What a DLC! Started right through after beating the main campaign and it was a lightweight journey that contrasts heavily with the original game. It simultaneously has characteristics of something Wild West-y, mainly in its soundtrack and characters, and gives of the vibes of a blend between sci-fi and tribalistic fantasy, like something you would see in Halo or, among more recenr titles, Horizon: Zero Dawn. Like future tech stylistic meets something ancient and primal. I'm a sucker for this rare type of atmosphere and worldbuilding in fiction, so huge props for that.
Characters and the whole plot aren't something new and you've probably seen this archytipes and plot diveses dozens of times at this point, but there's still a beautiful charm in them because of the writing. It's a strong 3-hours long campaign filled with adrenaline and action and I heavily recommend to beat it in one or two playsessions to get the best from it.
The only real complain I have is on gameplay side. I really liked the addition of special abilities to each character and there's nothing bad about this side of the gameplay loop. Though in the main game the AI was servicible for the most part, here characters controled by the computer are often tough to work with. Giving that devs probably thought about smooth game flow with the usage of given abilities, bots are at times outright dumb and will stay at one spot without going anywhere or will do everything in the world besides reviving you. It wasn't really a tremendous problem to deal with though since I played on a lower difficulty.
Overall, Hivebusters is a great expirience and I would love to come back after a while to collect all collectibles or to play it in coop.

I started this game back in 2019, playing it almost every day on my way to work and sometimes at home. There's also a cherishable memory of buying physical copy on one of the last days of my trip to The Emerald Isle. So, i kind of dropped playing because of different stuff approximately in September of '19. And here now it's February, 2023 and I've decided to finish it once and for all. So, as you probably understand, a lot of memories are tied to FE Fates: Birthright and half of them aren't even connected with the game itself. Booting it on my old rusty 2DS today, I've been instantly hit with the music that accompanied me in a very special moments. All those characters, however silly they are, their replicas, THIS music (omg, the ost is god-like) brought me memories of something that was quite a time ago and it made me smile a little.
I played a couple of side missions to remember the basics and started last 4 chapters I had to complete. It's the only FE game I've played besides mobile Heroes, and I played on Easy, so i can't say much about intricacies of gameplay; I just played on safe settings to have a comfortable experience and the overall flow of it was great. The story is notorious for being comedically bad and laughable because of many anime-ish clichés and how serious it takes itself; some of the writing is just bad, especially supports dialogues. And, sure, the overarching plot is very primitive and plain, but I still managed to find comfort in all this mess. I guess, we all need to be a little less serious sometimes and relax with some generic, but well-done fantasy story. The art for this game is gorgeous - characters' designs are amazing in addressing their personality and characteristics (albeit most of them are one-quirk people, that ties to how simply the game writing is), backgrounds and maps in gameplay sequences, vn-style dialogues and video cutscenes look beautiful, giving that it's a 3DS game.
By finishing the story on by a mile expected bright note, I myself, closed some kind of personal gestalt. This very ambitious, captivating by gamedesign and plainly cheerful by story videogame took me more than 3 years to complete. I've changed a lot for this period of time - my castle, friends and foes, my romantic support Hana (best girl by default) have not. So it was nice to meet them once more before settling scores with Garon. I don't think that will replay Birthright in a very long time (though I'm interested in trying other two "parts" of Fates trilogy), but it will always be a part of one the best moments of my life and I love it for that. This game also brought me into FE franchise and now I want to try other titles from 3DS and Switch eras. To be honest, i don't know how to close this review properly, since instead of "proper" review I just listed my emotions and memories, some of which are tied to the main subject of the game very loosely, but hey, in the end it's all about emotions and our feelings to the piece of art, right? Objectively speaking, it's a mediocre game in many aspects and I can notice it, sure, but I can't help but love this fun, sometimes joyful, sometimes tragic piece of tactical jrpg. I took something from and it's all that really matters.
P.S. Thanks A LOT Ryoma for carrying me through the last chapters, a true hero and ruler of the new-born empire of peace.