Fire Emblem Engage marked the series' 17th installment in a long-running, high-profile Nintendo fantasy, tactical RPG series. Its release comes after one of the more popular mainline series entries, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which has inspired a litany of persisting mechanics and spin-offs, and has been lauded as a pillar of fantastic Fire Emblem character design, development, and interrelations, worldbuilding, gameplay, and atmosphere. Naturally, the two titles share bones and reflect Nintendo's tendency to re-purpose peculiar ideas within the series that worked previously in fresher ways, as good sequels tend to do. This even extends to both of the games' protagonists, in a sense.
The protagonist of FE: Three Houses, Byleth, played a major role in the outcome of the game's story because of the canonical fact that a lost god thought dead is housed in their spirit/mind (Sothis), and the entire Garrach Mach monastery — which serves as your primary base of operations and a haven for most all important figures in the game — stems from that point of contention. Byleth, in short, has the power of a god. Similarly, Fire Emblem Engage's protagonist, Alear, is themself a god, and resides in the Somniel, essentially a floating monastery that serves the same purpose for gameplay purposes as Garrach Mach.
Which Fire Emblem Character Is Your Favorite?
Fire Emblem is a franchise that has been around since 1990 and went worldwide in the early 2000s, meaning there are a ton of games in the franchise, and each game has a lineup of characters. Considering all this, the sheer amount of characters is impressive. I have always been drawn to characters that risk it all for those they love, and I would argue that Byleth, Alear, or Lyn are the best ones. I think that each of these characters showcases a strong character with a tragic story who beats the odds and saves those they love. (Though Marth and Ike get a shout-out as well.)
To Play a Fire Emblem Title is to Play God
There are distinctions in how these characters navigate their roles — one of which being that neither Byleth nor anyone else knows that the god that the largest faction in the story serves lives inside them, while Alear is a well-known and worshiped deity to everyone but themself. However, it does call into question what new avenues Fire Emblem could take about presenting a new protagonist dynamic for a completely new, enriched experience dissimilar to what fans have come to be familiar with.
There is a measure of caliber and respect that both Byleth and Alear command by their birthright, but other characters with strikingly different backgrounds (both in and outside of the Fire Emblem series) have been the subject of deeply moving and immersive stories. Fire Emblem has the opportunity to create a protagonist completely contrasted with the latest two and approach a new narrative from a brand-new angle. Maybe a protagonist with a common background could play the role of an underdog, or a bittersweet revenge story could kick the story off only for revelations over the course of the journey to reshape initial goals. Precedent stands in defense of Nintendo's ability to implement such ideas, as well, given that they have an entire library of beloved Fire Emblem characters that have had rich, memorable character arcs.
Fire Emblem Needs a More Well-Rounded Protagonist for Its Next Entry
A protagonist that forges their own reputation through deed or grit rather than entering the game with it (or maybe even a route that involves regaining lost respect/honor) would deviate from a concept threatening to oversaturate the series. What's more, most of the characters of Engage have been critiqued as being one-note personalities that added very little to the quality of the game save for filling out the number of playable characters. The playable characters in Three Houses, by comparison, are multifaceted and layered with their own complex yet personable issues involving themselves, others, and the state of current events. The character writing goes a long way toward creating an enjoyable experience, and a return to focusing on more dynamic characters is a must for the next mainline entry.
A few examples of Three Houses characters with varying (often poor) backgrounds but impactful stories that made them fan favorites include:
- Claude
- Edelgard
- Dorothea
- Sylvain
- Dedue
All in all, though both Byleth and Alear successfully carried the plots of two popular titles, the sequel to Fire Emblem: Engage calls for a protagonist that can reset the tone for the series and demonstrate that one doesn't necessarily have to be a god (or have a lost one whispering in their ear) to be a legend.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 81 /100 Critics Rec: 83%
- Released
- January 20, 2023
- ESRB
- T for Teen due to Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Intelligent Systems
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Engine
- Unity
- Franchise
- Fire Emblem
WHERE TO PLAY
- Platform(s)
- Switch
- Genre(s)
- Tactical, JRPG
- How Long To Beat
- 40 Hours
