Actually up there as one of the best strategy/tactic JRPGs out there, purely off gameplay alone. The amount of customisation and optimisation available is mindboggling, and while there are units that will be just better than others - it won't stop a truly dedicated player from succeeding with their favourites. And what a cast to choose from, all lovable in their own adorable way. Yet, this is where some of the failures of this game comes in, as the characters are really fun - a lot of them only appear for the chapter they are in and never show up in a story based cutscene afterwards. Story is a bit of a saturday morning cartoon, and the game wears that on its sleeve - yet still somewhat disapointing after the story of the previous game in the series.

The gameplay: 🤩
The story: 🤮

I brought this game ON RELEASE and just finished it now, a whole ass year and a half later. The reason why was because I got so tilted over chapter 25 on hard mode that I abandoned the game entirely until deciding to finish it.
- Engage's story is what Fire Emblem haters think Fire Emblem is, and I kind of agree with them. This shit was embarrassing. The dialogue goes on for way too long, is way too emotional, and extremely cringe. The story is basically Baby's first Fire Emblem plot but with the Emblem rings tossed in. Three Houses set a high standard for the series, and this is a step back in every way narratively. The villain is not even present for most of the game, and when he is present, he's one note. Every character has one defining trait and that's it for their characterization. You fight generic corrupted units for the majority of the game. None of your choices change the story. The character endings don't change depending on supports. Everything's just so bad.
- HOWEVER, the flip side of the terrible writing is the excellent game play. When the combat in Engage works, it WORKS. The Emblem rings are such a cool concept and add so much depth to the combat and strategy by giving you a different resource that you have to make the best use of. Some were very clearly better than others (cough Leif cough), and there were some niches in my army that weren't properly filled, but overall, the engage system was a 9/10 from me. My only issue with it is my other big gripe with the game in general: balancing.
- I gave up completing this game on hard mode when I got to the final boss and was just tired. That aforementioned chapter 25 that got me to shelve the game for a year? When I finally got it, it took me OVER THREE HOURS TO COMPLETE because there was an hour spent fighting the same reinforcements, because if I moved ahead too much, the game would drop a ton of bricks on me as punishment for advancing my army. Engage expects you to cheese levels, otherwise I can't imagine why they thought that creating long ass levels with a million reinforcements, huge damage and giant health bars would be enjoyable to the average player.
- The other problem with the balancing is that every single one of the new combat additions in this game benefit the enemy far more than it does the player. All of those Emblem special attacks? Well, they basically one shot a health bar. If I use it, that's one enemy out of fifty out of the way, hardly a drop in the bucket. If an enemy uses it, there goes one of my ten units, and I can't do anything against it.
- Alright game, since you are going to chuck an entire planet's worth of corrupted at me, I'm going to park Chloe and Lapis in a choke point and watch as the enemies all have a 0% hit rate and get countered to death. Or rather I would, if there wasn't something called backup attack. The enemies with a %0 hit rate can still kill this S-tier unit through chip damage from repeated chain attacks with a set hit rate. That completely counteracts the reason I would make a dodge tank in the first place. But then if I go with an armored build, all it takes is one (1) mage in the general vicinity for them to make a beeline across the entire map just to one shot said armoured unit.
- On a different topic, the characters in this are fine, but I don't get to use all of them. The balancing issues mean that I have to build specific units instead of leveling up everyone, like I did in Awakening for instance. There's basically no reason I would bring two of the same type of unit when there isn't a second emblem ring to fill that niche. it's especially worse for any dagger unit, as none of the emblems are built around giving anything to dagger users. Well, except Leif, but Leif is kind of useless.

If it may seem like I am giving this game less then favorable feedback, that is correct. All of the fun I did have with the game (and trust me, there was a lot of fun stuff) was all undone because of the tail end of the game and its shoddy level balancing.

