Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave was one of my most anticipated games of the year. My excitement grew from the love that I had with Fire Emblem: Three Houses back in 2019, which soon became one of my favourite Nintendo Switch games. It was also my first Fire Emblem, so to say the stakes were high for Fortune’s Weave is an understatement.
Although there has been one mainline Fire Emblem game between the two titles and one spin-off connected to Three Houses, Fortune’s Weave feels like a true step-up from Three Houses and an easy game-of-the-year contender.
Nothing could’ve prepared me for how gargantuan Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave would be in terms of longevity and replayability. This prequel to Three Houses set in the continent of Dagda outshines Fodlan in ways I could never imagine. While Fodlan’s world, lore, and characters were rich to the point of years-long discussions, Dagda felt like an entirely different beast with colorful character designs and fresh regions. I could feel the difference in culture, and with that also came the difference in game design.
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave gave me endless hours of fun that I continuously want to sink my teeth into. Whether I was exploring the world map for dungeons and materials, training my units in the Arena, or figuring out combat strategies for my next match, there had yet to be a dull moment.
Despite this, there was a strange difficulty curve that made me wonder if I chose the wrong difficulty to start with. The lowest difficulty, which is Normal, played out almost embarrassingly easy, so I barely had to do any planning during combat. The game doesn’t allow you to boost your difficulty, only lower it, so I was stuck at Normal for the rest of my playthrough.
Past the 20-hour mark, though, the difficulty spiked to the point where I had to be cautious with every move I made if I didn’t want to restart the level. I would’ve liked to see more challenge at the start, since many early fights felt like a breeze, and I yearned for that challenge to make me actually think about my next moves.
At first blush, the numerous turns given to me during my free time segments overwhelmed me. I was afraid of going down the wrong path and wasting too many of my turns, so I played it safe in the first few hours. But eventually, I got used to this game’s rhythm and balance between main story missions and side content. This free time system worried me at first, but I soon came to love it for what it was.
A downside to Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave’s incredibly vast cast of characters you can recruit was the limited number of Support conversations. I had a feeling before release that adding so many units would mean we’d get less time with these characters and fewer conversations. Unfortunately, I was right.
Some units barely have Support conversations at all, making them feel less like a character I want to get to know and more like a weapon I’d leave off the battlefield. One of my best units was someone I barely got to know at all because she had Supports with only three other characters, none of them being the ones in my party, despite being a free unit to recruit on my route.
Still, the character and story writing was just as strong in Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave as it was in Three Houses. You’d think that there would be one lacking route among the four main protagonists, but every route had the same amount of care and thought put into it. Skipping the other routes entirely and speedrunning the game into Part 2 would feel like a loss. There’s something special in every route, and I never felt like I was replaying the same missions only from a different perspective.
I would be remiss not to mention the upgraded visuals and incredible sound design. Comparing Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave to other Fire Emblem titles on the Switch 1 made me wonder how I was even playing Three Houses on handheld, given how grainy it used to look. Fortune’s Weave had by far the most cinematic cutscenes in the franchise, and it made me excited to see the future of Fire Emblem on the Switch 2.
Not only is the sound design immaculate, but the original soundtrack is a breath of fresh air. The inspiration from different cultures blends so well with the franchise's familiar orchestral songs. I would also often recognize tunes from Three Houses’ soundtrack, which never failed to make me nostalgic.
Verdict
Overall, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is a must-play title on the Nintendo Switch 2, and a wonderful addition to the world that Three Houses created. The changes to combat and the addition of free time made for a fresh and endlessly replayable experience while still having recognizable mechanics that kept the Fire Emblem identity. Perhaps the overabundance of characters made it harder to focus on certain units, especially with the lack of Support conversations and S-ranks, but it made for such unique routes. Still, the qualms I had while playing Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave never dulled the love I felt for it.
