Nintendo has always had a history of giving spinoffs to their most popular games. Super Mario often comes to mind with its countless number of sports excursions. In recent years, Nintendo has experimented with a new type of spinoff. Based on the Dynasty Warriors franchise, Nintendo has brought several of their franchises to play what are now known as warrior-style games. The most recent game is Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes (Three Hopes).

Three Hopes was first announced at the beginning of Nintendo’s February 2022 Direct. Instantly, it became my most anticipated game of the year, primarily because of my love for the original game, Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Three Houses). With Three Hopes having been released in June, I have had the opportunity to experience the game firsthand. Is Three Hopes worth the anticipation, or did it fall flat as a spin off?

Plot and Characters

Three Hopes follows the same set up as Three Houses. Players start as mercenaries who make choices of which of three houses they want to join: the Black Eagles, Blue Lions, or the Golden Deer, which are led by Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude respectively. The choice heavily dictates the direction that the game will go as the houses are indicative of where the characters hail from on the fictional content of Fodlan.

For my play-through of Three Hopes I decided to go with the Blue Lions to repeat my choice from Three Houses. Within that route, a coup leads Dimitri to claim the throne even sooner than he anticipated. Following a two year time skip, the Adrestian Empire declares war on the Central Church and Dimitri must now deal with the fallout. The story alone is interesting; however, it is heightened by the characters.

Most are written extremely well, with the standouts being the house leaders with the amount of content they get. However, in Three Hopes the side characters from the previous game get more spotlight. For instance, Felix did not have any central involvement in the story of Three Houses. In Three Hopes, Felix takes more of a prominent role and becomes a more compelling character with his struggle. All in all, the story and characters alone are worth the price of admission, however, the gameplay encourages the player to stick around.

Gameplay

Despite how good the story and characters may be, that does not mean much if the game is not fun to play. I am happy to report that the game, for the most part, excels in its gameplay. Three Houses had previously excelled with its tactical style of combat, where players move units across a grid like battlefield to defeat enemies. However, the combat in Three Hopes adopts the aforementioned warriors style. This gameplay style involves the player taking full control of their units and running around the battlefield while decimating large hordes of enemies.

Character sets are differentiated by class, much like the core game. Unfortunately, this class system is the weakest part of the game. Through this system, many characters feel too similar. With the large amount of menus, it also becomes a bit of a drag between battles.

Despite this, the warriors style is tried, true, and extremely fun. Slashing through the loads of enemies while running around Fodlan’s landscapes is truly a blast. The landscapes are beautiful and the music helps with the feeling of being in the middle of a battle. Overall, the game provides an amazing story, endearing characters, and solid gameplay that keeps players coming back.