this is three houses' polar opposite in that it succeeds in places 3H struggled with and vice versa. 3H's story, while by no means perfect, had a lot of ideas it wanted to explore and put in greater focus in its world building. engage's story reads more like fire emblem mad libs (probably fitting since it was an anniversary game originally) and has a very unambitious and unconvincing setting. 3H had some dull meandering sections in between some underwhelming maps while engage has fluff sections that can easily be skipped and some really fun maps and gameplay systems that make the experience both challenging and fun. you get the idea
i get why people might not find this game appealing because of its weak story, but as someone who definitely does not play for story, i really love engage. it's one of the most fun fire emblem games i've played. the emblem ring fanservice might seem strange at first, but they really are some cool macguffins that actually FEEL as valuable as they do in the story because of how much they can change the tide of battle. and plus, it's just cool to see some characters rendered in crispy HD.
the character designs can definitely be garish and bizarre (mika pikazo has a wonderful style, though it does clash with the expected Look of fe characters), and it's unfortunate that pretty much all characterization is shoved into supports (meaning, if you want to learn more about a character rather than their main gimmick, you just have to hope you encounter The Right Support). however, the presentation and animations during battle are second to none. the ways characters move when attacking or dodging (or even parrying depending on how much an attack was going to hit, which is a great detail) or doing a critical hit is super dynamic and full of personality. it reminds me of the gba battle animations everyone loves so much but done in 3d. i think that presentation, plus the uber saturated color palette, helps make the game have more staying power for me, which is something 3H's more subdued graphics and colors lacked (apologies for comparing 3H and engage when theyre so different, 3H and engage are just adjacent to each other in the game series lineup so i can't help myself).
all around, very good and fun! an fe game is something special when i feel compelled to replay it a bunch

I feel like the general discourse on this game being “gameplay good, story bad”, while somewhat true, often becomes extremely reductionist and dismissive of all the complex things (both good and bad) going on that make the game.

The story is built on false motivations, convoluted plots, and predictable twists, but it also has really interesting underlying themes which could have made it incredible with the right execution. Thematically the story deals with progeny being forced to respond to their parent’s actions (good or bad), which makes it a distinctively Fire Emblem story. There is even a hint of an interesting discussion to be had about a seemingly false dichotomy between Divine Dragons and Fell Dragons or the nature of the Emblems. The problem arises when these ideas of child abuse and manipulation, found family, children being forced to take over their kingdoms too soon etc. meets the happy-go-lucky tone of the characters and the thoughtless plot. So many of the serious moments are immediately undercut by abhorrently quirky characters like Hortensia or Griss acting like they do. There is always tonal dissonance between what is going on in the main story and the character interactions and gameplay you have in the Somniel. This isn’t a new problem in FE (even Three Houses had this to a lesser extent in the second half of the story), but the over-the-top nature of both the story (being too dramatic) and the characters (being too wacky) in different directions amplifies the problem. Engage’s greatest sin isn’t that it’s story is “simple” or “cheesy” or “cliched”, it is that a lot of different smaller things combine to make an absolute mess. A convoluted time travel element, muddling villain motivations, contrivances, multiple death scenes without actual consequences, being forced to fight the same villains (Four Hounds) multiple times, flimsy attempts to sympathize with all the villains - all of this contributes to maybe the worst FE story that otherwise had at least some potential.

It’s jarring how much I like and dislike the characters at the same time. These are without a doubt my least favorite character designs in the series. The designs are either over the top like Pannette and Hortensia, or seem too derivative like Alfred and Fogado. There’s definitely many things to like in this cast and some of the Support conversations are really good (Ivy and Alcryst, Framme and Diamant, all of the conversations between siblings, all of Anna's or Yunaka's supports), but so much of their personalities and dialogues are often one-note and way too cartoonish for a Fire Emblem story. When so many of the support conversations are based entirely on a character’s quirk, that means there are too many supports that should have been reduced. This is obviously not a unique problem to Engage, but again is more egregious than other games like Awakening. The fact that the Emblems themselves have extremely watered down personalities and only brief conversations, though understandable, doesn’t help either.

Alear in isolation have a pretty okay personality, and ironically it’s either the plot or the other characters that drag Alear’s character down. The amount of pandering to Alear is the most egregious I’ve seen in the series so far (even Kris is FE 12 wasn’t as bad, and that’s saying something). I have no inherent problem with a self-insert character, for example Robin is a really great character who feels like they belong in the world of Awakening. I don’t even have an inherent problem with the story revolving around Alear rather than a lord. But when every fucking character worships you quite literally and when a minigame involves you waking up to all the characters in love with you, that becomes an issue. It would have been so much more interesting if Alear would have experienced a burden from everyone’s expectations, or found it hard to relate to their status as a deity, but all they do is laugh it off seemingly humbly but continue to invoke their own importance when the plot requires. And because the story is so focused on Alear, it means that the lords from Firene, Solm, Brodia, and Elusia are not afforded time to shine or any sort of character development.

But even with the worst story and mediocre characters, this game is redeemed by everything else being near-perfect. The core gameplay of a Fire Emblem game is maybe the most fun and balanced I have experienced. The art and animation presentation are gorgeous. The soundtrack and voice acting are generally great. The contrast of strategic complexity between Engage and Three Houses is night and day. Engage makes up for everything Three Houses lacked - interesting maps with good side objectives, diverse chapters, unique skills in the form of class skills and Emblems that make every member of your army distinct, the weapon triangle. Customization more than ever offers replayability and not just game-breaking builds.

