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I went into the opening chapters of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave with close to zero expectations. I knew there was a colosseum and that fights would happen there… and that’s about it. Now, hours into the game, I never could have expected what’s played out thus far. Fortune’s Weave looks back at the series, bringing forward systems from the past like Fire Emblem Gaiden’s dungeon crawling (which Japanese players experienced in 1992 before it was remade in 2017’s Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia); but it also looks forward, literally, with a sci-fi future where magic can be shot out of guns and flashback plotlines make up the primary narrative. It hasn’t quite coalesced into the gripping marriage of strategy gameplay and war and political intrigue typical of the series, but its early hooks have me searching for my Switch 2 any second of game time I can carve into my daily schedule.
Fortune’s Weave wastes no time, throwing you right into a scenario I’m not sure I can entirely explain. But the hero you create using simple, to-the-point character customization options is playable only for a moment. Eventually, after seeing medieval-dressed characters interact with advanced computer systems and magic guns ripped from the future, you will reach an Obelisk Chamber, and a bright-colored goddess (I think?) named Fortuna who speaks on behalf of Sothis, the young goddess from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Sothis urges you to dive back into the past and rewrite the histories of fabled heroes so that they might help you in the seemingly apocalyptic present. Again, I think. A lot is going on, and what I’ve played in this preview-designated section is clearly just the placing of Fortune’s Weave’s first few chess pieces on the board.
There are four obelisks to choose from, each with an associated hero-turned-fallen-warrior-who-has-now-become-an-evil-flame-lord from the past. After selecting one of the four, you’re thrust into a narrative that leads to Dagsion, the Dagdan Empire’s capital. The Heroic Games, Fire Emblem’s spin on ancient Roman colosseum fights and gladiator tournaments, take place here and it is where each obelisk hero plays a special role. Though I’m not privy to those roles yet, it’s been fun seeing how Leda, a magical bard with a bloodlust for her father’s murderer, arrives there.
Leda’s life is ripped away from her as a girl – with her eyes set on revenge, she travels the world in search of clues and her next coin, wowing alehouse patrons with song and dance. I suspect each hero’s story flows into combat the way I’ve experienced it with Leda, who uses melodies from her mystical vihuela to buff nearby allies on the battlefield. That’s exactly what her Blaze Art does, a character-specific move that turns the tide when used correctly. But because it saps HP to do so, when and how you use it in the series’ trademark strategy grid-based battles matters. The same can be said for Combat Arts, which power up specific weapons but chip away at their durability. These two systems create new strings of tension on familiar grids, which is where the classic rock-paper-scissors style of turn-based strategy gameplay returns.
It remains satisfying to create forward pushes, flanks, and the like with intentional advances, and the accompanying battle animations are the best they’ve ever looked; the same can be said for all of Fortune’s Weave, which highlights Intelligent Systems’ commanding artistic vision with the boon of power that comes from developing exclusively for Switch 2. While I’m happy to see dungeon crawling return, the associated turn-based combat (notably not grid-based battles) is so far underwhelming – a button to fast forward through these fights or skip to the conclusion screen entirely suggests a lack of confidence in these systems.
Game Informer video editor Eric Van Allen deliberately chose a different obelisk when prompted, instead peeking into the history of Cai, a teenager in search of a better life.
Cai is an optimistic, Shonen-esque hero who’s stumbled into a greater lot in life than he realizes. It seems clear that he and his childhood pals’ path through the Heroic Games will probably not be as lighthearted as they hope. Going on excursions outside Dagsion to build up their renown is enjoyable. Quests, hunts for useful resources, or just a quick trip out to see more of the outlying country net some good returns and spur on the idea of Cai slowly becoming as recognizable and formidable as the other lords.
There is still so much Fortune’s Weave left to go for both of us, but the hooks are in – it’s time to see where these obelisks take us, and I’m happy to say I have no idea where that will be.
