Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave review for Nintendo Switch 2 Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave review
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave review for Nintendo Switch 2
Posted on September 25, 2026 by Dawn in Reviews, Switch 2
System: Switch 2
Release date: September 17, 2026
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
It has been a joy to witness Fire Emblem’s success over the last decade. Although the narrative of some of the games has fallen flat for me over the years, Intelligent Systems has been nothing if not consistent in delivering high-quality strategy RPG gameplay that has only been getting steadily more ambitious with each installment. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is definitely nothing if not ambitious, and although it slightly overreaches at times, it mostly sticks the landing and stands out as one of the most creative and surprising entries so far.
Fortune’s Weave surprised me in the best possible way within the first five minutes by throwing me into the middle of the last thing I expected: a doomsday scenario taken straight out of a science fiction movie. Rather than the expected conflict between deities, dragons, undead, and the hapless mortals caught in between, the game begins with a handful of survivors wielding laser-based weapons and planning to utilize advanced technology for the purposes of time travel. The war against the demonic forces is effectively over and your character, an artificially created avatar known by the illustrious title of “The Promised One” needs to alter the course of history by travelling back in time to where it all started.
This takes you back to the year 1449 and the Kingdom of Dagda, which is preparing to host its next Heroic Games, a large-scale gladiatorial tournament held in the capital city of Dagsion by its Divine Sovereign, Solel. The ultimate prize for the winning team is to have any wish they desire granted, so naturally it attracts participants from outside of the empire as well as from within it. Of particular interest, and the main focal point of the majority of the story, are four characters in particular: Cai, a local youth; Dietrich, a swordsman from Fodlan; Theodora, the Queen of Saramis; and Leda, a traveling bard. Each has their own reasons for participating in the games, and although their stories will all ultimately end up in the same place, the way in which they all arrive at that destination will vary, and you’ll need to guide them all individually towards a better future. Or, at the very least, pick your favorite and make sure they make it there.
Although the science fiction elements take a notable backseat when moving on to part 1, the empire of Dagda is no less captivating for it, and is a marked departure from the more medieval-inspired fantasy setting that you’ll commonly find in Fire Emblem titles. The ancient Mediterranean aesthetic gives the central capital of Dagsion a noticeably more lived-in and culturally diverse feel to it than locations in previous games, and is a refreshing change of pace.
Fire Emblem has always had a strong core cast of characters to drive the story forward and Fortune’s Weave is certainly no exception, but for the first time in the series I felt that they had a real cultural identity to complement their clashing personalities. This is reflected most prominently in their designs, and as usual we’re given a colorful menagerie of playable characters who stretch the boundaries of belief sometimes, but the variety is particularly noteworthy here. Characters from across the world come to take part in the Heroic Games, and each group is visually distinct to reflect their origins.
The cast is, as is typical of Fire Emblem, sizeable, and although the main party members of each path receive their share of time in the spotlight, the game is noticeably lighter on support conversations with the wider cast, which keeps things feeling focused even if it does come at the expense of fleshing out a few characters who could have desperately used it. Despite the notably improved worldbuilding, Fortune’s Weave remains at its heart a character-focused narrative, and it suffers slightly for this due to pacing issues with that story and the sheer size of its cast, but what it does focus on, it does with the usual flair for the theatrical. Expect mysterious plots, overly dramatic statements delivered with a level of seriousness that will make you smile in delight and shake your head in exasperation in equal measure, and a lot of back-and-forth banter as your party members clash with one another.
