Took me a long ass time to beat it because the story didn't grab me. Atp, there's nothing I could say about the game that hasn't already been, but because I put 100+ hours in, I feel like I oughta put a few of my thoughts down.

This game has the prettiest 3D environments in the series. They're colorful, sharp, and don't feel like an afterthought. The artstyle isn't for me. Echoes has my favorite FE artstyle and I miss how the characters looked in that game.

Gameplay wise, this is arguably a return to form, and I see more replayability here than in 3H, ironically. The Engage system opens up so much strategy and unit building, which are my favorite elements of this series.

You know how ass this game's story has to be for me to check out, even though I find the gameplay so engaging (heh) and the game to be so pretty?? Story has always mattered to me in these games but I didn't realize how much it did until I was confronted by a straight up bad one. I recommend this game to anyone willing to skip all the cutscenes.

Character designs are awful.

Story is basic as hell.

I wanna kill Hortensia with hammers.

None of that matters because this has the best gameplay in the series like damn these maps are good and the Engage mechanic is fun and opens up so many possibilities. Amazing tactical game design.

Fire Emblem Engage is quintessentially Fire Emblem – in the way every Fire Emblem game is uniquely quintessentially Fire Emblem. This is to mean that I think this game perfectly fits the mold of a Fire Emblem game, because such a mold does not exist. It innovates in the right places and provides an experience I would fundamentally call "incredibly fun". What it fails to provide in terms of story or all-too-compelling character writing it makes up for with its ingeniously thought-out combat system and strategic gameplay. This game could very well be Shigeru Myamoto's wet dream. I do think it struggles from the lack of a compelling storyline, and I think trying to look for meaning in what is mainly supposed to be "Fire Emblem: A Fun Romp With Friends Plus Killing a God" is a misplaced effort. Still, the things the game is good at, it excels at – and that, in my opinion, is worthy of praise.