Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave

Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave is a 2026 tactical role-playing game co-developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo, and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch 2. It is the eighteenth mainline installment in the Fire Emblem series, taking place in the same world as Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019). Set within the Dagdan Empire, the player takes on the role of four warriors in the Heroic Games to gain their heart's desire, and a hero chosen by the progenitor god Sothis to ensure their survival against the demon god Balor. Gameplay features turn-based combat, with players completing battles in both arena combat on a traditional grid-based, and on missions beyond the Dagdan capital which uses a party-based combat system.

Fortune's Weave included multiple staff from Three Houses including director Toshiyuki Kusakihara, producer Masahiro Higuchi, artist Chinatsu Kurahana, and sound director Takeru Kanazaki. Wanting to expand on the wider world of Three Houses, Kusakihara designed the game's world and story to reflect themes of family and change, designing the in-game world as an exotic and diverse region. The setting, inspired by the ancient Mediterranean, influenced both gameplay design and the art and music.

The game was released on September 17, 2026. Fortune's Weave received acclaim from critics who praised its narrative, characters, gameplay, and orchestral score, with several outlets touting it as among the best games in the series to date.

Gameplay

Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave is a tactical role-playing game in which players take on the role of five different characters: a customizable protagonist named Eshmel by default, and four named characters with their own story campaigns dubbed the Flame Lords—Cai, Dietrich, Theodora, and Leda. Following an introductory section, the player can choose which of the Flame Lords to control, going through dedicated story campaigns set during the Heroic Games event within the city of Dagsion. Dagsion acts as both main narrative's central location, and a hub for the player to explore and shop for equipment and items, recruit new party units for battle, and visit locations to receive boons from the nation's gods. The story is separated by arena matches as part of the Heroic Games, and free time periods where the player can explore beyond Dagsion for additional combat and quests. The party can stay at inns in Dagsion, gaining additional experience points and items along with character-focused story events.

Locations beyond Dagsion are visited using a world map, with additional Skirmish battles encountered alongside new item vendors, supply caches, and explorable locations. The protagonist of each scenario has a unique gameplay ability tied to overworld exploration: Cai can tame mounts, Deitrich can locate enemies on the world map, Theodora can recruit soldiers for exploration or aiding in combat, and Leda can earn additional rewards by performing at inns. Dungeons, which can appear either randomly or as part of story events, have the player navigating in real-time with a squad of four chosen units.

The game's turn-based combat system is split into two forms: the Fire Emblem series' recurring grid-based combat dubbed "Matches", and a party-based version exclusive to dungeon exploration compared to early Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest dubbed "Clashes". In Match combat, players can perform a move, and an attack during their turn, with the goal being defeating the enemy using tactics including flanking positions or defeating a key enemy. Player units can hold multiple weapon types to attack, and can combine some techniques depending on their current equipment. Each Match begins with the player positioning their units before combat begins, with a unit's movement range displayed in blue and attack range in red. During matches there is an option to rewind time to a limited degree to undo and retry combat actions. Dungeon combat has the chosen party of four facing enemy groups, able to use combination attacks between units with a limited pool of Link Points. This combat can also be sped up or skipped.

Playable unit abilities are dictated by a character class system, divided into three ranks with multiple classes within these ranks. Different classes allow for and unlock exclusive moves or passive abilities. There are multiple weapon types available dependent on a unit's class: swords, spears, axes, bows, gauntlets, and magic. Each weapon type has a different effect, such as magic being effective against heavily-armored units or spears having a longer range. Weapons have a durability level, which is lowered by performing a powerful Combat Art. The Fire Lords can also perform Blaze Arts, super moves which drain their health while granting a powerful ability such as a large attack or teleporting to another location. Use of Blaze Arts grants the user statistical boosts, but overusing them permanently reduces their health for the remainder of combat.

Depending on their current skills, a unit can be taken to a Certification Exam in Dagsion to be granted a new class. Units can either join during the story, or be recruited once certain conditions are met.

Synopsis

Setting and characters

Fortune's Weave is set in the same world as Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019), taking place in the continent-spanning empire of Dagda: the empire is bordered by the three suzerain nations of Saramis, Arago and Brezarant, and has its capital in Dagsion at the continent's center. Within the Dagdan Empire, a six-month combat event called the Heroic Games is held in honor of the empire's titular founding god-emperor, where the winner is granted their heart's desire. The inciting incident is the revival of the demon god Balor, who will ravage the land five years after the Heroic Games take place. After an initial scene during Balor's rampage, the story takes place during the Heroic Games themselves, with the player able to swap between the four key characters to experience and guide their stories through the Heroic Games.

