japanese monthly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Shueisha. The magazine was started on December 3, 2010 with three completely original titles and seven spin-off (media), spin-off manga from series in ''Weekly Shōnen Ju ...
'' magazine and ''
Shōnen Jump+
is a Japanese online magazine for manga created by Shueisha, spin-off from its ''Jump'' line of magazines. Launched on September 22, 2014, the magazine operates as a free mobile app and website. The magazine serializes original titles and titles ...
'' while Wave 3 of the expansion pass was revealed to be available on March 8.
Reception
Critical reception
''Fire Emblem Engage'' has received "generally favorable" reviews holding an aggregate score of 80/100 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, based on 121 reviews.
''Polygon'' praised the addition of the ring system as "one of the most flexible progression systems the series has ever implemented", but criticized the game's story as "terrible". ''Nintendo World Report'' similarly noted the plot was a bit threadbare in comparison to previous entries, but liked ''Engages cast of characters, saying it "has one of my favorite casts in the franchise, with a number of characters that are fleshed out very well in support conversations".
''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' enjoyed the game's implementation of fanservice, "There's a reverence for Fire Emblems past that is clear in every aspect of it".
The game's lack of social depth and branching paths was highlighted as a negative by Will Greenwald writing for ''
PCMag
''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...
''.
The minigames in the game also received criticism for being tiring, repetitive and not changing much in the game at large by Giovanni Colantonio writing for ''
Digital Trends
Digital Trends is a Portland, Oregon-based tech news, lifestyle, and information website that publishes news, reviews, guides, how-to articles, descriptive videos and podcasts about technology and consumer electronics products. With offices i ...
''.
Sales
''Fire Emblem Engage'' was the bestselling retail game during its first week of release in Japan, with 144,558 physical copies being sold across the country.
Notes
References
External links
Official Site (US)
{{Shōnen Jump Plus
2023 manga
2023 video games
Engage
Nintendo Switch games
Nintendo Switch-only games
Shōnen manga
Shueisha manga
Tactical role-playing video games
Video games about amnesia
Video games developed in Japan
Video games that use Amiibo figurines
Video games featuring protagonists of selectable gender
War video games