Fire Emblem ENGAGE (Switch) – Gameplay Vows Wrapped in Woes

With a ring on PhantomZ2’s finger, it’s time to engage. Can Fire Emblem ENGAGE showcase itself as an enjoyable new title or will it fizzle out? Thank you to Nintendo for providing us with a review copy.

Surprisingly announced in September 2022 with a quick turnaround release of January 2023, Fire Emblem ENGAGE is the latest title in Nintendo’s SRPG series. Immediately captivated by its art direction and wanting to fully dedicate myself to a Fire Emblem game again, I took this as my opportunity to review the game, which is why I have to thank Nintendo for providing us with a review copy. Said review copy also included the Expansion Pass, which you can read about at the end of the article! As I have some experience with the Fire Emblem series and enjoy its general gameplay, creating a bond with Engage’s defining mechanic wasn’t what I was expecting to get out of the experience. However, in a rather turnabout manner, while Fire Emblem ENGAGE’s gameplay successfully states its vows; its story and presentation create a strong case for its divorce with my enjoyment.

For this review, my criticism of Fire Emblem ENGAGE‘s story features some major spoilers. If you’d like to skip past the story information and move straight to the rest of the review, click here.

STORY

The game starts with the main character’s ensemble of allies fighting a horde of soldiers as the main hero himself, who I’ll refer to as Alear, heads towards the center of the castle with Emblem Marth at his side to take on who will be the main villain of this story. After a tutorial battle and the villain’s defeat, Marth proclaims to Alear that the world is saved and he will remember all who stood by his side: his allies and the 12 Emblems. After this cutscene and saving your game, the story introduces you to a different place – the protagonist’s bedroom as the twin 33rd Stewards of the Divine Dragon Clanne & Framme and the 32nd Steward, Vander, greet a now awakening Alear. An Alear that has awoken after one thousand years.

This is where the first of my main criticisms of Fire Emblem ENGAGE’s narrative comes about – the focus and clarity of Alear’s memories. As Alear has come to after a thousand years, it is understandable that they are very foggy about the many people that they knew in the past. Additionally, this plot point allows Alear to define for himself who he is rather than the person he is or could’ve been defined by, which is being a Fell Dragon as he is the son of Lord Somniel, the game’s main villain. While I do think the game’s later attempt to do what I’ve stated comes with hindrances, such as the topic of Alear’s memories being mostly left to the side for most of the game, that will be discussed later. Rather, the problem I have is that certain conversations confuse the idea of what relationships Alear would or wouldn’t have with the characters he meets. For example, when Prince Alfred states that he considers Alear an “… old friend. A very, very old friend,” for me it presents to mind two possible questions: 1. When Alfred visited as a young boy, was Alear also a young boy? and 2. Are Alfred and all of the other allies also thousands of years old?

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My brain went in the route of the second question, the reason being due to the tutorial battle at the beginning with all of the characters together. As I made my way through the game, expecting that we’d circle back to the point where the tutorial takes place, I came to the realization that it never happens. The tutorial only exists as a gameplay aspect and not to create a cold opening to Alear’s awakening but it was never presented clearly as a dream or premonition of the future; it is presented in a way that can be easily interpreted as what occurred a thousand years ago. The statements that Vander makes once Alear awakens, that there were tales of the Divine Dragon’s bravery and heroism, all sound relative to the game’s opening – but it’s not. Further misdirection then circles back to Alfred and Alear’s conversation. When Alfred said he used to visit Alear when he was a child, what reason does Alear have to respond with, “I can’t remember anything from before I fell asleep,” unless it was possible for him to have known Alfred from before he fell asleep?

Moving forward, in the midst of Alear attempting to get his bearings after being awake for about two days, his home, Lythos, is attacked and his mother, Queen Lumera, is killed by the Corrupted forces that have risen from the Fell Dragon’s impending reawakening. With another war against the Fell Dragon on the horizon, it’s up to Alear and co. to travel across the neighboring countries and collect the Emblem Rings so that they may aid in Lord Sombron’s defeat.

