Title: Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave
Developer: Intillegent Systems and Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: Sept. 17, 2026
Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2
Reviewed on: Nintendo Switch 2
Price: $69.99 USD
My first experience with the Fire Emblem franchise was Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Through that game, and especially because of the Blue Lion House. I fell in love with the characters, the gameplay, and the continent of Fodlan. After Three Houses, I played through the connecting Warriors game Three Hopes; Awakening with Chrom, Robin, and Lucina; and Engage with Alear and the Emblem rings. While I enjoyed many aspects of each of these games, none of them captured the same excitement as Three Houses. That is, until Fortune’s Weave released and even though I’ve only played 12 hours (enough time to complete the first five chapters of each of the four protagonists), it is on track to surpassing Three Houses.
Synopsis
In this game, you play as Eshmel, Herald of the Pale Raven, revived to prevent an apocalypse cause by Balor, god of the underworld, from taking over Dagda. You team up with Fortuna, goddess of fate, to go back in time to the past of each of the four main protagonists and guide them to overcome their fate and defeat Balor. In the past, each of these protagonists head to the capital city of Dagsion join an event called the Heroic Games, a fighting tournament where the winner receives one wish given to them by the Divine Sovereign Solel, for their own personal reasons.
Cai is a boy from a humble village who gains a mysterious power through a gem embedded into his hand. He joins the games to save his father from being executed by Solel, Dietrich is a beautiful, battle hungry man from Fodlan with an unsettling sword called Answerer (Three Houses fans recognize this blade as a Heroes Relic) who washed up on Dagda after a sea monster sunk his ship. His desire when winning the games is a ship to find and kill that sea monster. Theodora is the queen of a nation called Saramis who worship Yu Phas, hated for being the daughter of Balor. With the help of a right arm that gives her great strength she hopes to grant Saramis’s dream of restoring Yu Phas’s name. Finally, Leda is a dancer with a magical instrument seeking revenge on those who killed her father. Her only desire is killing Bertrand, the man who (presumably) personally killed them. There are no weak links among their stories. Every protagonist has something charming about them and who to start with first is a matter of personal preference.
Analysis
As you play through these characters routes, you can switch between them using Eshmel’s power, allowing you to finish all the lords’ stories in a single playthrough if you wish. This is the one complaint I had when playing Three Houses: You had to play the whole game again to experience all of the three lords stories. Swapping between them fixes that issue, but also gives another problem: You can only have one save file for your game. I have a love-hate relationship with this mechanic as it allows you to be careful about managing your time but if you accidently forget to save after a long period of time, all of that progress goes out the window, so be extra aware while you play.
Speaking of time management, the game keeps track of your time using turns. One turn equals six hours of a calendar day and you get a set amount of turns before each of your tournament matches. Certain events happen on specific days and some things you can only do once a week, so checking the calendar in your main menu is extremely important. During free time, you can share meals to build support levels(unlike Three Houses, this does not consume a turn), spectate other arena matches, upgrade your classes, buy items, complete sidequests, and even leave the city to explore dungeons or fight monsters. You can even talk to Eshmel, who takes the form of a bird, and get information about your next match, swap characters, and you can also feed the bird for characters to gain support with Eshmel.
On top of all of that, each protagonist has their own unique mechanic. Cai has kindness quests to build reputation, Dietrich can challenge enemies to learn their combat arts and teach them to his allies, Theodora can hire and summon battalions in battle, and Leda can perform on stages to earn information on secret locations and other things. Some protagonists can recruit characters that others cannot. Side quests also auto complete if you have already done it on another route, so you don’t have to do them again. There is a lot to do in Dagsion and it can be overwhelming, but the best advice I can give you is play however you want to play. There are no wrong options, so experiment and have fun!
After 12 hours of playing through this game, I can only marvel at how incredible it already is. The combat is smooth and satisfying, the characters are likeable and charming, and the story for each of these lords only gets more and more interesting as you go through it. It was absolutely worth the $70 I spent and this is the standard triple A games should follow to make their games worth their price tags. If you only buy one video game this year and you have a Switch 2, I recommend trying out Fortune’s Weave. Dagda and the Heroic Games awaits you!
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Featured Image: Nintendo
Source: Nintendo
Chandler Flowers is a writer for Boss Rush Network. Her favorite video games are Honkai:Star Rail, Metaphor: Refantazio, and Persona 5 Royal. You can find her on Reddit to talk all things RPG, superheroes, and creative writing.
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