| Fire Emblem Warriors | |
|---|---|
 Icon artwork featuring several characters from the game | |
| Developers | |
| Publishers | |
| Director | Hiroya Usuda |
| Producer | Yosuke Hayashi |
| Designer | Makoto Ishizuka |
| Artist | Yuta Matsunaga |
| Writers |
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| Composers |
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| Series | |
| Platforms | |
| Release | |
| Genres | Hack and slash,action role-playing |
| Modes | Single-player,multiplayer |
Fire Emblem Warriors[a] is ahack and slashaction role-playing game developed byOmega Force andTeam Ninja, and published byKoei Tecmo in Japan andNintendo internationally for theNintendo Switch andNew Nintendo 3DS. The game was released in Japan in September 2017, and worldwide the following month. The game is a collaboration between Koei Tecmo'sDynasty Warriors franchise and Nintendo andIntelligent Systems'sFire Emblem series.
The game received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the combination ofFire Emblem andDynasty Warriors gameplay and drawing favorable comparisons toHyrule Warriors, originally released in 2014 for theWii U.
A successor,Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, was released for Nintendo Switch on June 24, 2022.[1]
Fire Emblem Warriors is ahack-and-slashaction role-playing game similar to theDynasty Warriors series in which players take the role of Rowan and Lianna, and characters from severalFire Emblem games. Games represented inWarriors include theFire Emblem gamesShadow Dragon and the Blade of Light,Gaiden,The Blazing Blade,Awakening, andFates. The player defeats enemies with any character, accomplishing specific goals to beat maps. In addition to hack-and-slash combat, the game includes the ability to give tactical commands to units and the Weapon Triangle, which originated from theFire Emblem series.
Weapons in the game include axes, lances, swords, bows, tomes, and dragonstones. When characters assist, heal, or fight alongside each other in battle, their bond strengthens. Like inFire Emblem games, if two characters' bond increases enough, a support conversation will be unlocked. The game will also utilize all existing and futureFire EmblemAmiibo figurines, which give weapons related to the character represented by the Amiibo that is used.[2]
Fire Emblem Warriors is set in a medieval fantasy world, and focuses on the neighbouring kingdoms of Aytolis and Gristonne.[3] The story's events are set off when a dark force uses a magical gate connecting to other worlds to summon monsters into Aytolis.[4][5] The series recurring "Fire Emblem" is featured as a powerful artifact dubbed the Shield of Flames, which is tied to the game's story.[4][6]
The main characters are Rowan and Lianna, twin heirs to the throne of Aytolis gifted the Shield of Flames by their mother Queen Yelena. An important secondary character is Darios, crown prince of Gristonne and a childhood friend of the twins.[4] A number of characters appear from otherFire Emblem titles, primarily fromNew Mystery of the Emblem (2010),Awakening (2012) andFates (2015).[7] Additional characters are taken fromGaiden (1992),[8] andThe Blazing Blade (2003).[9] Anna, a recurring merchant character across the series, also appears.[10]
When Rowan and Lianna are sparring with the visiting Darios one day, Aytolis is attacked by monsters summoned from the portal within the castle. Yelena is captured during the assault, but she successfully gives the twins the Shield of Flames, a sacred artifact which can repel darkness due to its blessing by a Divine Dragon. The group learn that Darios's father Oskar is in the process of reviving the Chaos Dragon Velezark, and to stop it the Shield of Flames must be empowered with Gleamstones, crystals created from the power of heroes from other realms. Rowan and Lianna travel across Aytolis, rallying support from the heroes of other worlds that have been brought to Aytolis.
During an attack on a Gristonne fortress, Velezark successfully possesses Darios, who steals the Shield of Flames just after it is complete. Rowan and Lianna pursue him to Gristonne, where they discover Yelena has been captured to be used as a sacrifice to revive Velezark. Rowan and Lianna successfully rescue their mother, leading to Darios sacrificing Oskar to complete the ritual to revive Velezark. Now freed from the possession, Darios returns the Shield of Flames to the group before falling into a spatial void.[b] The twins, united with the heroes of other worlds, wield the Shield of Flames' power and defeat Velezark. With the threat ended, the heroes return to their own worlds and Yelena crowns Rowan and Lianna as twin monarchs of Aytolis.
