Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes Review (Switch)

Despite that fact that I’ve been a long-time fan of the Fire Emblem series having sunk hundreds of hours in Three Houses, I’ve been pretty reluctant regarding the Warriors-themed Fire Emblem games made by Koei Tecmo and Omega Force. It tried to finish the first Fire Emblem Warriors when it was released back in 2017, but the game simply didn’t grab me.

Although I’m surprised that we still don’t have a sequel to Fire Emblem: Three Houses, yet Koei Tecmo and Omega Force managed to put out not one but two Warriors titles in the same universe, I’ll get what I’m given.

The feeling of déjà vu I had when I fired up Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes for the first time was clearly not in its favor. I thought I’d give up after a few hours of gameplay just like it happened with the previous Warriors game. Fortunately, Three Hopes has a much more enjoyable prologue and the first few hours convinced me that this will be quite a ride.

Just like Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the prologue is meant to offer players the basics of the combat, but it doesn’t do a great job at introducing the three factions in the game. It’s quite possible that Omega Force assumed that anyone playing Three Hopes knows everything about the Fire Emblem series and limited the exposition considerably.

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Before we deep-dive into the game’s mechanics, it’s important to mention that Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is set in an alternate timeline in which you fight against the protagonist of Three Houses, Byleth. It’s an interesting take on the series, one that will certainly not please all fans. The fact that Byleth didn’t get too much screen time doesn’t help either.

In any case, if you’ve played and loved Three Houses, do yourself a favor and tackle Warriors: Three Hopes with an open mind, you’ll be surprised how enjoyable it will make the experience.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes puts you in the shoes of Shez, a mercenary with supernatural powers given by a mysterious creature attached to him. In the prologue, you get to choose for which house you want to fight to revenge your ragtag band killed by Byleth and here mercenaries.

As the name of the game suggests, there are three houses that you can choose from, each aligned to a different nation of Fodlan. They are the Black Eagles led by Edelgard, imperial princess and heir to the Adrestian throne, the Blue Lions, commanded by Prince Dimitri of the Kingdome, and the Golden Deer led by Claude, heir to the Alliance’s leading family.

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Choosing one faction will pit you against the other two, but there are a couple of other surprises in terms of enemies too. Although all the characters you know and love (or hate) from Fire Emblem: Three Houses are present in Three Hopes too, some of them act differently than they should. Despite the fact that their personalities remain intact, it makes sense for some of them to be … different, especially since the game is set in a different reality.

Fire Emblem: Three Hopes is split in chapters filled with many side quests that all involve the same thing: conquering new lands. In each new chapter you’ll have to invade and conquer a piece of land belonging to one of the opposing houses. More importantly, it’s up to you how you take on each chapter because there’s a lot of content to go through.

Each territory that you need to grab to advance the story is surrounded by other pieces of land that you need to conquer first. These are considered side quests and while you’re not required to do them all to reach the main mission, it’s strongly recommended to do the most important ones that reward you with very useful strategy scenarios.

These scenarios unlock helpful strategies during the final mission of the chapter, like the option to recruit an enemy general or use specific troops to counter the enemy at certain points in the fight. You don’t want to miss recruiting a beloved character from the opposing house, don’t you? Which is why I’d recommend conquering all territories before going for the chapter’s main battle.

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I have to commend Omega Force for successfully implementing all the mechanics that makes Fire Emblem such an iconic franchise and adapt them to a different genre. Although I’m definitely not a fan of musou, I think I would dig the Warriors game even if I didn’t previously play Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

It’s not just the story that increases replayability, but the high number of classes too. At the beginning of the game, you’re given a headquarters where you can socialize with your teammates, construct new buildings that allow you to upgrade your characters, train them and equip them with powerful weapons. Endless combinations are available if you’re the type of player who likes to min-max character builds.

Each class in the game can counter an enemy class, which subtly forces players to switch characters often during the campaign. Enemies with axes are weak to swords, while flying units are weak to archers, and so on. Even after you unlock a character’s ultimate class, you can still go back to a previous class for a specific fight. Not to mention that you can basically specialize any characters in almost any class you want.

Combat is tight and visceral and extremely satisfying when you push the right buttons. Shez, the protagonist, is one of the most powerful characters in the game, but each class has its own “Kamehameha,” it’s just that you need to find it. Each character can use only two skills at any given time during a fight, each capable of countering different type of enemies. They can be changed at the start of the battle and upgraded at HQ.

If you have any doubts about Omega Force’s ability to adapt the musou formula to the Fire Emblem franchise, don’t. Everything makes sense, even the ability to purchase levels for characters that you don’t get to play that much and are left behind when it comes to experience gained.

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The Good

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Conclusion