Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is a sprawling strategy RPG that asks players to rewind history and fix the end of the world. The game puts players in the role of a mysterious God-like avatar tasked with saving the Dagdan continent from an undead apocalypse. Developer Intelligent Systems has packed in four distinct protagonist paths, branching storylines, and a staggering amount of content, and the result is a game that feels essential enough to justify buying a Switch 2.
The game’s opening crawl is the weakest part. It dumps megaton exposition on players during a slow-paced tutorial, and the introductory section drags. But the payoff comes fast. Once the narrative wrapper is stripped away, Fortune’s Weave reveals itself as a rich fantasy role-playing game with a sci-fi twist.
Rewind to the Heroic Games of 1449
The setup is simple in theory: rewind time to the Heroic Games of 1449 and investigate the political intrigue of the Dagdan continent. In practice, it’s a massive web of interconnected events, factions, and characters. Players can hop between four distinct paths at will, each following a different protagonist through the same timeline.
Theodora is the loyal warrior queen who puts her citizens first. Dietrech is a violent and intelligent foreigner determined to uncover Dagda’s mysteries. Cai is a young village boy caught up in a peculiar conspiracy. Leda is a traveling performer lusting for revenge. Each path is presented with deep voice acting, and Leda’s story stands out as the most emotive and well-acted of the lot.
One Save Slot, Many Paths
The biggest structural decision is the single save slot. Because all four paths are intrinsically linked, players can jump between stories whenever they want. That freedom comes with a caveat: the reviewer recommends setting some guardrails to ensure progression, otherwise you’ll never make it out of Chapter 1.
By 80 hours and counting, the reviewer had played each of the four paths, though two were rushed for timing’s sake and only story-critical missions were completed. A full, leisurely playthrough could easily top 200 hours for a completionist.
Four Protagonists, One World
The production value in each path is immense. The reviewer notes that there’s more in just one of these stories than most smaller RPGs get in their entire runtime. The writing is generally strong enough to hold attention, even when cutscenes repeat the same 30-or-so backdrops with minimal over-the-shoulder camerawork.
The four protagonists offer distinctly different experiences. The opening hours appeal to nu-spec Fire Emblem fans with their Persona-flavoured social focus, while Chapter 2 shifts toward the itinerant fights of 2005’s Radiant Dawn or 2008’s Shadow Dragon. The final portion stands alone.
A Web Too Complex to Repeat
One of the game’s most impressive feats is how it avoids repetition. Players might expect to run into the same fights on the same maps across different paths, but Intelligent Systems has placed and paced everything so that every path feels unique. Even when you team up Theodora and Cai, the routes to get there are so different that the reviewer wouldn’t have known they were the same fight without the prompts.
There’s probably twice as much going on here as Three Houses, and that’s an ungenerous comparison. The reviewer argues Fortune’s Weave is better: while Three Houses excelled in some ways, it suffered from bloat either side of the infamous timeskip. The school sections sometimes felt prolonged, and the pacing sometimes stumbled. Fortune’s Weave has been engineered to cater more to player tastes.
Agency Over Social Simulation
If you don’t like the ‘social simulation’ side of nu-Fire Emblem, you don’t have to engage with it. If you’re more interested in gift-giving and army-building, you’ll need a spreadsheet to min-max properly. But Intelligent Systems doesn’t force either path. The game offers more agency and urgency than Three Houses ever managed.
The ‘War’ section of the game sits between the four paths and the end-game run. It’s an inclement gauntlet of battles, the Fire Emblem equivalent of a boss rush, where the mechanical gears that animate the game’s structure are laid bare. Combat puzzles are artisanal and engineered with deft strategy in mind, the maps designed with variation and girders.
A Pendulum Between Story and Exploration
Fortune’s Weave never suffers from the weight and complexity of its plot because of its pacing. The game swings between story-critical fights and languorous open world exploration. Players need to get their armies set up, social links bolstered, and weapons equipped before hitting a point of no return.
The reviewer describes the experience as sharp and satisfying, calling it a game as compelling as Awakening on the 3DS with character work and story as engaging as Three Houses. The sense of wonder and scale recalls those multi-disc PS1 RPGs from the 90s.
“This is Fire Emblem at its peak.”
The Case for Switch 2
The game’s depth and scale are undeniable. It’s a reason to buy a Switch 2, per the reviewer’s argument. The single save slot and diluted difficulty are odd decisions for an RPG of this scope, but the fascination is real.
| Section | Focus |
|---|---|
| Opening crawl | Megaton exposition, slow tutorial |
| Four paths | Theodora, Dietrech, Cai, Leda |
| Save system | Single slot, hop between paths |
| Full playthrough | Estimated 200+ hours |
| War section | Boss-rush style gauntlet |
What Remains To Be Said
The reviewer holds back on spoilers and embargo reasons. The last portion of the game stands alone, and the reviewer won’t divulge too much of it here.
The game is a reason to buy a Switch 2, according to the reviewer, and it’s a game that rewards curiosity. The single save slot forces players to plan ahead, and the branching paths mean every playthrough is a new adventure.
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is a game of extremes. It’s the worst bit of the game in its opening crawl, and it’s a game that has captivated and fascinated the reviewer like nothing in years. The complexity is real, and the ambition is larger than most RPGs attempt. It’s a game worth playing, even if the tutorial drags.
The reviewer’s verdict is clear: this is Fire Emblem at its peak.
See the video the story is built around at Eurogamer.
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