While obliterating Lord Sombron in battle was something that I enjoyed, thanks to Engage’s great gameplay, his defeat didn’t feel like anything grand. Not only does his final words in death leave for something more to be explained, which is likely the purpose of the DLC’s final wave, but Lord Sombron is barely present within the story. If anything, his servants – The Four Hounds: consisting of Zephia, Griss, Mauvier, and Marnie, are consistently present within the story and serve as more of a threat than he does. Unfortunately, I felt that their conclusion went about horribly. While Sombron’s end felt lackluster, the end of the Four Hounds, especially regarding Zephia and Griss, was incredibly aggravating as their motives have a foundation that could build towards something great but gets tossed aside for a somber end and attempt of possible redemption had they just made a choice to talk at any point within the story.

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Across ENGAGE’s story, there are certain story beats meant to surprise or touch the player on an emotional level, like a character’s death or potential demise. However, such occurrences do nothing but serve as dosages of aggravation when I see Alear and his ally stand a few steps away from the person they want to protect, doing nothing but staring as the other is stabbed to death. Then, once the character is dead, Alear and co. decide to put some pep in their step. It’s even worse in cutscenes where allies aren’t present, without reason, now unable to help the main character as they’re about to die as if the chapter didn’t establish Alear’s allies were already present.

There is nothing worst than a game that treats its characters and players as if they’re stupid and when it comes to Fire Emblem ENGAGE’s story, I felt frustrated and annoyed every other step of the way by what the game wanted me to believe was happening. Fortunately, each step in-between features gameplay that makes this title worth engaging with.

GAMEPLAY

For most chapters, you’ll be tasked with one battle that will not only pit you against enemy Swordsmen, Paladins, Mages, Archers, Wyvern Knights, and Dragons but also against various hazards and environmental obstacles as you strategically traverse and fight your way to the boss of the stage. Pit the strength of your customized units within or outside of the weapon triangle by prevailing or just surviving with smart unit placement and taking advantage of each character’s unique abilities.

Where ENGAGE significantly differentiates itself is with the Engage mechanic, allowing a unit to fuse with a legendary Fire Emblem hero that resides within their equipped Emblem Ring. This not only provides a boost to stats that correlate to the Emblem’s traits, but it also grants the units access to special abilities and attacks that can be used within the fusion’s limited amount of turns. While Engaging can completely change the tide of battle on an offensive level, the amount of advantage it can create strategy-wise is immense. My favorite combination was having my mage, Citrinne, engage with Byleth while also being on the same team as the dancer unit, Sedall. With Sedall’s dance, you can allow another unit to act again after they’ve executed their turn. Thus, by having Citrinne attack someone from a distance and then making her act again with Sedall, she could attack again. However, if you engage with Byleth, you gain access to the Instruct command – allowing for up to 4 adjacent allies to act again, including Sedall. This means that it now only allows for three other units to attack again, but it allows Sedall to let Citrinne act once more and strike down a distant enemy with her magic. This combination alone made the latter half of the game incredibly enjoyable as I had to think more about where I had to place movements and take advantage of their strengths for the best possible results in the least amount of turns. However, where mistakes are made, they can also be fixed with the Draconic Time Crystal.

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Dropped by the one who killed Queen Lumera, the Draconic Time Crystal allows the player to rewind any of their previous actions as many times as possible as a way to correct any unintentional actions, newly realized actions amidst battle, or obnoxious ambushes. While the intention was probably to make the game more approachable and soothing to playthrough (unless you’re playing on Maddening difficulty which only gives you 10 uses), I used it primarily for any mistakes that I made. As I played through this game on Classic, where units die, I originally wasn’t going to turn back time to avoid character deaths. While I later dropped this self-imposed rule as I made many more stupid mistakes and early turn ends than I’d prefer to admit, many of my units still died to unavoidable situations that I would’ve only been able to prevent had I rewinded more than thirty actions.

Unfortunately, the Draconic Time Crystal also hinders the sensibility of the story, without good reason. At one point during the game, there is a chapter where Alear & co. will lose the Crystal and this makes the ability to rewind time unavailable. This also means that any actions or character deaths prior to regaining the crystal can not be undone. While this was a very engaging and threatening situation gameplay-wise that I would praise the game for doing, it’s hard for me to do so as the crystal is never referred to again past this event. The characters within the story are aware that this device exists but aside from this situation where it is to the characters’ detriment; it is never used, plot-wise, for the character’s benefit, and that not only makes the characters feel very incompetent, but it makes me despise the Draconic Time Crystal’s existence entirely.

