The new video game Fire Emblem: Engage, released in January on the Nintendo Switch, is a visual treat and an excellent tactical RPG that focuses on combat. Players who fell for the previous part, where they strengthened relationships in the university life simulator, will not take to heart.
Despite its outdated hardware in 2017, the Nintendo Switch is still a unique gaming console. It has sold over 115 million units worldwide so far, and although most owners are already looking for a successor, Nintendo continues to supply them with exclusive and noteworthy titles this year. This is also confirmed by Fire Emblem: Engage, the latest installment in the long fantasy series that has been published for over 30 years.
This time, the developers decided to focus primarily on tactical battles and put aside the building of friendships and deeper relationships between individual fighters. Between battles, players can rest and spend time with their army in the divine town of Somniel, where there are smaller, albeit increasingly boring and stereotypical activities available over time – polishing rings, cooking, gathering materials, strengthening or fishing, which simply cannot be missing in any Japanese RPG.
The story of the game
Every 1,000 years, legendary heroes known as Emblems grant incredible power to the bearer of the 12 Emblem Rings. As this ritual approaches, Alear – the prophetic Divine Dragon – awakens to collect the rings and bring peace to the land. At the same moment, however, Sombron – the Fell Dragon and an ancient enemy – also rises and seeks the same rings, but with much worse intentions.
The story sounds naively silly on paper, which is helped by trivial dialogues with a traditional Japanese dose of melodrama and pathos. After ten to fifteen hours, however, the pilgrimage to the rings of power and the fight of the Divine Dragon, i.e. you, against the central enemy gets off to a solid start and, in principle, does not significantly annoy the player for the whole 50 hours, so he can concentrate and enjoy the most successful and also the most important thing – battles and duels .
There are three types of difficulty available, which this time are excellently balanced even on the normal compulsion to tactic and use all kinds of attacks and rings of power. These give individual characters unique abilities and can be used by all members of the battle group, which guarantees a really wide variability – why not create an agile archer who can also wield a sword well, or a magician who can also do it well with a sword?
It is necessary to have a diversely composed party, so that it does not lack archers, melee fighters and mages, because each type of attack applies to someone else – you will not pierce thick armor with a sword, but a well-aimed fireball will end the campaign of any warrior.
The battle arenas are diverse enough, they alternate seasons, landscapes and cities and offer enough tactical opportunities to advance on the battlefield. The atmosphere is enhanced by the beautiful animations of the fighters and the colorful graphics, which show what the Nintendo Switch can do even six years after its launch.
Fire Emblem: Engage returns to the core of the series – variable tactical battles – after the previous installment, which also focused on a university life simulator. They are excellent and do not get tired even after thirty hours, but it is a shame that identifying with the characters is much more difficult this time.
On sale from January 20, recommended price CZK 1,499
Check out the trailer for the game:
Fire Emblem: Engage – trailer | Video: Nintendo
