I have played almost every Fire Emblem game released in the west. There are several games that have never been released in the west, and a few I’m hoping get remastered from the Wii/Gamecube era. Fire Emblem Engage feels like a celebration of the franchise’s roots, unhindered by the gimmicks of past games. As far as the mechanics go, it is one of the most polished strategy RPGs I’ve played in a long time.

In Fire Emblem Engage, you play the Alear the Divine Dragon (you can rename him/her) a being who wakes after 1000 years with vague memories of their past. The Fell Dragon Sombron has returned to cause war and destruction, and it is up to Alear to gather the 12 Emblem Rings to combat the Fell Dragon and seal him away. The Emblem Rings are rings empowered by the spirits of heroes of legend, particularly characters from past Fire Emblem games.

Before I continue, I want to address something that I’ve seen thrown around in other reviews. Some players have complained because a large contingent of the social simulation elements found in Fire Emblem: Three Houses have been stripped down and reduced. There are still support conversations, and in the case of Emblem characters, Bond Events that allow you to bond with these past characters. However, Fire Emblem Engage follows a pattern that people who have only played Three Houses might miss.

Intelligent Systems, since the release of Fire Emblem Awakening in 2013, follow a pattern of releasing what I would consider “Classic Fire Emblem” games, focused on combat and mechanics while also releasing “Experimental Narrative Fire Emblem” games, focused on intriguing storylines and trying new mechanics out. You can see evidence of the former with Fire Emblem Awakening and Fire Emblem Engage, while Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Fire Emblem Fates are vastly experimental.

However, to some extent, there is overlap. Fire Emblem Engage is experimental in its combat and mechanics regarding the Emblem Rings. It stripped away parts of the social simulation elements in favor of directing you from battle to battle, focusing more on engaging (pun intended) combat.

While Three Houses learned from Fire Emblem Fates’ three-pronged storyline, Engage learns from more classic Fire Emblem titles, bringing back things like the weapon advantage triangle and focusing on celebrating the strategic elements involved with various class weaknesses and strengths. With that being said, it also retains Three Houses’ time mechanic (allowing you to rewind turns) and the Casual mode present since Awakening to remove the permadeath aspect.

Circling back to Fire Emblem Engage’s Emblem Rings, each Emblem Ring offers a unique advantage and has a general purpose. Each character equipped with an Emblem Ring can “Engage” with that character, merging and getting powerful buffs, the use of an Engage Weapon unique to each ring, and an Engage Ability that can be incredibly powerful. Engaging only lasts for 3 turns, but you can Engage multiple times per battle if you can refill their Engage meter.

As an example of Emblem Ring benefits, Micaiah (from Radiant Dawn) offers the unit that is equipped with her ring the passive ability to heal other characters with Staves, regardless of what class the unit is. She also has a risk/reward ability called Great Sacrifice (a reference to Radiant Dawn) which heals every allied character on the map while reducing the Engaged unit’s HP to 1.

On the other hand, Celica (from Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia) offers a powerful spell called Seraphim which does enhanced damage to corrupted enemies, as well as an Engage Ability called Warp Ragnarok that lets the character teleport to a different space and deal massive damage to an enemy.

Other rings have a variety of other purposes and can effectively allow characters to partially multiclass if you are clever enough. As you use various bond rings or level bonds in the arena (more on that in a bit), you will also be able to let characters inherit passive skills from the Emblem Rings. This also allows you to learn weapon proficiencies from them, which is vital for advancing characters to new classes later on.

These elements alone are enough to make Fire Emblem Engage a meaty, tactical strategy RPG. However, you can use bond fragments (gained through various means) to create bond rings, which are less powerful rings that just provide a stat boost to characters that aren’t using one of the 12 Emblem Rings. There are also DLC Emblem Bracelets gained through the Expansion Pass, but for the purpose of this review, we’re just discussing the base game.

I mentioned before that the Social Simulation elements from Fire Emblem: Three Houses were stripped down, but that is slightly misleading. The support storylines and characters are less involved in Engage, however, there is an aspect to the game outside of combat that you won’t want to neglect. After each battle, you are able to explore the battlefield to talk to your allies and various residents if you were defending a town or other inhabited area.

In these battlefield segments, you can collect items, adopt animals for your stable, and discuss the events of what just transpired with your allies. Afterward, you return to the Somniel, a floating island that acts as your base. This is the Garreg Mach Monastery equivalent of Fire Emblem Engage and houses everything you could need from stores, blacksmithing, the arena, and more.

By using the Ring Chamber in the Somniel, you can create Bond Rings, polish Emblem Rings to increase the bond level, and even inherit skills from Emblem Rings so that if a character doesn’t have that ring equipped they can still make use of the skill. Adopting animals allows you to harvest items from them in your Stable, which can be used during cooking segments to increase support levels and buff allies for the duration of a battle.

You can also feed Sommie, a mysterious creature that resides in the Somniel with a unique connection to Alear. There is also a training ground that has a variety of mini-games that will boost Alear’s stats temporarily. Spending time in the Somniel allows you to increase various aspects of your allies’ effectiveness in combat, and also lets you grow closer to them through support conversations. So while you might not feel as connected to the characters because of their more shallow depiction, there is still a lot to love here.

In fact, I would say that even stripped down, the characters in Fire Emblem Engage are wonderful. Of course, there are some that are more interesting than others. However, the endless amounts of customization and character build options make up for that a bit. Truthfully, I think Fire Emblem Engage will satisfy fans of the franchise more than people that just hopped in with Fire Emblem: Three Houses. However, if skeptics stick with it, I think they’ll find a lot of things to love about it.

Personally, any complaints I have about the characters are minimal when compared to how polished the mechanics, combat, and overall game loop are. If you love strategy RPGs or the Fire Emblem franchise, Fire Emblem Engage will satisfy you. The characters and environments are beautiful, the voice acting is well done, and the game itself is fantastic. Now I just hope we get a Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn remaster so Micaiah will get her chance to shine again in a full-length adventure.

A Nintendo Switch Review Copy of Fire Emblem Engage was provided by Nintendo for this Review.

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Fire Emblem Engage

$59.99 USD

9.5

Score

9.5/10

Pros

• Great Strategy Gameplay
• Deep Progression System
• Intriguing Story
• Great Voice Acting
• Lots of Content

Cons

• Some Minigames are hard on the hands
• Some Characters are Shallow