Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave is shaping up to be the most ambitious entry in the series yet, blending the political intrigue of Three Houses with the action of Engage. After playing through the first five chapters, it's clear that the game offers five distinct narrative strands, each with its own hero, all set against a Game of Thrones-inspired backdrop.
An Epic Framing Device
The game opens in a decayed future where the Dagdan Empire faces destruction, with Sothis calling for your help. You create and name your own legendary hero, tasked with stopping evil forces. This prologue serves as a tutorial, introducing turn-based battles in an appropriately epic fashion, and proves that Fire Emblem's tactical combat remains top-tier.
Fortune's Weave introduces new Blaze Art attacks, which function like Combat Arts but deplete health instead of weapon durability. These powerful moves are exclusive to the four main heroes—plus your custom protagonist—and are best used as a last-ditch tactic.
Four Interlocking Stories
The main narrative takes place five years before the future-set prologue, during a happier period in Dagison's history. You can switch between four parallel stories—those of Cai, Theodora, Leda, and Dietrich—as they assemble at The Capital to compete in the Heroic Games. For this preview, I played through Cai's story, a classic young hero's journey with childhood friends Peter and Tialla, which helps ground new players in the world's complexities.
Between events, you can fill your days with side tasks, gift-giving to recruit warriors, and dungeon battles. Many of these systems return from Three Houses, offering ample ways to grow your team. For action-focused players, options like Auto mode for dungeon battles and skip cutscenes are available, though you'd miss out on one of the most ambitious stories in Fire Emblem.
Minor Grievances and Future Promise
Some dungeons, particularly caves outside the city, feel visually bland, as do the areas where bond conversations take place. These talking-head sections aren't the most engaging to look at, but they don't detract from the game's ambition.
At the end of chapter five, I'm curious how the future-set storyline will merge with the present events. Even if it feels clumsy, Fortune's Weave already feels like Fire Emblem showing off by balancing not one or three, but five stories. With new tweaks to tactical battles, this is a grand debut for Fire Emblem on Nintendo Switch 2. The game launches exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 on September 17, 2026.
