Don’t go dying on me, you hear? I just know our destines are linked, and I can’t have you dying early on me. That wouldn’t be very good for me.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is the next instalment in the Fire Emblem Warriors series, using the Fire Emblem: Three Houses world as it’s environment. The first Fire Emblem Warriors was a generally well received, if not somewhat unpopular entry into the Warriors style of game. In a time where we are seeing more and more entries into the Hack and Slash “Dynasty Warriors-like” style of gameplay, Fire Emblem is a universe perfectly primed for this style of gameplay.

Fire Emblem by nature is generally focused upon the war and battling, and whilst it may at first seem strange extrapolating the tactics style game to a hack and slash one; the end result is one that really shines a light on the possibility of future Fire Emblem titles in this style. Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes takes the over-arching storyline that was explored in Three Houses and changes it to suit a different, but similar narrative. The essential aspects are the same, three kingdoms/regions thrust into a war at the behest of the Adrestian Empire under Edelgard. Unlike Three Houses however, you spend very little time in the Garreg Mach Officer Academy and are thrust into the two year time skip war section of the story.

To facilitate the major changes in the reduction of the academy time, the lack of a secret plot at the academy, and Byleth never being recruited as a professor at the academy, a new protagonist is introduced in Shez. Shez is almost the polar opposite to Byleth, someone who is full of bravado and emotion, combined with a secret dark power that is different to that of the power of Sothis in Byleth. At the start of the game you get choose the gender of Shez, either male or female, and in addition to this, you can also choose the gender for Byleth, who is still in the game and is a focus of Shez’s goals. The slight changes that result from your choices, such as Shez being watched because of his dark powers that are very similar to those shown by ‘Those who Slither in the Dark’, or being recruited as a student of the academy and in turn Jeralt’s Mercenaries and Byleth being a strong mercenary, help band the elements of the game together and truly allows themselves to play out.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is an incredibly diverse game, giving four or five major battles for each chapter; all with unique maps and encounters. There are 15 chapters total, with chapters 4 through to 15 occurring after the time skip. On top of this, you’ve got access to all three starting houses, all with unique takes on the story and progress of the war, allowing you to experience the war from each of their perspectives. Each army, depending on difficulty, will give you around 30 hours’ worth of gameplay, excluding New Game Plus features. All in, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes could easily give the normal player almost 100+ hours’ worth of gameplay, something that may be a big selling point to people who are wanting a decent title to sink their teeth into.

The story progression of the game overall, is reasonably well fleshed out. Deeper details into the many counts, viscounts, barons and other noble rulers in each area, all help make the world feel like its full of people that are living their own lives. The areas that you get to visit and explore, help you see more of Fodlan than you would just through the battles alone, making the world feel much richer. One big inclusion for this game, is that of the Ashen Wolves, who are there from the outset, as opposed to their DLC inclusion in Fire Emblem Three Houses. Because of this, characters like Hapi and Constance von Nuvelle are linked pretty effectively into the Adrestian empire storyline.

Problematically and similarly to the issue in Three Houses, is that ‘Those who Slither in the Dark’ are very lightly explored and touched on throughout the story, only really occurring at odd intervals. The game ends up diving more into them, but only very late into the story, which makes their impact on the world. With Shez being somewhat hinted at having a connection to these dark powered beings, there was a clearly missed opportunity to have these interesting characters explored more deeply, and for an extension to the games length, it would have been easy to focused more on this group of villains. It feels like at times that Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes spreads itself a little too thin across the story beats. From the war to Shez’s desire to overthrow and beat Jeralt and Byleth, as well as the underlying threat of Those who Slither in the Dark, there is a lot going on, but never really enough to sink your teeth into. It is possible that some dedicated DLC, may expand on this other threat and it would be a good idea for future of the game, instead of just outfits and cosmetics.

The gameplay itself is mostly enjoyable, if pretty familiar of what we’ve come to expect from the genre that the Warriors style games own. This isn’t a bad choice, and the combat never feels too over-bearing or out of place. With a relatively disappointing entry from the Dynasty Warriors series earlier in the year, it was nice to get what amounts to a very good alternative and enjoyable game with wildly diversified maps and objectives. If you’re expecting something innovative, you may find yourself left down. However if you come into Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes looking for solid Hack and Slash gameplay, with a decent story progression behind it, you’ll be very well served.

The game is mildly challenging on Hard difficulty, but not too over the top that you can’t pretty much first shot and deathless your way through the game. The typical Classic or Casual modes return from Warriors as well, where if one of your named ally units dies they are permanently dead. As a reminder of your mistake, the dead character remains in your character screens, and can be used as a stock horse of sorts, but they are otherwise completely absent. I only had one character die, but the absence of them made my heart hurt. Whilst it isn’t necessary to play on Classic mode, Hard Classic is an incredibly fun and entertaining way to play through the game, and I think realistically should be every players first choice, but if not, then their second playthrough of the game.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is a welcome addition to the Warriors style of hack and slash games, along with the Fire Emblem series itself, it also helps that this is a better thought out and executed game than the first Fire Emblem Warriors. Three Hopes ticks many boxes, from its enjoyable and somewhat challenging gameplay to a good story with ample adjustments for the different plot progression and of course, an enjoyable new protagonist in Shez. When you considered the sheer amount of game that is here, you’ll find yourself with so much to see and do, that you can easily get 100+ hours of gaming from it and even if you don’t dive into every aspect, you will still find yourself with plenty to enjoy.