Fire Emblem Engage review: there’s little engaging beyond the combat

From the primary second Nintendo surprise-revealed the existence of Hearth Emblem Interact, I used to be hooked. I adored Three Homes and Fates and was anticipating this new entry to supply the identical sort of — forgive me — participating storytelling that will get me emotionally hooked up to the world and its characters. However Hearth Emblem Interact didn’t meet these expectations, giving me as an alternative a hollowed-out world with fairly however flat characters that I someway nonetheless spent over 70 hours in.

Interact begins with Alear, a bicolor-haired protagonist initiating what appears to be a remaining battle with a ghostly Marth — the hero of the primary Hearth Emblem — at their aspect. One thousand years later, Alear wakes from a magical slumber greeted by their mom and their stewards, who’ve stored watch all these lengthy years. Alear learns that they’re a Divine Dragon who’s destined to defeat the evil Fell Dragons with the assistance of 12 magical Emblem Rings, every housing the spirit and energy of a hero from throughout Hearth Emblem’s 30-plus 12 months historical past. 

My greatest drawback with Interact is that there are not any stakes within the story. There are not any decisions to be made that may alter the course of the sport, only a single route for the toothpaste-haired protagonist to observe. I felt pulled alongside, bouncing from story mission to story mission with nothing actually to latch onto emotionally. After I performed Three Homes, I used to be a Golden Deer by way of and thru, believing in Claude’s dream of an egalitarian Fódlan. In Fates, I used to be a daughter of Hoshido, devoted to defending the land of my start. However I simply couldn’t put money into Interact the way in which I had in Three Homes or Fates. There was nothing there to put money into. 

Interact simply feels so hole. Your companions, whereas visually fascinating, look like mere placeholders. You don’t get to work together with them on the similar degree you probably did in Three Homes. There are not any chores to do collectively, no gardening to be carried out. As a substitute, you may have a meal with a few pals or give them a shiny present to extend their help ranges for a lift in fight. You may nonetheless type bonds and relationships together with your companions — Interact doesn’t lack for fairly individuals to drool over — however I by no means felt like several of them grew past an ordinary set of tropes assigned to them a la the burly warrior prince, the flirty rapscallion, or the serene princess.

Past the dearth of character growth, Interact’s different methods don’t actually flesh out the sport both. Interact lets you have got conversations with any of the 12 Emblem heroes the identical manner you may have help conversations with different characters. However the place I believed I’d have the chance to get to know the heroes of the Hearth Emblem video games I missed, what I acquired had been shallow one-sentence conversations that add completely nothing to the sport past permitting you to degree up your powers a bit extra. Worse than that, the Emblems don’t even discuss to one another exterior of few and much between Massive Plot Moments. 

It simply looks like such a waste. Even with the dearth of participant selection, there was a lot that might have been carried out between the Emblems and the characters that will have made for an — await it — participating expertise. Even the hub world you reside on, the Somniel, felt empty. There’s a energy coaching mini-game that reinforces a stat or two for the following battle and a wyvern taking pictures gallery that earns you particular objects. However that’s it. You may undertake pets from battlefields, however there’s nothing to do with them. You allow them to out within the Somniel’s pasture space, and past your new pets, of which there isn’t lots of selection, you simply await them to drop a shiny pebble, some greens to be used in your subsequent meal, or literal horse turds. It acquired to the purpose the place I ended scouring the sector after a battle as a result of there was no level in selecting up the following cat or pigeon as a result of there was no materials distinction from the cats and pigeons I had at dwelling.

Fight was this recreation’s saving grace. I’ve been craving for an excellent technique RPG since Triangle Technique left me wanting, and Interact scratches that itch properly. I spent 70 hours on this recreation — an excellent 30 greater than I most likely wanted to to complete — as a result of I had such a ball constructing my armies, equipping them with Emblems, and formulating the methods I wanted to win fights in as few turns as potential. 

Interact’s fight is similar tactical technique fight as in different Hearth Emblems. The place it differs is with the addition of the Emblem heroes. There are 12 Emblem rings you equip to your items that enable them to summon warriors from previous Hearth Emblem video games, and every hero has distinctive powers that may flip the tide of battle. Sigurd has a strong cost assault that pierces by way of enemies grouped in a straight line. Lyn’s bow assault can hit enemies from throughout the map. I completely beloved Corrin’s capacity to change the map geography — including tiles that might both assist allies or harm enemies — and Ike’s massive smashing hammer assault that broken every part in a two-square radius round him. However my favourite capacity belonged to Byleth, who may grant a second flip to allies with one sq. of him. I made it my purpose each battle to rearrange my allies in the fitting configuration to benefit from the second flip. It allowed me to unleash devastating assaults that worn out enemies with two and three bars of well being in a single flip. 

There are some points, although. A number of vital development methods are buried in menus that I didn’t discover till about 30 hours in. For instance, at a sure bond degree, you can begin inheriting an Emblem’s dizzying array of expertise. Nevertheless, as a way to unlock the flexibility to inherit, you need to have a bond dialog with the Emblem hero (just like character help conversations). If it’s Alear, having bond conversations with Emblems is easy. The Emblem heroes populate the Somniel so that you can simply stroll up and have a dialog with them. It’s tougher when it’s one in all your companions as a result of you need to drill down a poorly named menu to provoke the dialog. Moreover, studying a talent doesn’t imply you may instantly benefit from it; you need to equip it first. It was about 35 hours and several other “why is that this so friggin’ laborious?” battles earlier than I figured that out. Thanks, Interact.

There’s one thing deeply seductive about Hearth Emblem Interact’s fight. It’s the rationale why I contentedly spent over 70 hours in a recreation that in any other case has little else to suggest it. As Hearth Emblems go, it’s a fantastic jumping-in level should you’ve by no means skilled Nintendo’s foundational tactical RPG collection. However should you’re like me and determined to really feel the identical feelings Three Homes or Fates made you’re feeling, you’re merely higher off taking part in these video games once more.

Hearth Emblem Interact launches on January twentieth on Nintendo Swap.