Combat is initiative focused which is always a good thing for FE games. But it is also incredibly supportive of reactionary playstyles with Emblem abilities like Eirika’s skills, or Lyn’s Doubles, or Ike’s Great Aether, or using Corrin’s Veil of Fog with thieves. Engage allows every class and Emblem combination you can think of to be viable and fun to use, much more than other games like Awakening or Three Houses which heavily prefer some classes over others. Thankfully Alear is not an overpowered avatar who invalidates all other unit functions. Additions like Chain Attacks and Chain Doubles or the Break mechanic add to the strategic complexity in positioning and overall gameplay, without being game-breaking like Awakening’s Pair Up mechanic. And since these mechanics are available to enemies as well (including Emblems in a lot of chapters), this means that these mechanics never feel overpowered but you feel rewarded when your tactics intelligently use them. Knives are a welcome addition that make thieves a combat viable class, Chain Guarding does similar improvements to the healer class, and the variety of staves combined with Micaiah’s Emblem, makes it really fun to use support staff strategies that are not just warp-skipping. Usually subpar classes like Armored Knights and Archers receive massive glow ups and increased utility with Emblems.

The resources are also generally restricted without being prohibitive, which is always a good indicator for me in an FE game being balanced and encouraging resource management. There is no dearth of character experience to be gained even if you only play the main story, but if you want to overlevel in skirmishes their levels scale with you to provide a challenge. Unit additions are trickled to you throughout the story (which I prefer much more than the outright availability like in Three Houses) and a smaller cast means characters are never redundant. Even the removal of weapon durability, which I thought I would hate, is balanced by gold and forging materials being limited so that you can’t equip everyone with fully forged silver weapons in spades. If you want to completely break the resource economy you can, just like any other FE game since Sacred Stones, but you really don’t need to nor are encouraged to by the game.

There’s definitely things about general gameplay I don’t like - the gacha mechanics of getting Bond Rings, the activities in Somniel (though they are at least reduced in playtime and are largely optional as compared to Three Houses), the options interface and battle prep interface being kind of bad etc. I still don’t agree with the inclusion of a rewind mechanic, but again it's up to you to use it how you want. All these are generally nitpicks to what is overall an immensely satisfying core gameplay.

In general, Fire Emblem Engage offers more of a storytelling platform through its gameplay rather than its actual plot. You will find more satisfaction in discovering a unique combination of Emblems with different units, or remember how you perfectly set up a chain attack to defeat a boss. For this reason Chapter 11 has become one of my favorite chapters in the entire series for its integration of gameplay and storytelling. But this sort of cohesion is very hard to find in the rest of the game, which if the story was even half as good as its gameplay would have made Engage the best game in the series.

Rise from a thousand years ago 🗓️ Shaking off a hazy dream 🛏️ Meet the flower 🌷 Who cares for everyone 🫂 The rising force ⬆️ Of blackened steel 🔨 Fighting in the desert sand 🏜️ Meet the snow ❄️ That sweeps across the field 🧹 The light 💡 And dark 🕶️ Restore our skies 🎑 Tonight 🌙 Heal the wounds 🏥 And learn from yesterday 📆 You calling out their names 🗣️ Crossing paths again ❎ Twelve are coming through 🏃 Bless us from another place 🐲 Do you remember me 🤔 Memories of red and blue 🟥 🟦Reigniting you ❤️‍🔥 Bare your fangs and roar 🦁 Free yourself forever more ♾️ Here and now💍 EMBLEM, ENGAGE!!! ⚔️ Bonds of fire connect us 🔥 Love provides ❤️ Protects us 🛡️ Like the heroes from the pages 📖 Like the stories of the ages ✍️ Bonds of hope unite us 🤝 Shining on to guide us ☀️ Skies above embrace the beauty 🌈 The time is now for you and me ✊ 💯

Gameplay is one step forward, writing is one step back from 3 Houses.

Fans of the more serious tone of 3 Houses, and the challenging format of Fates Conquest may take more interest in fellow SRPG Triangle Strategy outright.

The DLC is especially Fates Conquest coded, in challenging format and in vibes.

This takes a while to get going, and I strongly recommend you play on maddening even on your first run, but once it gets that momentum it's a phenomenal set of systems. Do yourself a favor and try to experiment with class changing, do research on the units and try to do weird stuff with them, it's very rewarding to take a mage and find out they're really good with an axe. It's a very elaborate and cohesive system to such an extent that I can't get across with brevity.

Also it mogs Three Houses, I cannot believe the same company made both of these games.