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Video Game Fire Emblem Engage Review
Fire Emblem Engage (1990) is a series of strategy games where you help an ensemble cast of characters fight off evil. You gather heroes, unlock weapons and special abilities to aid your fight in tactical turn-based combat. It's not just a tactics game though, just as important are relationships off the battlefield between your team and townsfolk. This results in a series that stands out in both the quality of the strategic battles and the interpersonal choices that alter how the story plays out.

Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Fire Emblem Engage 6 months ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 5 months ago.

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Play OverviewPlay Overview

Fire Emblem Engage is a series of strategy games where you help an ensemble cast of characters fight off evil. You gather heroes, unlock weapons and special abilities to aid your fight in tactical turn-based combat. It's not just a tactics game though, just as important are relationships off the battlefield between your team and townsfolk. This results in a series that stands out in both the quality of the strategic battles and the interpersonal choices that alter how the story plays out.

The series title refers to multiple different artefacts from across the series that act as centrepieces to the story; in Fire Emblem Engage, this takes the form of Emblem Rings that brings back main characters from previous games. The games occur across multiple continents of a medieval fantasy world, with warring houses, evil armies, and ancient evil to conquer. Engagement takes place in Elyos, where a monstrous dragon plunges the land into darkness, and you play Alear, who awakes from a thousand-year slumber and must summon a team of heroes to help them vanquish evil and restore their memories.

Gameplay mixes turn-based tactical battles and character interaction. Combat involves moving your characters around a grid and their specific attacks and special abilities to defeat foes. There's a rock-scissors-paper aspect here (pikes beat swords, bows beat pikes, swords beat bows). There's surprising depth to what you can do, and discovering powerful team combinations and ambitious strategies is essential to success. In earlier games, if a team member died during a fight, they did not get revived afterwards, but this is now only an option.

As you progress you not only develop your team (and hopefully prevent them from being lost in battle) but also nurture relationships with in-depth conversations that shape the narrative, and life-simulation elements such as fishing and tending to animals. The preceding game to Engage, Three Houses, offers the best example of this, with three unique stories that change depending on your actions, while Engage itself hearkens back to earlier entries with a stronger focus on combat.

The result is a unique mix of tactical, highly involved fights that require ingenuity, experimentation, and determination and sprawling, grand stories that put the characters and their interactions at the forefront.

There have been lots of games, but only The Blazing Blade (released simply as Fire Emblem) onwards were released outside of Japan:
  • Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (1990) Famicom, released worldwide in 2020 on Switch.
  • Fire Emblem: Gaiden (1992) Famicom
  • Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (1994) Super Famicom
  • Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (1996) Super Famicom
  • BS Fire Emblem: Archanean War Chronicles (1997) Super Famicom Stellaview
  • Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 (1999) Super Famicom
  • Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (2002) Game Boy Advance
  • Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (Fire Emblem outside Japan) (2003) Game Boy Advance
  • Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (2004) Game Boy Advance
  • Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (2005) GameCube
  • Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (2007) Wii
  • Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (2008) DS
  • Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem (2010) DS
  • Fire Emblem: Awakening (2012) 2DS|3DS
  • Fire Emblem: Fates (2015)
  • Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE (a crossover between Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei) (2015) Wii U
  • Fire Emblem Heroes (2017) iOS and Android
  • Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (2017) 2DS|3DS
  • Fire Emblem Warriors (2017) New Nintendo 2DS|3DS and Switch
  • Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019) Switch
  • Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encore (an expanded version of Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE) (2020) Switch
  • Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes (2022) Switch
  • Fire Emblem Engage (2023) Switch

Play StylePlay Style

This is a Battle, Communication and Strategy game with Adventure, Fighting, Narrative, Role-Play and Simulation elements. This is a single-player game. Although there's no multiplayer, you can fight against other players' teams as controlled by a computer in a game mode called The Outrealm Trial. Additionally, relay trials let you start a fight, and then let a different random player continue it. You can write a note to them telling them a good strategy, but can't directly interact with them.

 
You can play this game in the following styles:

DurationDuration

Play Time: This game will take between 30 hours and 60 hours to complete. Depending on your familiarity with the style of play and how long you take to beat each fight, the time to beat can vary significantly. Extra activities like fishing and conversing with other characters can also increase play time. Previous games in the series can take even longer to complete, with many requiring over 100 hours to do everything.

Age RatingsAge Ratings

Content Rating

The latest game in the series, Fire Emblem Engage, is rated PEGI 12 for Moderate Violence and Bad Language. This game features frequent moderate violence towards human, animal and fantasy characters. When hit, characters let out pained sounds and are knocked backwards. Bright flashes accompany each strike. When defeated, characters fall to the ground and disappear. The game also contains infrequent use of bad language ('*!@?*' and '*!@?*').

Skill Level

11+ year-olds usually have the required skill to enjoy this game. Still, it's important for parents and guardians to consider the maturity required to process the game content. It's also important to ensure children understand in-game purchases and have spending limits set-up. There are lots of different, very in-depth systems that you need to get to grips with as you play, and although you can rewind fights if you make a mistake, coming up with a winning strategy can still be quite challenging.

CostsCosts

Fire Emblem Engage usually costs £5.39 to £49.99.
 

Fire Emblem

Switch Store Wii U £6.29 Unavailable On Digital Store

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows Of Valentia

Switch Store 2DS|3DS £39.99 Unavailable On Digital Store

Fire Emblem Engage

Switch Store Switch £49.99

Fire Emblem Fates

Switch Store 2DS|3DS £39.99 Unavailable On Digital Store

Fire Emblem Warriors

Switch Store Switch £49.99

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes

Switch Store Switch £49.99

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Switch Store 2DS|3DS £39.99 Unavailable On Digital Store

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

Switch Store Wii U £8.99 Unavailable On Digital Store
Switch Store 2DS|3DS £8.99 Unavailable On Digital Store

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade Of Light

Switch Store Switch £5.39

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Switch Store Wii U £6.29 Unavailable On Digital Store

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Switch Store Switch £49.99
There are the following additional costs associated with this game:
  • In-Game Purchases: Additional in-game purchases are offered for items that enhance the experience.
  • In-Game Pass: Purchase a season/battle pass to gain access to limited in-game purchases, reward items and other aspects of the game.
 
The latest game, Fire Emblem Engage, has an expansion pass that adds extra emblems and characters you can play as, along with more story content. 
 
It's important to set up your accounts and devices appropriately. More information is on our Financial Resources page.
 

DetailsGame Details

Release Date: 20/04/1990, updated in 2023

Out Now: 3DS and 2DS, Android, DS, GBA, GameCube, Switch, Wii, Wii U and iOS

Content Rating: PEGI 12

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Players: 1

Genres: Battle, Communication, Strategy (Adventure, Fighting, Narrative, Role-Play and Simulation)

Accessibility: 23 features

Components: 2D Overhead, Cartoon, Day and Night and Grid

Developer: Nintendo America (@NintendoAmerica)


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Taming Gaming Book Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships.

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