PRESENTATION

Although what originally captured me about Fire Emblem ENGAGE in the first place was its art direction, in regard to the presentation of the character models, I’m sad to say that the rest of the game’s visual presentation was very lacking. At first, I was averse to the character designs that were done by Mika Pikazo as the design and vibrancy felt very distant from my perspective of Fire Emblem. However, as the game went on and I upgraded many of my unit’s classes, I increasingly grew more attached to characters and their designs. Some of my favorite designs are Divine Dragon Alear, Goldmary, Sniper Etie, Sage Citrinne, and Rosado. Additionally, these characters animate great in battle. However, the dialogue animations that you’ll be seeing for most of the game are quite disappointing. To see units standing in front of a low-quality image as scenes move forward with incredibly plain alternating shots of male and female units constantly repeating the same amount of animations as one another. After a few chapters, it begins to feel very dull and the accompanying story only makes it feel worst.

On the other hand, the music is very good. During my playthrough, it felt like many songs repeated the leitmotif of the game’s main theme but after listening to the soundtrack while writing this review, I think the music is very captivating of the different countries the game takes you to.

FELL XENOLOGUE & EXPANSION PASS UPDATE (added May 8th, 2023)

As of April 5th, the Fell Xenologue (the final wave of Fire Emblem ENGAGE’s Expansion Pass) was released, allowing players to experience an extra story that is separate from the main game. This extra story tells of an alternate world where two Fell Dragon twins, Nel and Nil, along with their reversed Four Hounds, the Four Winds, are the remains of the allied faction as the four neighboring countries have been thrown into war and chaos due to the Divine Dragon’s death. The Divine Dragon of this alternate world, that is. Upon discovering the well within the Somniel that becomes unlocked within the DLC, Alear is thrown into this alternate world and is asked by its deceased Divine One to help save not it, but the people within.

And while that’s as far as I’ll go for the synopsis, as to not give too many story details away, I will state that I really enjoyed the Fell Xenologue, at first. Thanks to a limited cast of characters that are on the allied side, the story allowed for a fair showing of everyone’s relationships with one another. This was something that I felt the main story lacked, as most of the interactions with retainers and extra characters were only left to support conversations, causing it to feel like there was nothing necessary for them to be present within the game after their introduction. Furthermore, some of the major story beats and plot points within the Xenologue ended up being very surprising to me. Again, won’t spoil exactly what occurred, but sometimes you happen to find yourself very surprised at what weights are lifted within Nintendo’s more narrative-focused experiences.

Unfortunately, my satisfaction with ENGAGE’s final DLC wave immediately flipped on its head due to the plot twist introduced within the ending. I’m not sure if this is due to the wanting to tell a longer story, as the Fell Xenologue is very short, but the twist that is never even slightly alluded to is introduced and explained away all within the same breath of exposition. What makes this worst is that, as I already beat the main game, my entire experience with Fire Emblem ENGAGE is left on a sour note. As I don’t care to see every single support or bond conversation and the idea of building up my units or trying out the new Enchanter & Mage Cannoneer classes without anything new for them to experience sounds lacking, there is nothing left for me to do. Even in a situation where I hadn’t finished ENGAGE’s main narrative first, I’d still be leading toward an absolutely frustrating story that unfolds.

While I don’t have much to say about the DLC’s gameplay, that’s because the quality is still just as consistent as the main game. The one switch-up that the Fell Xenologue does introduce is requiring Alear, Nil, and Nel to be present for each battle and the choice to have your main game units also take part in this war. Aside from that; have fun strategizing, destroying your enemies in the most efficient way possible, earning the extra Emblem Bracelets through the Divine Paralogues, and dealing with constant reinforcement spam.

With the main game costing $60 and the DLC expansion set at $30, while the gameplay was incredibly fun and engaging, I can’t recommend someone spend $90 to have to sit through Fire Emblem ENGAGE’s irritating narratives. It’d still be best to purchase the game if you’re available to find it at a lower price or to continue passing on it overall.