Fortune’s Weave is divided into three parts, and you’ll spend the majority of your playtime in the first of these, which is split into twelve chapters and details the events surrounding the Heroic Games. In the second act, the game begins to feel more like a traditional Fire Emblem in terms of structure, and delivers more of that trademark tactical combat with scarcely a breath between battles, and ramps up the stakes in the narrative and becoming a more focused experience. But if you choose you can in fact skip part 2 (which features the same battles for every character; the only time the game really reuses content) and move straight into part 3 (which is similar to part 1 in structure, only slightly more condensed) after completing one of the four characters’ part 1 paths, although this would rob you of a lot of the buildup and character development that give the later story that much more weight, as well as the opportunity to develop your characters further. However, considering the time investment involved in completing the first path, experiencing the conclusion to the story and having the option to revisit previous chapters of the game – which is also something you can do at any time – is a welcome addition.
Structurally, the first part of the game is similar to the first act of Three Houses, only significantly expanded in scope and, thankfully, slightly less repetitive. You’ll have a number of turns to prepare for the next main quest, which is occasionally a match in the Heroic Games paired with another party from a different route, although most chapters are focused on a character’s personal storyline, and there is surprisingly little crossover between them considering that they are all participating in the games and cover the same span of time.
The time limit feels almost too generous at times, and I balked the first time the game gave me 80+ turns before the next main story quest. I couldn’t decide if it was artificially extending its lifespan by giving me too much time, or if I was going to be scrabbling to get everything done and would end up missing out on something crucial. The lack of direction, outside of a few vague hints in the adventure journal about things you could do, and what the next story mission would look like, was both liberating and excruciating, and the first couple of times you’re given such a large window of time to pass it doesn’t feel as though the game has enough going on to justify it.
As it turns out, the game doesn’t require Persona-level micromanagement (at least not yet, I’m sure this will change if/when they add Lunatic or Maddening difficulties) to see and do everything, but it does require some level of planning to make the best use of your time. Some quests are time-limited; activities that don’t take up turns such as training in the Arena or sharing a meal with characters at the Inn are available once a week only, and Paralogues (of which there are only nine, a disappointingly small number considering the size of the cast) are locked to a very narrow window.
The option to jump straight into that main quest by idling time away at the Inn – which will gain you experience points, class points, items, or money, depending on what you choose to do – is always there, but the game gives you such a massive number of turns for a reason: so that you can explore the absolutely massive continent. Initially a blank slate, you’ll need to fill it in yourself by travelling across it, with the nodes appearing as you go. It’s very simple in its presentation, and there isn’t too much variety in terms of what you can discover. Towns will stock different weapons and items, as well as NPCs who might point you towards a place of interest. There is an abundance of resource points that will net you items you can use to trade, sell, or improve and repair your equipment, and of course there are plenty of enemies scattered around to battle in short skirmishes. There are a handful of carriage points that will allow you to fast travel between them for a small fee, and checkpoints that will connect parts of the map together or open up entirely new regions once your Renown level is sufficient enough to pass through them.
Most notable are the dungeons that you can stumble across as you explore, a feature returning for the first time since Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Unfortunately time has not improved their design in the least, and they remain a series of uninteresting narrow corridors and open spaces with a few arbitrarily-placed crystals and boxes to smash, and enemies that will immediately charge at you the second they spot you. What saves dungeons, however, is the combat, which switches to traditional turn-based mechanics with a unique twist: your entire party gets a single turn and shares a health and magic meter, meaning you need to choose who attacks and how. Characters can also pair up for more powerful attacks, and the one who gets the kill gets the most experience, making this an excellent way to level up weaker party members. It’s a welcome break from the usual grid-based battles that you’ll engage in everywhere else, and avoids having dungeons drag on for too long: these encounters are notably briefer and a lot more straightforward. It’s an interesting experiment and one I hope they expand on in the future.
Each character also has their own unique talent that ties into their personal background to add some spice to the shared busywork. Dietrich, for example, has Answerer’s Cry, which makes enemies appear on the map nearby. These are also the main way outside of main quests to earn Renown, which opens up additional facilities in Dagsion, is a prerequisite for recruiting most characters who don’t join your party automatically, and for changing classes.
