Decided to give my full thoughts here since I’m about halfway through my third playthrough.
Overall I really liked Engage, definitely one of my favorites. Not as good as my favorite game in the series, Fates, in my opinion, there are definitely some things that aren’t perfect about Engage but for what it is I really did enjoy it and I will continue to enjoy it on repeat playthroughs.
The story is something that I actually enjoyed, it has a big problem with conveying information but I think it ultimately encapsulates everything that makes Fire Emblem so special, good and bad, past and present. It’s a love letter to the classic games while bringing forth modern references and callbacks. Alear was a great protagonist and is honestly one of the best character wise.
From what I’ve read from the supports they’re really good as well. Not everything’s overly dark or trauma dumping like 3H and most aren’t as boring as FE6’s. I found a good mix of enjoyable character moments, good moments that delve into character’s pasts, and overall just happy moments.
And I think that sums up the game perfectly, it’s a happy and bright celebration. Even in the darker moments the game always brings the mood back up afterwards.
The music is wonderful, especially all the Solm tracks.
The gameplay is one of my favorite in the series. It’s not stupidly easy to break as 3H or Awakening so if I don’t want to go crazy with broken builds and insane strats then I don’t have to, and I really like that in a game. It very much lets you decide how you want to play the game and what you want to do without going the Awakening or 3H route and make the actual maps suffer for it. There isn’t a singular map in Engage that I’d rate below most FE6 or any FE4 map.
So those were just my thoughts, feel free to disagree and I’m sure that my take on the story will anger someone so I’m gonna be ready for that…
9/10 game