Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes Preview

Now that Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is out on the Nintendo Switch, I thought I would look at the demo to see if it’s worth the hype. I loved Fire Emblem Three Houses, so when Three Hopes was announced, I can’t deny that I was more than happy to jump into the world.

However, I do know that Musou games aren’t for everyone. Warriors titles, in general, are more hack-and-slash. While I know that I enjoy them, I have had several friends dislike them. But even I’ve had my fair share of disappointments before, so I thought, “I should probably take a look at this.”

Now, why don’t we take a look at the game itself.

Upon starting Three Hopes, it certainly has the vibe of a Fire Emblem title. Upon entering the game, you meet the player character: Shez. In the same fashion as Fire Emblem Three Houses, you can choose their gender. Personally, I went with Shez as a bloke as I appreciated his aesthetic. You can also choose Byleth’s gender in this game too, and so, like in my playthrough of Three Houses, I chose Lady Byleth, because I love her too much.

The tutorial mission is set six months before Three Houses begins, and Shez is a part of a mercenary company that goes against Jeralt’s Mercenaries. Unlike Byleth, Shez isn’t a silent protagonist, so you can choose from different dialogue options when you interact with other characters.

But, let’s move onto the gameplay. If you’ve not played a Musou game before, this is what you can generally expect from all of them. You have a map on the corner of the screen which shows where your targets and enemies on the map are. What you need to do is take the territories and claim them for your army. It’s not as easy as just taking down the enemies, as you’ll also need to head to specific locations to complete your main missions and any side quests you’re given.

In terms of fighting, you use X and Y for your basic melee attacks. When Shez first starts, they’re in the Myrmidon class, so you’ve got some basic sword attacks to defeat everyone. Using the R button, you can select from a small wheel of special attacks, but they do have a cooldown time. Your special attacks can be handy when you need to take down multiple enemies at a time.

Grunts are pretty easily defeated, but some of the tougher enemies have shields that you need to break down to beat them. Once you break down the shields, a yellow circle will appear, and you need to press the X button to do a critical rush. However, the critical rush isn’t always a game changer. In some cases, there are enemies that Shez is weaker against, and so it won’t do as much damage. But, at least with a critical rush you can use a more powerful attack that may be able to turn the tides of battle in your favour.

As you travel around the map, there are differently coloured jars available, and you can smash them with a melee attack to get a new item. These new items will either be healing items or items used to refresh the number of special attacks you can use.

When you travel across the map towards your eventual boss fight with Byleth, you’ll enter an awakening mode, which can be done by pressing R and A when you fill your Awakening gauge. In this mode, you get a boost in speed and strength. You can fill this gauge by collecting some blue tonics, or by defeating enemies and using critical rushes. If you press A while awakened, you’ll be able to use a special attack, and that will end your awakened state.

The tutorial then ends when Byleth decides it’s over, and that’s when the story starts to get weird. If you’ve played Three Houses, you probably remember Sothis. Well, this time around we have Arval instead. After losing to Byleth, your goal is to defeat them and the rest of Jeralt’s mercenaries. You probably think this isn’t too weird, but after a six-month time skip, Shez meets the students of Garreg Mach Monastery.

Meeting the students of Garreg Mach, you have an addition to your tutorial by fighting Kostas, the same bandit fought at the start of Three Houses. This section of the game focuses on changing between characters, using the directional arrows. When you play as a different character, you’ll find variations in the classes. When you change characters, you can press the + button to give them orders to target enemies that they have an advantage against.

Now, this is a nice little addition. When it comes to Warriors games, I’m used to changing between different characters, but not necessarily giving orders. So, I found this made Three Hopes so much easier, as you can also tell them to guard someone you need to protect, which is essential for any side missions you’re given.

After this, Shez will be invited to Garreg Mach Monastery as a student, and you can take this moment to decide on which House you would rather ally yourself to. In my case, I chose the Golden Deer house, because I appreciate how chill those guys are. However, you don’t spend too much time in Garreg Mach in the demo.

However, it shows that there’s a bit of a divergence from the plot of Three Houses. Relationship mechanics are also introduced, where you can have your allies do chores, cooking, and training, and at the training ground, you can acquire new classes with seals. You can gain seals by buying them, or you can get them on your quests during your side missions. You can even give the other characters gifts too to improve your relationships with them.

I was quite surprised by just how much was actually available in this demo. There was a cynical side of me that expected it to be just one mission that you could replay over and over, but you could actually go through the first four chapters of the game. There was enough included that I had any concerns about gameplay squashed, and I’m looking forward to continuing with Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes. Now that I’ve seen what they’ve done with the story, I can’t help but wonder what other changes they plan to make, and I can’t wait to play the full release.