The reveal trailer includes a stained-glass mural featuring 12 Emblem characters in Fire Emblem Engage, each coming from a different title: Marth, Celica, Sigurd, Leif, Roy, Lyndis, Eirika, Ike, Micaiah, Lucina, (female) Corrin, and (male) Byleth. Ike and Lucina are the stand-outs among this crowd, each drawing from Heroes rather than their original adventures. Ike uses his “Brave” design with the Urvan axe, whereas Lucina uses her “Legendary” design with the Thogn bow. Just about every confirmed Emblem has alternate costumes in Heroes and their original titles, so it would make a lot of sense for players to mix-and-match as they please.

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Balancing Fire Emblem Engage’s Class Representation

It’s unclear whether more Emblem characters appears beyond the aforementioned 12, but if there are it likely won’t be an extensive list. Fire Emblem Engage’s story leans on a finite number of Emblem Rings that were used 1,000 years before the events of this game to seal a Fell Dragon. Having a modern-day character from Engage use an Emblem Ring will result in “merging appearances,” as well as inheriting weapons, skills, and more according to the game’s official product page. It would be unrealistic to expect compatibility with the thousands of characters featured in prior entries.

With that in mind, it makes sense for Brave Ike and Legendary Lucina to be among Engage’s list of Ring characters given they fill an axe and bow niche. Like Alear can bond with Marth and the mage Celine with Celica, archers would be compatible with Lucina. There were other options to fill these slots, such as substituting Lyndis for Hector or Corrin for Takumi, but this makes the decision to use Heroes’ alts feel more intentional.

Fire Emblem Engage appears to be the next mainline title in the series by all accounts, not a spin-off as its connection to a mobile gacha game would suggest. It’s a full-fledged $60 release with a Divine Edition box set, and overall the game’s file size is 15 GB - above Fire Emblem: Three Houses’ 11.6 GB requirement listed on Nintendo’s storefront. Looping in Heroes content potentially means any of its additions to the canon are free game.

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How Alternate Costumes in Fire Emblem Engage Could Benefit Gameplay

Ike and Lucina have four and five alternate units in Heroes, respectively, with more straightforward armor sets for Brave and Legendary summons balanced by silly holiday outfits like a bunny-themed Spring Lucina and flower-wielding Valentine’s Ike. The same can be said for characters like Lyndis, Marth, and Micaiah, who are all popular enough to have multiple holiday and Brave/Legendary appearances. Looking beyond the confides of this mobile game, player characters like Corrin and Byleth could have alternate gender variants, meanwhile Ike could have different ages based on Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn ala his inclusion in Super Smash Bros.

Letting the Emblems swap out costumes wouldn’t be farfetched considering the “Somniel” base of operations has an accessories shop where seemingly every modern-day unit can change their outfit. Changing an Emblem’s outfit wouldn’t necessarily have to change their weapon akin to swapping a traditional unit’s class with Awakening’s Second Seal or Three Houses’ Certification Exams. However, opening that possibility could make Engage’s teambuilding much more dynamic.

While the current slate of Emblems appear chosen to balance traditional classes and weapons, Fire Emblem Engage will undoubtedly have multiple units like archers who will be stuck sharing Lucina’s Emblem Ring. However, Heroes’ Brave Lyn uses the Mulagir bow that could be swapped in if the player doesn’t need another swordsman to Engage. Ike could similarly break out Ragnell, or Corrin could shift between her Dragonstone and the legendary Yato depending on what costume is equipped. Whether players want a diverse army or a squad full of swordsmen merged with Lords of yesteryear, alternate costumes could be a great excuse for the gameplay benefits.

Fire Emblem Engage releases for Nintendo Switch on January 20, 2023.

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