This is an alright fire emblem game
It has good levels, an amazing soundtrack and for me it felt very reminiscent of the gba fire emblem games and the dlc is pretty good.
However it still has flaws that need to be worked out for starters its character design which for some characters were pretty good and others were typical fire emblem designs, some could be better and some of them were so terrible like what the hell were the devs thinking when making this person, secondly its story sucked, the story for this game is not the worst but it could be way better and I feel like some of the story fell off with the voice acting, the voice acting in this game sucks and if it were better it could of helped out the story a little bit. Other than that this game is alright and you should give it a try if you haven't.

Never played a game that made me go, "I love fire emblem!" until I played this one. Great map design, unlike 3Houses.
For context on what the story is like, there is a shot in the prologue of the castle below the Somniel that looks like one of the default title screens for an RPGMaker game. Thankfully, character interactions within supports are consistently entertaining, even though they lack the potential to illustrate a legitimate sense of growth through the means of a time skip like they did in 3Houses, that's obviously not what they're going for. I also really liked Mika Pikazo's illustrations for the overall art direction the game has. Just looks gorgeous when viewing in full.

While I overall enjoyed my time in a new Fire Emblem game, I didn't come to love it anywhere close as I did with Three Houses. The cast of characters is great, the new engage mechanic opens up a lot of flexibility on how I want to play the game, and the combat animations really enhance the war fantasy that is portrayed here. On the other side, however, the game's social sim aspect is very superficial compared to its predecessor and the story is very cookie cutter RPG stuff. Let's see what the future holds up for Fire Emblem.

Fire emblem engage has the most unfortunate release I've seen. After being delayed for 2 years and constantly being compare to three houses this game already had a really bad start. Instead of focusing on a wider narrative and more developed character, it tackles the main gameplay in a phenomenal way.

The combat might be the same og fe gameplay but with the additions of rings and the break system really helps itself stand out among the rest. Maddening was an amazing experience instead of being bombarded with constant reinforcements or enemies with inflated stats, the enemies were difficult to deal with but not impossible to beat. Bosses having extra lives is a great change which I hope they can keep in later games, felt more challenging than just ending turn in front of them.

While I am a monastery hater I don't really think the somniel fixed the problems it had. It was like instead of taking 30 minutes in the monestary now its 25 minutes in the somniel. Of course its all optional but I tried to optimize as much as I could in both games but the monestary was taking more time seeing what the characters would say in vs optimizing gameplay in the somniel. Pick your poison I guess. They really got it right with My Castle.

Story was decent at best it has a couple good moments towards the end but really just the power of friendship and everyone loves the protag. Supports were fine some stand out like ivy and panette and some less like celine talking about tea for the millionth time.

I really wish this game wasn't compared to three houses so much they both handle different fe aspects differently. Personally I prefer gameplay over story so I am bit bias but this game is really fun and I enjoyed my time playing it. In the end there's only one game that has goldmary so engage >>>>>>>>> three houses

Fire Emblem games have mostly not been renowned for their writing...But with Three Houses seeming to pave the way towards them trying to tell more nuanced stories, this game released and gave it a firm 'HAH, NOPE!'.

Disclaimer before I just dump on this game: The actual gameplay was kinda fun, some systems were neat and the maps were cool.

Everything else is crap.

You are the special-est and most renowned character EVAH. A demi-god renowned for doing...Something. That has a whole religion surrounding them with characters who actively worship them as a diety. Even your enemies can't help but respect and admire you...For some reason.

And when you look at the map, literally the ENTIRE world, even the other continents, revolve around you. ...This kind of power fantasy might gel with others, but for me this is...just...not why I'm here. Despite actually really enjoying the gameplay, the story just kept on popping in to ruin whatever I felt about it. The other characters who join your party aren't much better.

This bleeds into the 'gimmick' that the game introduces, which has you summon past characters from other Fire Emblem games to give you some neat powers. These characters are even MORE underwritten than the main character and plot itself, leading to a very jaded reasoning as to why they even bothered.

If you're a player who can completely ignore a games storyline...I guess this is for you? Mechanically this game is sound.

As a tactical game it's better than its predecessor Three Houses, but the story and characters are not as strong. With that said, it easily clears all the other entries from the past decade, and I did end up enjoying when it was a head empty Saturday Morning Cartoon thing. However, there is some pretty laughable stuff towards the latter half of the game for sure. When it tries to lean into more "serious" topics like motherhood and abuse it falls flat on its face.

The Engage system is pretty sick, and leads to some interesting strategies. It would be cool to see elaborated on, but who knows what the next entry in this series looks like at this point.

My main complaint is that I think the Somniel social stuff drags the game down. You can probably ignore it if you don't like it, but it gives you enough advantages in combat that I felt compelled to (lol) engage with it at least a little bit.

Game Finished In 2024 #7:

I am something of a fairwearther Fire Emblem Fan. Were I to rank gaming franchises by how attached I am to them, Fire Emblem would be a comfortable B. I have played every game since Awakening, and a couple before then, but I largely don't get motivated enough to finish them. So why is it then, that I decided to play through and Engage, an anniversary title? Isn't it kinda weird? It is, but for the most part, it did work for me.

