Introduction

Fire Emblem, a series that has been one of Nintendo’s heavy hitter RPG games from way back when. This series had mostly successes such as Fire Emblem: Awakening, FE: Path of Radiance, and FE: Three Houses, but there have been a few that…let’s just say weren’t that amazing. I think Intelligent Systems, the developers of Fire Emblem, clearly knew they needed to change things up for fans and newcomers alike. Welcome to Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, a Fire Emblem title that in my opinion burns brighter than most of the other titles in the franchise. Why does Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave play so great and why should you buy it or download it now before even reading my review…well, read my review first. Anyways, here’s my review of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave for the Nintendo Switch 2!

Gameplay

I’m going to assume most reading this review know how Fire Emblem plays, but I won’t deny this particular entry changes quite a bit from the traditional format. The core gameplay is still maneuvering troops on a grid map, matching them tactically against what their strength is weapon and unit wise, but Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave only stays traditional in that sense. There’s a significant amount of added gameplay formulas.

More akin to Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is not just focused on one main protagonist but several. Your character too isn’t a teacher or the main tactician but acts more like an observer that must guide various souls to help stop the end of the world. To accomplish this, you need to go back in time and guide these various warriors towards the proper path. Be prepared as this is by far the meatiest Fire Emblem game and will take you at least 80 to 100 hours to complete the entire story.

Players will go through four main character’s paths (Cai, Dietrich, Theodora, and Leda) to help recruit them and various others. Akin to some of the past Fire Emblem titles, you still can recruit characters for each army, but now it’s more linked to the Renown System. As you complete side quests or help NPCs out with their multitude of problems and win in the Heroic Games, you can gain new recruits. What I love is while many Fire Emblem titles make it easy to miss recruiting a specific character, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave allows most to recruit a character in either a different route or restart a chapter and try again.

Taking cues from Fire Emblem Echoes, players can also engage in dungeon exploration where they can find items and attack enemies on the field. These battles don’t go into a grid format though and instead become traditional turn based combat where your team shares a HP bar and can swap with one another to attack the enemy. I actually loved these battles as you can link attacks with allies and unleash cool specials to take down foes.

One of the biggest changes, and one that might anger some, is there’s a lack of romance in Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. The support system, which is raised by allies fighting alongside one another or performing various activities, is still there, but romance isn’t like Awakening or even Three Houses. Characters do have their specific characters they like, but gone is having them get with one another and having recruitable kids or marriage sequences. I was a bit bummed they removed this, but I get they wanted Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave to be more story focused and not just have a dating simulation element this time around.

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave will take some time to learn how to best play the game as this is a time based title. Every move on the map or action takes time and there is an event that occurs when the time runs out. You will need to learn how to best use your time, but Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave isn’t so strict that wasting time will ruin your entire playthrough.

Graphics

In my honest opinion, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is the best looking Fire Emblem game ever made. The character models are gorgeous, the various landscapes are extremely detailed, and the cutscenes almost have an anime-like feel. When you’re playing in handheld mode, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is almost on par with a normal console game. When you dock it, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave blew me away for a Nintendo Switch 2 game. I would love to one day see Fire Emblem on the PC just to see the game pushed more graphically, but as it is, if you needed a reason to own a Switch 2, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is the reason. At least until the remake of Ocarina of Time.

Sound

I don’t know what I love more, the OST in Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave or the voice acting. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave music tracks are incredible and I could honestly play these outside of the game on my way to work. The opening battles told me right away I would love the music in Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, I kid you not I got my headphones just to listen in the best possible way. Voice acting is also quite diverse but all quality. I prefer to play Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave in English as it makes enjoying the narrative a bit easier and the dub is perfect. Without a doubt Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave nails the sound portion of our review and I would love anyone telling me otherwise!

Story

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave’s story is on par with Awakening, Three Houses, or Path of Radiance. After a war breaks out consuming most of the land with darkness hailing from the underworld by the Demon God Balor, a small group revives a fallen warrior named Eshmel and uses the power of Fortuna to go back in time and save select warriors who can hopefully prevent the destruction of humanity. As the Herald of the Pale Raven, you must gather these chosen souls and guide them to a proper fate.

The story in Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is so engaging and complex that I was instantly hooked. Rather than a typical tale of mercenaries fighting against evil or houses combining to save the world, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave basically throws you into the end story and has you work backwards to undo history. I don’t want to spoil any more of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave’s narrative, but there’s a lot of heart in this tale from revenge plots, overcoming odds to save loved ones, and so on. Where I could tell you which story I loved more in Fire Emblem Three Houses, Edelgard cough cough, all four character’s main stories are excellent and how they link together is done incredibly.

Dagdan Collector’s Edition

Whenever possible I try to buy the collector’s editions of a Fire Emblem game. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave’s collector’s edition, called the Dagdan Collection, is the one we’re looking at today. At the price of $119.99, it might be on the steep end for a Switch 2 collector’s edition, but you’re getting quite the assortment of goodies. Aside from the game, you get a steelbook, a map, art cards, and a beefy art book all placed inside a nice sized box. The art book is worth it alone as it is thick and not skinny like most of the past games were. The map was…okay, and the art cards are just that…art cards, but for the price, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave’s Dagdan Collection is worth it for any die-hard Fire Emblem fan!

Overall Impression

With all the new inclusions and more story focused gameplay, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave feels like a return to previous Fire Emblem formats but with new quality of life improvements. The story is amazing, the visuals are perfect, the OST and voice acting are stellar, and the changes in gameplay work perfectly. Yes, romance is gone…kind of…but I forgive Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave for not bringing this newer concept back again. I have never played a Fire Emblem title for so many hours in one shot until Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave…yes, I love this game and I know I’m not alone in that thought process.

Conclusion

I’m in love with Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, I still am playing trying to get more recruits and see everything the game can offer. The various new gameplay mechanics and the deeper story make Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave so engaging. I do miss the romance gameplay elements but I feel Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave removing them made sense in the grand scheme of things. This is by far my favorite Fire Emblem game and I hope we get DLC or more content just to push the game even further! Buy Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, let our review take any doubts from your mind and realize this is a game well worth your time!