Following the release ofHyrule Warriors (2014) for theWii U, fan demands increased for aWarriors interpretation of theFire Emblem series.[12] While working on the expanded releaseHyrule Warriors Legends, its producer Yosuke Hayashi wanted to work on this project, feeling the combat mechanics of the series would be a good fit with aWarriors title. Once work was completed onHyrule Warriors Legends, Hayashi submitted his proposal toNintendo andFire Emblem developerIntelligent Systems on aFire Emblem-based title, who both accepted.[13] He then talked to director Hiroya Usuda, who was also eager to work on the project.[12] Production was handled by establishedDynasty Warrior developersOmega Force andTeam Ninja studios, interior teams withinKoei Tecmo.[14] While the core team members ofHyrule Warriors were carried over, most of the team were chosen by Hayashi based on a request sent through the company for staff who were fans ofFire Emblem.[12][15] Intelligent Systems acted as project supervisor for included characters.[2]
Nintendo was in the middle of production for theNintendo Switch, and at their invitation the team madeFire Emblem Warriors a multiplatform title for both Switch andNew Nintendo 3DS.[16] Usuda remembered the team being worried whether the Switch would be easy to develop for, but described it as "a very easy hardware to develop for."[13] When choosing gameplay features, the team went through the best-known features of bothFire Emblem andWarriors, choosing features that would best fit together.[7] Some features, such as the Weapons Triangle, were difficult to implement and needed adjustment for the action-based combat so players could both be strategic and enjoy the action combat.[13][17] Notable inclusions fromFire Emblem were character permadeath, and a "casual" mode which disabled the former feature; the team included both to cater for both casual players and chose seeking a mechanical challenge.[18] To rebalance the gameplay, some characters' weapons were changed such as Lissa fromAwakening using an axe in combat rather than a cane, which was featured as a generic healing instrument.[19] Drawing on their experience designing the horse Epona forHyrule Warriors, the team designed the horse-mounted characters to have dedicated combat and abilities.[12] The strategic elements were in part taken from a tactics management system included inSamurai Warriors: Chronicles and laterHyrule Warriors Legends; the system had partially inspired the team's wish to create aFire Emblem crossover.[15]
The game's scenario was co-written by Koei Tecmo's Yuki Ikeno, Ryohei Hayashi, Mari Okamoto and Masahiro Kato.[20][21] The main plot of gathering gems for the Shield of Flames was directly inspired by the game's theme of differentFire Emblem characters being drawn together, following series conventions as they had done withHyrule Warriors. Some story scenes were decided so they would lead into homages to otherFire Emblem titles.[17] An early decision was to use young twin protagonists who would strengthen with the help of established characters, with their appearance and dialogue described as an important factor to make the game stand out.[16] Yelena and Darios were incorporated to add a backstory to the twins' narrative, as Usuda and Hayashi felt the twins alone would seem shallow.[15] The character writing was overseen by Intelligent Systems, ensuring that characters would talk to each other convincingly, and that those with intimate relationships would have different ways of speaking appropriate for their partner.[12]
When choosingFire Emblem characters to feature in the story, the team decided to limit their picks toNew Mystery of the Emblem,Awakening andFates. This narrowed approach was so the team could get a balance of characters with multiple weapons, as choosing only series leads would result in a large number of sword users and unbalance the planned gameplay systems.[7] Character selection was also dictated by whichFire Emblem games were available worldwide.[12] When including Robin and Corrin, respecting protagonists ofAwakening and Fates who had selectable genders, the team chose their more iconic or popular genders as their default appearance (male for Robin, female for Corrin). Their alternate genders were included as unlockables.[18] Popular characters Lyn fromThe Blazing Blade and Celica fromGaiden were included in other roles.[13] Lyn was the only character included fromThe Blazing Blade so the team could focus down onto specific character narratives.[17] Celica was chosen for inclusion over her counterpart Alm to avoid replicas of otherFire Emblem leads, and to have a magic-focused character.[8] The History Mode was included so more iconic scenes could be included outside the main story.[17] Voice recording for the whole game took three months.[16]
