Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave

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.^[1][2] 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.^[3][4] The party can stay at inns in Dagsion, gaining additional experience points and items along with character-focused story events.^[3]

Locations beyond Dagsion are visited using a world map, with additional Skirmish battles encountered alongside new item vendors, supply caches, and explorable locations.^[2][5] 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 from performing at inns.^[6] 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.^[1][7]

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".^[3][4] 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.^[1][2][4] 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.^[3] During matches there is an option to rewind time to a limited degree to undo and retry combat actions.^[3] 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.^[3][5][7]

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.^[1][3] There are multiple weapon types available dependant on a unit's class: swords, spears, axes, bows, gauntlets, and magic. Each weapon type has a different effect, such as magic being effective agaisnt heavily-armored units or spears having a longer range.^[3][8] 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.^[3] Use of Blaze Arts grants the user statistical boosts, but overusing them permanently reduces their health for the remainder of combat.^[2] Depending on their current skills, a unit can be taken to a Certification Exam in Dagsion to be granted a new class.^[3] Units can either join during the story, or be recruited once certain conditions are met.^[2][3]

Fortune's Weave was co-developed by recurring studio Intelligent Systems and series publisher Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch 2.^[11][12] 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.^[13] 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.^[12] 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 autosaved file.^[14]

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.^[13] 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.^[12] 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.^[13]

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 with the music of Three Houses.^[12]

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.^[15] 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.^[16] As part of the promotion, the characters were featured in the mobile spin-off Fire Emblem Heroes,^[17] and a manga adaptation by Kazurou Kyou will serialization in the October 2026 issue of Saikyō Jump.^[18]

Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.^[19] OpenCritic determined that 95% of critics recommended the game.^[20]