Fire Emblem is one of the biggest and best RPG franchises not only for Nintendo, but it feels like it can go toe-to-toe with the big ones like Final Fantasy.
In Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, it’s safe to say that the franchise is still going strong. It’s not merely the biggest and most ambitious entry Intelligent Systems has ever produced – it might be one of the boldest strategy RPGs anyone has ever made, and somehow it earns every minute of its enormous runtime.
A Story Told From Every Angle
The pitch alone is wild: four distinct protagonists – Cai, Leda, Dietrich and Theodora, plus your player avatar – each with their own storyline, motivations and armies, whose paths eventually converge in a finale that would make an early Avengers movie blush.
Cai is the classic JRPG hero, a boy fighting against much larger foes to free his imprisoned father. Leda is his polar opposite – a beautiful, self-destructive dancer chasing revenge to its bitter end. Dietrich took me the longest to warm to, but his arc adds depth to plot lines you’ll have seen from the outside across every other route.
The structure is the masterstroke. Rather than the branching routes of Three Houses, a single playthrough encompasses four unique perspectives on the same saga, funnelled through three story arcs into one climactic showdown. Part 1 alone – a tournament in the capital city of Dagsion, dripping with conspiracy – feels like a complete, fully-featured Fire Emblem game.
Battle in the arena, earn the trust of the warriors you meet, and pick your protagonist’s path through it. Part 2’s war against the Dagdan Empire is where Queen Theodora takes centre stage, with the others playing support roles, and Part 3 is the payoff dozens of hours in the making, built up from the game’s very first moments.
Crucially, it never feels like padding. Not every protagonist can win the tournament – timelines blur, and the game leans into it through divine intervention – but later runs benefit from unlockable XP boons, and Part 2 can even be skipped once you’ve seen it. This is one of the longest and most complex stories Nintendo has ever published, and it still plays concise and focused.
The Best Combat the Series Has Ever Had
The main-line grid battles from Three Houses return and are simply superb. Story-critical characters wield Drake’s Treasures with cursed relics that grant devastating Blaze Art abilities, from party-wide buffs to outright attacks, and the Dagdan pantheon, loosely inspired by Greek myth, offers optional Blessings that can turn the tide of a losing battle.
You’ll pay for them with weekly energy that could otherwise go to courting your allies, so there’s a genuine push-and-pull to the economy. Better still, the game never forces you to engage with either system; min-maxers will feast, while purists can take their armies in raw.
Between battles, you explore a lively overworld, delve into explorable dungeons, and raise support ranks over meals, gifts, and even theatre performances. If there’s a criticism to level at the package, it’s here. Maxing out supports efficiently is a bit of a chore; the downtime activities are the game’s lowest point, and the dungeon Clash battles, where your five-person party shares a single health bar in menu-driven skirmishes, are functional rather than fun.
They keep dungeon runs moving, but I never looked forward to one. These are the dips between peaks, not flaws that sink the game completely. This all comes down to personal taste and playstyle, so you may find some joy here.
What carried me through the quieter stretches was the cast. The iconic support conversations remain the series’ secret weapon, and watching units bond organically by fighting side by side – skills developing naturally as they use specific weapons and strategies – gives every army its own personality. The hours of voice acting across the entire cast bring every character to life, and the unique pacing makes the downtime between battles feel genuinely impactful.
A Gorgeous Showcase for the Switch 2
Fortune’s Weave is one of the best-looking games on Switch 2. The city of Dagsion feels alive, load times are near non-existent, and controls are snappy in both docked and handheld modes – my preferred way to play- with battle after battle melting away on the couch or the commute. Attack animations are a touch less snappy than Engage’s at the advanced classes, but the presentation of the big story set pieces is the best the series has ever been.
Performance is rock solid throughout; I never noticed a single hitch across dozens of hours. The beautifully crafted cutscenes and performances from the voice cast are beyond what I was expecting for a game of this calibre, and for all of it to be running relatively the same in both handheld and docked mode is more Nintendo magic we may never understand. If anyone was ever doubting the power and appeal of the Switch 2, it can easily be summed up with the visuals here.
Final Thoughts
I went in expecting a good Fire Emblem game in Fortune’s Weave. I came out convinced this truly beliveingh that this is one of the best RPGs Nintendo has published in a decade. Four protagonists worthy of their own games, all in one package, wrapped around the finest tactical combat the series has produced, with a structure that respects your time even at 80+hours.
The support grind and the flat Clash battles are the only blemishes on an otherwise flawless weave. The incredible animation, art style and the flawless run of the hybrid system is absolutely mind-boggling that it runs this well. It’s an easy 5 stars, and my early pick for the Switch 2’s best RPG.
FIVE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: Flawless performance; Beautiful visuals; One of the best stories in an RPG
Lowlights: Dungeon crawls can let it down; Slow between the big battles at times
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2
Available: Now
Review conducted on Nintendo Switch 2 with a code provided by the publisher.
Featured header image provided by the publisher.