The game's art director was Yuta Matsunaga, who was selected by Hayashi from a number of volunteer candidates. The first character designed for both 2D and 3D wasAwakening protagonist Chrom, with Matsunaga saying he needed to get Chrom's design right before the other characters could be designed. Matsunaga needed to strike a balance between the original character designs, the game's graphical design, and input from Intelligent Systems.[17] The twins Rowan and Lianna were designed to appear different from other Lord characters within theFire Emblem series.[2] To keep the game's CERO rating low, some characters such as Camilla fromFates had small clothing redesigns to portray them as "cute" rather than suggestive.[17] Some idle animation poses, such as those of Chrom and Lucina, also needed changing to be more distinct from each other.[19] Lyn's character design was based on both the original character art and her character model from theSuper Smash Bros. series. The original monsters were difficult to design, with early designs being compared negatively by Hayashi to plushies. To fix the issue, the team emphasised theircrustacean-like armor and using colors inspired by poisonous animals.[17]
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The game was announced in January 2017 as part of aNintendo Direct broadcast dedicated to theFire Emblem series,[22] although it had already been in development for around two years before this time.[2] It was released in Japan on September 28, 2017, and released in North America, Europe, and Australia on October 20, 2017.[23]
Three packs of paid additional content were announced before the game's release.[24] Each pack added three new playable characters, new support conversations, and three new maps for History mode, in addition to new weapons, costumes, and other content.[25][unreliable source] Each of theDLC on a differentFire Emblem game:Fates,Shadow Dragon, andAwakening respectively. If all three packs were bought together in the season pass, an additional costume was unlocked.
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 3DS: 69/100[26] NS: 74/100[27] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Destructoid | 6.5/10[28] |
| Famitsu | 36/40[29] |
| Game Informer | 7.5/10[33] |
| GameSpot | 6/10[30] |
| IGN | 8/10[31] |
| Polygon | 7.5/10[32] |
Fire Emblem Warriors received mixed reviews according to review aggregatorMetacritic, with the Nintendo Switch version holding a score of 74/100 based on 72 critic reviews and the New Nintendo 3DS version receiving a score of 69/100 based on 12 reviews.[26][27] The game received praise for bringing a more nuanced, textured experience to themusou genre,[34] but drew criticism for its shallow take on traditionalFire Emblem mechanics and roster choice.[35]
The Nintendo Switch version sold 41,491 copies within its first week on sale in Japan, while the New Nintendo 3DS version sold 18,357 copies.[36] In April 2018, Koei Tecmo revealed that the game sold 1 million copies worldwide.[37]
During the development ofFire Emblem Warriors, Intelligent Systems were working on the next mainline entry,Fire Emblem: Three Houses for the Switch. Wanting the game to release by 2019, Intelligent Systems contacted Hayashi about the possibility of Koei Tecmo assisting development. Hayashi agreed, andThree Houses was co-developed with Koei Tecmo'sKou Shibusawa division.[38][39]
After production finished onThree Houses, Koei Tecmo approached Nintendo and Intelligent Systems about developing a sequel toFire Emblem Warriors; due to their earlier collaboration, it was decided to produce a follow-up based on theThree Houses setting. Hayashi returned as producer, while Hayato Iwata came on board as director and Intelligent Systems's Toshiyuki Kusakihara acted as character designer and project supervisor.[40][41] The game, titledFire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, released worldwide on June 24, 2022 for the Switch.[42]
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