Fire Emblem. Three Houses. One Release.

The new Fire Emblem game has been a long time in coming, in more ways than one. It’s been nearly four years since Fire Emblem Fates released for 3DS in Japan (it arrived in June 2015), though remake Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia also held fans waiting for the next installment off in 2017. What’s more remarkable is how this will be the first FE game made for a high-definition console. Pin that on how Nintendo wasn’t willing to risk it until now, as the last two console games, Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, were two of the lowest-selling titles in the franchise. Since 3DS titles Awakening and Fates helped revitalize the franchise worldwide, the highest-budgeted FE game yet is coming.

Specifically, the next installment will be Fire Emblem: Three Houses for Nintendo Switch, which will finally bring the franchise’s mainstay turn-based strategy gameplay into a more pristine form. Fortunately, developer Intelligent Systems wasn’t content with merely keeping the style of the previous games or legacy installments and giving it an HD sheen. There are several changes coming along with the returning features this time around.

Three Houses will take place on the continent of Fódlan, a region where order is maintained by the Church of Seiros. The main character is invited to teach at one of the Three Houses within the Officer’s Academy: The Black Eagles, the Blue Lions, or the Golden Deer, all of which contain ostensibly bright students and a royal representative. The protagonist will be a professor who teaches and leads students in their school lives and on the battlefield. This is yet another Japanese game with an academy-like setting, and it’s replacing the medieval fantasy-inspired environments of its predecessors, a switch being compared with Valkyria Chronicles II’s. Japanese nerd-aimed entertainment tends to heavily rely on school settings thanks to its rosy reputation of high school in their home country, but there’s a chance this game could do something unique with the themes.

The protagonist can be male or female, similar to recent games. They can team up with either Edelgard (of the Black Eagles), Dimitri (of the Blue Lions), or Claude (of the Golden Deer). Outside those from neighboring Houses, the protagonist can also see is Sothis, a very young-looking character with green hair who’s been seen in several previews thus far. Her appearance is similar to Tiki’s, and she grants the ability to use time manipulation powers. Other characters introduced include Jeralt, the main character’s father (who conspicuously doesn’t resemble the male or female one bit), Church of Seiros archbishop Rhea, Edelgard’s attendant Hubert, and mainstay FE character Anna. The characters are designed by Chinatsu Kurahana, who’s contributed to several otome games and anime over the years, and brings a different style to the franchise.

Not much is known about many of the characters just yet, but Nintendo has been introducing them on a frequent basis — especially in Japan. They should detail all of them soon.

Three Houses will keep the turn-based tactical gameplay from previous installments, with battlefields using polygonal models instead of sprites for the first time since the aforementioned Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. Weapon durability will also return after missing from Fates, which should please hardcore FE fans. Those are in addition to brand new features like troops following certain units in battle, though whether this will make a practical difference is unknown at the moment. There’s also a good reason why this game looks like a Dynasty Warriors title in some shots, because Koei Tecmo is assisting with its development alongside Intelligent Systems.

This installment will inherit features introduced in Shadows of Valentia, which shows how that remake also served as a testing ground for features in new installments. One allows for rewinding actions on the map, similar to the Wheel of Fate in the Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together PSP port. It can’t be used when the main character dies, however. Weapon Arts are also returning, where units can learn attacks attached to certain weapons or equipment. The game will also have full-voice acting for many dialogue sequences.

Coming with the introduction of the academy will be school life features. The main character can wander around the school to talk with several students and other members, and utilize features, similar to a traditional RPG. Weapon types can be learned through Tutoring, to increase the number of skills for each unit. Much of this hasn’t been detailed yet, and it would be a huge surprise if there wasn’t a feature that allows for characters to increase their relationships with each other — romantically or not.

Hopefully the writers will avoid story-related pitfalls that previous games stumbled into. The writing in the main stories for Awakening and Fates felt strained thanks to the writers also having to focus on providing plenty of dialog for relationships. This was an issue with Awakening, whose writing left something to be desired despite the ideas for its plot being solid, but especially the case for Fates thanks to the sheer amount of content included. This game had a lengthy development cycle, so perhaps the developers worked to avoid that this time around.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses will release in all major territories on July 26th, which will make this the first simultaneous worldwide release in the series. The game will also come in one package, meaning the Fates experiment with three different releases was simply (and thankfully) that. As I mentioned above, Nintendo has been releasing details about the game on a weekly basis, and the pacing of that has been even faster in Japan. Expect more info very soon, perhaps also in the form of its own Nintendo Direct.