Having a passive familiarity with most FE games is all one needs, really. Despite how important you might think prior FE knowledge would be to an anniversary game like this, you would be kind of wrong. There are passing references, but there is rarely much depth to them. I did pick up on some of them from the games I've played, but they were largely unimportant to the enjoyment of the game.

Speaking of, this game is primarily enjoyed for the gameplay. I make it a point to give a game's story A Shot. I don't like skipping cutscenes, so I try to see what a story has to offer. Engage's story has nothing to offer. About the nicest thing I can say about it is "I am glad they stuck to one route this time". The character writing, showcased in the supports, does have some good stuff, but the actual Plot is basically auxiliary to the gameplay.

Luckily, for most of the runtime, Engage is one of the best FE games to actually play. The game plays with a lot of established FE standards, and manages to be as compelling, or even moreso at times, than Three Houses's gameplay, the previous contender for my favorite FE game in gameplay. Things like removing weapon durability go a long way towards making the game stand out. Of course, the titular mechanic of Engaging is the most unique feature the game has, and it is one I'm going to be sad to see go. In simple terms, you get a character from a previous FE game, and can pair them up with any one of your units to give them special abilities. Furthermore, you can Engage with an emblem to gain further abilities, including a limit break-esque special move, and additional weapons to use. This push and pull of when to Engage to turn the tide of battle results in a lot of interesting encounters.

This is also a great game, presentation-wise. While I didn't remember much of the music, the vibrant graphical style and bold character designs were a marked step up from Three Houses, which was genuinely difficult to look at after realizing how good Engage looks. The animations, especially for critical hits, were also polished. Some may criticize the designs, but they're very Fun in a way that fits the game overall.

Unfortunately, Engage does have some flaws. The Somniel, on paper a version of the Academy from Three Houses without the time limit, ends up undermining itself by utterly inundating the player with mechanics. Going back to the Somniel after every chapter genuinely felt like doing dailies in a particularly unpleasant gacha game. The mechanical bloat also made it incredibly difficult to discern what mechanics were worth bothering with or not. The game's reliance on materials and currencies to facilitate a lot of mechanics did not help in the slightest, as I always felt short on them due to my attempts to stay away from the skirmish encounters. You get "war funds" from time to time, which struck me as a way to smooth this process, but they did not provide any materials to go along with, resulting in me largely neglecting the blacksmith. Trying to discern what I would actually benefit from doing in between chapters made it arguably more stressful than the chapters themselves at times. That is, at least until the three chapters before the final boss, where even the thin plot stretches to it's breaking point for a plotline that is essentially padding, coupled with downright unpleasant chapters. Perhaps I missed a mechanic to make these three chapters bearable, but there was simply so much in the game it was impossible to tell what I could have done to make those less annoying. Doubly confusing, in that the final boss himself was completely fine and went down with no trouble.

I sincerely hope Engage informs FE games in the future. I'd like to see better plots, of course, but the gameplay is so good it would be a shame to see it completely abandoned. A game that could theoretically combine 3H's quality of writing and Engage's gameplay would likely be handily the greatest FE game ever made. As long as they stick to one route. Please?

Honestly, this Fire Emblem is very beautiful and its music is spectacular, but apart from that, the game is bad. There's no other way to put it. The story is very weak; it couldn't be more cliché, and the interactions between characters are too few and quite bland. Not to mention that the characters treat you like a deity, which often makes the dialogues seem strange. It's the worst FE game in a long time. I won't say more because I know this game is merely a commemorative one for FE, which is probably why it has this classic storyline reminiscent of the early FE games and a linear plot.

Tirando o Three Houses, desde Awakening os Fire Emblem tem sido sobre família. Awakening com suas situações de ver seu filho com a mesma idade que você por causa de viagem no tempo e Fates tentando muito mostrar que tanto seus irmãos de sangue quanto de criação podem te aceitar (mas ele tropeça muito no caminho)

Engage porém, é sobre o impacto que sua família tem em você, seja pra bem ou pra mal. E também sobre o fato que você tem todo direito de escolher quem você considera família ou não.

No início estava achando a história simples e até boa por isso, mas ela vai se desenrolando mais e mais até que você entende perfeitamente ao que o jogo veio. E o Engage, apesar de tudo, não é só despejo de fanservice, os personagens dos outros jogos apesar de nem sempre terem relevância, ainda mesclam muito bem com o mundo. Tem talvez os personagens mais amáveis em muito tempo.

Um filho sempre merece liberdade pra ser quem ele é

a game with such good gameplay that i don't mind how much it fumbles everything else. the characters are fine, feeling mostly useless in the story, and only shining in some of the goofiest supports to date. the music is great, but that's nothing new for this franchise. the gameplay and map design are some of the best in the franchise, and i'd personally say the map design by itself is the best in the franchise. the fan service is handled better than in warriors, and it does feel like the writers actually played the games their old heroes come from in the bond conversations.
story is bad but it's funny bad and there's no incest so i think it's better than fates.
but seriously, this game is fun, and that's what matters.