Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave has achieved incredibly high praise in early reviews, with many calling it the very best of the long-running Fire Emblem franchise, and one of Nintendo’s greatest releases for Switch 2.
With September and October absolutely packed with new video game releases, it’s yet another major adventure to add to your backlog.
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave review roundup – quick links
Our review of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave so far
The ScreenHub team isn’t quite ready for a full review of Fortune’s Weave yet, but after several hours, the brilliance of the adventure has been well on show. As we discussed in our initial preview, Fortune’s Weave features a grand journey, with a novel set-up.
While it begins in mysterious fashion with the appearance of a bright warrior to fight back against the darkness, the game is far more complex than its bland opening chapter suggests. In the journey, you follow alongside a team of soldiers – Leda, Dietrich, Cai and Theodora – whose fate appears cemented in stone. While they are each incredibly strong, they will eventually become brainwashed soldiers in a legion of evil dead.
Playing with the threads of time and fate, you must alter their destinies, while recruiting them to realise their true power as Flame Lords who will save the world from darkness. All the while, you’ll be corralling them through the many challenges of the Heroic Games, a gladiator tournament to crown the strongest fighters in the city of Dagsion.
This Fire Emblem game defined by its likeable protagonists, with each having their own lush and layered backstory to follow. There are opportunities to switch between each as you roam, although you might also like to pick a favourite as we did – Dietrich – and fully entrench yourself in their winding adventure.
Each character is very well-rounded, with strong voice acting and sharp dialogue to define their personalities. The game’s ambitious and multi-threaded narrative also serves them well, with quests of strong character development and neatly-controlled twists.
Pair this grand narrative finesse with a moreish turn-based strategy combat system, and the journey of Fortune’s Weave is one that’s very rich.
There’s a wide scope here, with dozens of hours of story to plow through. It would be simplistic to call each character’s narrative its own game, but backed by such ambitious and far-reaching tales, you really are experiencing an entire Hero’s Journey within each story line.
If you’re looking for a game that will consume you, Fortune’s Weave is exactly that.
Based on critical reviews elsewhere, it does appear other reviewers have been just as sucked-in as we’ve been.
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave review roundup
In a 10/10 review for Press Start Australia, reviewer Harry Kalogirou called Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave a robust 100-hour RPG that left him in awe.
‘This is Intelligent Systems’ biggest game – equally ambitious in its multi-pathed tale as it is in its enthrallingly strategic gameplay loop and goosebump-inducing presentation,’ Kalogirou says.
‘The [main characters] aren’t just different in characters and journey – each leans into a unique tone and vibe … Despite Leda’s path being my favourite, none of the four paths are duds, and I was invested in all of their journeys thanks to nuanced writing that bucks the high-school drama-isms of Three Houses.’
Leda’s story was also a highlight for IGN reviewer Brendan Graeber, who also gave Fortune’s Weave a 10/10.
‘I’m happy I chose to play as Leda first, as her tale of vengeance was a wild ride to watch unfold,’ Graeber says.
‘I … came to admire how each of the paths in Fortune’s Weave are their own specific strands on a larger web of intrigue. It’s not exactly a new concept to have a secretive evil group pulling strings from the shadows, but it’s the way each hero uncovers certain pieces of their motives and operations that compelled me the most.’
Over on Game Informer, critic Eric Van Allen praised the escalation of the action in Fortune’s Weave, as compared to other games in the Fire Emblem franchise, in a review giving it 8.75/10.
‘The scope of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave allows it to take massive swings at surprising, cool concepts and mechanics that feel fresh and interesting for the series,’ Van Allen says.
‘Packing them all into a single game might have made this the most intimidating entry to jump into since Fates, but putting it all in a single package with some excellent quality-of-life options, like cross-path progression boosts and side quest clears, helps smooth out the road for those who want to see everything.’
Over on Eurogamer, critic Dom Peppiatt, in a 5-star review, also praised how other Fire Emblem games have paved the way for Fortune’s Weave to tell its ambitious, bold and sweeping story.
‘Despite some odd decisions for an RPG of this depth and scale – a single save slot and diluted difficulty, to name two – I haven’t played a game that has captivated and fascinated me like this in years,’ Peppiatt says.
‘This is Fire Emblem at its peak, a game as sharp and satisfying as Awakening on the 3DS, with character work and story as compelling as Three Houses. It summons the same sense of wonder and scale as those multi-disc PS1 RPGs did back in the 90s.Â
High praise indeed.
Given the raucous reception here, and our own experiences, Fire Emblem fans are in for a fantastic time. Those new to the franchise will also find a wild and engrossing tale to get on with, perhaps encouraging a new love.
A code for Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave for Nintendo Switch 2 was provided to ScreenHub for review.
