And here are some impressions from other outlets:
Polygon: “Fortune’s Weave does much with its early hours, teasing revelations, hinting at narrative connections, and always just giving you an enticing taste of a bigger story. It leaves the slow build-up of Three Houses behind and isn’t afraid to just go completely off the rails sometimes, in a good way. My impression so far is that Intelligent Systems is doing what it thinks is cool, not what’s trendy or what it hopes you think is cool.”
RPG Site: “At a glance, our immediate impression is that Intelligent Systems is using this new entry to make a Fire Emblem combination of several of the core design principles the series is broadly known for. The overworld map is back, dungeons return in a manner reminiscent of Shadows of Valentia, the route structure of Three Houses makes a return (albeit presented in a new context), the customizable avatar makes its return for the first time since Fates, and the flashy presentation improvements of Engage are pushed even further.”
Mashable: “I’ve already established that Fortune’s Weave has plenty to chew on in the story, with characters who have solid reasons to compete in the tournament. What really makes at least the early portions of the game sing, though, is what you do outside of battles. The city of Dagsion operates as a fully three-dimensional hub world full of shops, side quests, optional recruitable characters, and various other ways to fill up meters to make battles go more smoothly. It’s also a fairly lovely place to vibe in for a little while, which is nice.”
IGN: “Each of the main characters comes into possession of legendary artifacts [Blaze Arts] that all seem to be cursed, and allow you to develop new battlefield strategies, whether that’s hurling a ball of explosive fire as Cai, teleporting through barriers as Dietrich, or bolstering your allies with a song as Leda. These powerful moves come with a few interesting side effects to consider: Using them saps a portion of your health, but also starts to build a gauge (one of the few ideas Fortune’s Weave seems to have taken from 2023’s Fire Emblem: Engage). Use enough Blaze Arts across a single battle and you’ll get a substantial stat boost for that hero. However, if you start to rely on it too much and fill the meter entirely, you’ll suffer a “burst” and have your max HP reduced for the remainder of the battle. It’s a really fun risk/reward system”
Eurogamer: “Once you’ve got a tight knit army full of companionable allies, you can take to the world map: a large-scale overworld view that takes time to traverse, meaning you have to plan your forays in advance. But, out here in the wild, there’s yet another aspect of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave that is really surprising: dungeons. These make a return from the 3DS title, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, and include their own dedicated battle system that removes the grid-based SRPG stuff entirely and replaces it with a turn-based system more comparable to old-school Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. They’re not particularly deep or revelatory, but in a game that is probably going to take hundreds of hours to complete, they’re a nice change of pace and provide a decent way of levelling up combatants you may neglect in the more plot-critical encounters.”
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave launches exclusively for the Switch 2 on 17th September 2026. Will you be getting it? Are you waiting for the reviews before you make your final decision? Let us know in the comments.
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Liam is a news writer and reviewer on Nintendo Life. He’s been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of many iconic video game characters.
