Fire Emblem Engage

Fire Emblem Engage is a tactical role playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for Nintendo Switch on January 20, 2023. It is the seventeenth mainline Fire Emblem game, following Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Its story takes place on Elyos, a continent divided among Firene, Brodia, Elusia, and Solm, with the holy land of Lythos at its center. The protagonist, Alear, awakens after a thousand years of sleep as the Divine Dragon's child. Alear's mother, Queen Lumera, is killed soon after their reunion, and Alear sets out to collect twelve Emblem Rings before the Fell Dragon Sombron can use them.

Each ring houses an Emblem based on a character from an earlier Fire Emblem title. Marth, Celica, Sigurd, Lyn, Ike, Lucina, Corrin, and Byleth are among the heroes Alear's army can summon. Equipping a ring grants stat bonuses and abilities, while engaging with its Emblem unlocks a temporary transformation, a special weapon, and a powerful attack. Characters build bonds with Emblems through combat and conversations, then spend skill points to inherit selected abilities. The rings also drive the plot: enemy forces seize several of them, compelling Alear to fight former allies among the Emblems. Their presence gives the game a concrete link to earlier entries without requiring players to have played them.

Battles unfold on grid based maps where positioning, terrain, and unit classes determine outcomes. Engage revives the weapon triangle: swords counter axes, axes counter lances, and lances counter swords. Attacking with the advantaged weapon can inflict Break, preventing the target from counterattacking until its next combat. Players can choose Classic mode, where fallen units are permanently lost, or Casual mode, where they return after battle. The Draconic Time Crystal allows limited rewinds of turns, offering another way to recover from mistakes. Optional skirmishes provide additional opportunities to train units, while paralogues include battles focused on Emblems.

The Somniel, Alear's floating base, serves as a hub between chapters. There, players can cook meals with companions, train in the arena, forge weapons, and visit Sommie, a creature found near the shrine. Support conversations develop relationships between recruits from Elyos's four kingdoms. The Expansion Pass adds Emblem Bracelets featuring more returning characters and a separate story, the Fell Xenologue, centered on Nel and Nil in another Elyos. Engage's character designs were created by artist Mika Pikazo, whose sharply contrasting costumes distinguish its cast from that of Three Houses.