The protagonist Eshmel, also called the "Savior", is a figure from five years in the future who is charged with ensuring the survival of the Flame Lords against Balor's revival. The Flame Lords are Cai, a young man from the country who enters the Heroic Games to free his father from imprisonment; Dietrich Gregor Lamine, a noble from the Three Houses setting of Fódlan who craves strong opponents to fight; Theodora, the Queen of Saramis seeking to cement her rulership and restore the worship of a detested goddess; and Leda Cohendia, a noble disguised as a dancer who is hunting her father's killers. The supporting cast includes Fortuna (also called "Voice Upon the Peak"), the goddess of fate who aids Eshmel's mission; Solel, the sun god who currently rules Dagda and oversees the Heroic Games; and the progenitor god Sothis, returning from Three Houses.

Development

Fortune's Weave was co-developed by recurring studio Intelligent Systems and series publisher Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch 2. Multiple Three Houses staff returned including director Toshiyuki Kusakihara and producer Masahiro Higuchi from Intelligent Systems, and Nintendo's Genki Yokota and Kenta Nakanishi in producing and supervising roles. Since the 2019 release of Three Houses, Kusakihara wanted to portray other regions referenced within the game, choosing Dagda as a more vibrant and diverse place to explore. Building on their experience co-developing Three Houses with Koei Tecmo, Intelligent Systems opted to co-develop Fortune's Weave with Nintendo to properly realise Kusakihara's ambitions for the game.

While the core Fire Emblem gameplay was carried over, the team also adjusted the class system, added more exploration elements and reintroduced dungeon exploration that had first been used in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (2017). Due to the breadth of content and potential for repetition across story routes, Nakanishi worked to make each route's gameplay style unique. The team also expanded the number of character classes and weapons available, with their new units designed based on the game's exotic setting. Due to technical limitations caused by the ability to switch between story paths and elements carrying over between them, the team had to limit players to a single auto-saved file.

Discussing the setting, Kusakihara wanted a more varied setting with an emphasis on freedom and diversity compared to the strictly ordered setting of Three Houses, drawing inspiration from cultures of the ancient Mediterranean. In contrast to earlier Fire Emblem games which placed focus on noble protagonists with clear heroes and villains, both Nakanishi and Kusakihara wanted a cast that would grow sympathetic to players over time even with an initial antagonistic impression. A central theme of the narrative was family and how people chose to live, using different expressions of these themes with each of the four leads. During early production, there were only the four lead characters, with the storyline focusing on their different perspectives on the Heroic Games. Kusakihara originally wanted eight leads, but Yokota advised halving the number.

To create a connecting thread between them and allow a broader view of the overall story, Eshmel was created midway through production and consequently the story was rewritten to incorporate the time travel element. While the story focused around unifying factions rather than the conflict-driven story of Three Houses, they carried over the approach of introducing players to a large cast at once rather than the small initial casts of earlier Fire Emblem games.

Chinatsu Kurahana returned from Three Houses as character designer, wanting her design style carried over into a title set within the same world. According to Kusakihara, Kurahana enjoyed her work on the project but found designing Eshmel challenging as they had to show personality while being dressed completely in white, going through multiple design and revision phases. The increased hardware power allowed for more detailed character designs and artwork than had been possible before. Takeru Kanazaki also returned as sound director, with Kusakihara giving guidance of blending flamenco music with "strange-ancient" and "wonder-ancient" motifs, wanting it to be a stark contrast to the music of Three Houses.

Release

Fortune's Weave was announced in September 2025 as the final reveal of a Nintendo Direct broadcast. The game's Japanese title, Banshisenkō, is derived from a idiom describing a scene of blooming multicolored flowers. The game was released worldwide on September 17, 2026. Alongside standard physical and digital editions, a "Dagdan Collection" special edition will release containing an artbook and themed merchandise. As part of the promotion, the characters were featured in the mobile spin-off Fire Emblem Heroes, and a manga adaptation by Kazurou Kyou will begin serialization in the October 2026 issue of Saikyō Jump.

Reception

Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic. OpenCritic determined that 99% of critics recommended the game.

Brendan Graeber of IGN praised the game, declaring it among the best titles in the series and deeming it an "ambitious leap forward" in terms of scope. Polygons Josh Broadwell called it "Nintendo's best game in decades" and said that the game has a "a sense of vastness and a capability to surprise that's rare in modern video games." Dom Peppiatt, writing for Eurogamer, noted the "quality, depth, and voice acting work across all four" story routes, particularly commending Leda's narrative as the most emotional one. GameSpots Steve Watts called the title a "sprawling masterpiece" accompanied by an "incredible orchestral score"; he also applauded the character artwork, but found the design of Dagsion sometimes overly simple.

Game Informer reviewer Eric Van Allen enjoyed the characters and setting, but stated that the game at times "weigh[s] itself down", finding the dungeon-crawling monotonous.

Awards