This also changes up the flow of the gameplay quite significantly between the different paths. In Dietrich’s path I had to rely extensively on meals at the inn to build up relationships due to a lack of money, and gained Renown in large, spaced-out increments, as the gains from Answerer’s Cry were microscopic. Duels, his other unique gameplay mechanic that has you face off against NPCs to earn new skills, were few and far between. However, it transformed my core team of four into killing machines, to the point that I could send any one of them in alone in most battles without fear. In Cai’s route I found it much easier to recruit additional characters, and in Theodora’s I found resource management to be significantly less stressful. Leda’s route was the easiest, but having gone through the others by this point I had Boons of Salvation unlocked thanks to completing the other paths first.
Fortune’s Weave allows you to swap between the four different protagonists at any time, although the game is confident enough to assume that once you start a character’s route you will want to see it through to the end before starting on the next one, because it is definitely not designed to be played this way. As you play through the game you’ll accomplish Notable Deeds once you reach specific milestones, and the Karma Shards you’ll earn from doing them can be used to unlock Boons of Salvation that will apply to each character’s route. Completing a character’s part 1 path will net you 5000 Karma Shards, which is significantly more than you can expect to earn doing anything else.
This also unlocks additional bonuses you won’t have access to prior to this, making subsequent playthroughs much faster. Boosts to experience gained, weapon experience, and discounts on the various facilities in Dagsion, throw off the pacing of the game slightly in the sense that you won’t need all of the turns the game throws at you between story quests to prepare adequately, but this is nonetheless a welcome relief if you’re determined to do everything before moving on. The game respects your time enough not to force you to complete the same set of activities with each character, keeping things focused on the more meaningful aspects of progression once you’ve earned them the first time.
Combat in Fortune’s Weave remains the same at its core, although there are a few noteworthy new elements to be aware of. Weapon durability is now only depleted when utilizing Combat Arts, encouraging you to use them more strategically, and the four Flame Lords have unique Blaze Arts which sacrifice HP when used, making them a high-risk/reward tactic, especially considering that the usual loss condition of having your main protagonist defeated applies in every mission. These are welcome additions that will prove crucial if you’re playing in Hard and/or Classic mode, but a Normal run through the game doesn’t really require their use: by series standards, Fortune’s Weave is notably easier than its predecessors, outside of one particularly infuriating Paralogue and a couple of battles towards the end of the game that seem determined to beat you down through sheer numbers rather than through smart level design. The game also suffers noticeably from probability bias: expect to miss a lot, even with an 80% hit chance.
The ability to rewind time makes a return, but alongside this are new Blessings from each of the deities that reside in Dagsion, which can be acquired and upgraded by doing weekly devotion and their respective temples. These cost Divine Sand to use, but provide useful single-turn buffs thematic to the deity that bestows them: Mars, for example, grants increased hit probability with physical attacks. These can be upgraded further for additional bonuses, adding another layer to combat that can carry you through tougher battles.
Fortune’s Weave is not the massive technical and visual leap forward that some may have been hoping for, and it runs at a disappointing 30 frames per second, which is below the standard set by other Nintendo Switch 2 first-party titles. The game runs at 720p when played in docked mode and 540p when played in handheld mode, which is bumped up to 1440p for docked mode and 1080p for handheld mode with upscaling. It has a noticeably more vibrant color palette than its predecessors, and looks fantastic in motion whether played in docked or handheld, but nonetheless feels distinctly last-gen from a technical standpoint.
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is definitely not what I expected, and that is almost all for the better. It’s almost too big for its own good, and it’s very easy to spot the cracks when you’ll be spending dozens of hours doing a lot of busywork that can feel repetitive over extended periods despite the narrative differences between the four paths. After that initial hook, the game slows down to an almost unbearable level at times, and it requires a great deal of patience and perseverance in part 1. But despite the occasional lack of depth and pacing issues, it has an uncanny knack for consuming hours of time before you realize they’re gone. It’s definitely one of the good ones, and an easy recommendation.
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave copy provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.
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