It's really a far cry away from the turn-based strategy of Fire Emblem, and that's likely to alienate more than a few fans. However, they might appreciate a few of the new additions - particularly ordering units around in battle.įire Emblem fans might not appreciate the hack and slash combat and on-the-fly strategy of Dynasty Warriors. Dynasty Warriors fans will struggle to connect to the awful plot, and won't know the characters that could potentially save it. Go out and pre-order it right now because it will likely be game of the year for you.īut if you only like one of the franchises, it's not quite as easy a sell. If you like Dynasty Warriors and Fire Emblem, then it's an absolute no brainer. It seems like a bizarre oversight, given that the Switch is quite capable of pulling off online multiplayer.
A merchant called Anna, for example, only appears after you kill 1,000 enemies and provides you with a scrap of artwork for the trouble.įinally, you can play both the campaign and History Mode in local co-op, but there is no online multiplayer to speak of. There are secret items to find in battles, some of which only appear under certain circumstances. The new costumes are admittedly great, which is good motivation. This gives them a massive stat boost and a visible makeover. You can equip your heroes with new weapons, crests that provide a variety of different perks, and useable items. Then you've got all of the pre-battle preparation. Occasionally, two characters from different franchises will interact and it's often humorous. Cutscenes are a real chore to sit through for the most part, as the exposition is just dreadful. The campaign has a plot to follow, in which the kingdom of Aytolis is under threat from the Chaos Dragon and twin prince and princess Rowan and Lianna have to recruit a bunch of heroes from throughout the franchise to help save it.īut it's totally garbage, and only really there as an excuse to bring a bunch of your favourite characters together. If you're a serious fan of Fire Emblem lore, that's bound to bring a smile to your face. This information is visible on the map, so you can send your sword user to take a fortress defended by an axe boss.įinally, there's History Mode, which allows you to play key battles from previous games but with Warriors gameplay. Each boss you encounter will have a specific weapon, which is shared with all nearby units. It also plays into the weapon triangle system, which is in effect here. This is by far the best new addition, as it allows you to accomplish multiple goals at once. Mid-battle, you can even head back to the map and provide orders to your units. You can select which heroes you want to bring into battle with you, and their starting location on a grid-based map.
They'll even interact with each other, which leads to a few fun conversations. So first off, you've got characters from Awakening, Fates, and Shadow Dragon to unlock and play as. It's a fair question, and one that developer Koei Tecmo has made an effort to answer. None of the above will come as a surprise to Dynasty Warriors fans - that's what you sign up for with the franchise.īut Fire Emblem fans will likely wonder how exactly this is going to appeal to them. It's not a particularly deep system, but it is satisfying.Īs you fight, you'll fill up a few different gauges that let you pull off incredibly powerful moves that will devastate an area, or eat a massive chunk out of a boss's health bar. You've got a primary and secondary attack, and you can press them in different combinations to unleash a variety of powerful attacks. Seriously, you'll kill hundreds, if not thousands, of bad people in each level.Ĭombat is basically hack and slash. These could force you to drop what you're doing to rush to the other side of the map, or stretch your resources.Įnemies can even retake strategic locations, so you have to keep an eye on that too.ĭuring a typical level, you'll face hordes of enemies trying to stop you. It's simple stuff, but regular events are thrown at you. To achieve that, you simply kill the boss in a specific location. You effectively have to control the sway of battle by capturing key points on the map. That's a big ask though, since Fire Emblem and Dynasty Warriors are like gaming chalk and cheese.įire Emblem Warriors has a campaign and history mode, but both play entirely the same. Really, you need to be a huge fan of both franchises to get the most out of this. It's basically Dynasty Warriors reskinned, with a few Fire Emblem touches thrown in so it doesn't totally alienate that fanbase.Īnd while the Fire Emblem bits are both welcome and well implemented, I'm not entirely convinced that it's quite enough to convince pure fans. Fire Emblem Warriors is not a traditional Fire Emblem experience.