The followup to the somewhat divisive Three Houses, Engage goes back to basics in many ways. While Three Houses felt fairly overdesigned between its class system, school sim elements and just a generally massive cast, Engage goes back to a being a fairly streamlined and linear adventure. Characters come and go at the whim of the story, the Weapon Triangle returns, and there's no longer a class system in place. Given that it was also meant as a celebration of the franchise's 30 year anniversary, its plot also incorporates this in the form of Emblems - heroes from previous games who fight alongside this game's protagonists in spirit form. Characters can equip rings that grant access to Emblems, and filling the meter to activate an Engage grants them new special moves and bolsters their stats for a few turns; a bit similar in premise to Persona (or Tokyo Mirage Sessions). As characters use their Emblems more their bonds improve and they gain more passive bonuses. The visuals have seen definite improvement too, with more expressive characters and a lot of visual flourishes on special attacks, giving it an almost tokusatsu vibe. That said, the actual plot of the game isn't really anything to write home about - an amnesiac hero (or heroine), four countries entrusted with powerful artifacts, a dark dragon threatening to drive the world to ruin again, you've seen it all before. Still, if you want a Fire Emblem that goes back to basics while introducing a more streamlined new mechanic and paying homage to games of its past, this is one you may want to peruse.
Developer: Intelligent Systems
