Fire Emblem: Three Hopes review — Excellent, challenging offering in alternate timeline

sportskeeda.com:

Fire Emblem: Three Hopes is the latest title from the Omega Force Intelligent Systems, and it’s a giant leap forward from Fire Emblem Warriors.

I’ll be frank. The first Fire Emblem Musou title was weak and disappointing. It felt like a disjointed series of stories that ultimately went nowhere and was entirely too easy. Then we received Fire Emblem: Three Hopes.

Built on an alternate timeline of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, arguably one of the best games in the franchise’s history, it brings something new, exciting, and occasionally frustrating. It’s undoubtedly a fantastic leap forward in the quality of both gameplay and content.

While the amount of content can be a little overwhelming, the gameplay satisfies, and the story doesn’t disappoint.

When I saw Fire Emblem: Three Hopes would be set in the “Three Houses” story, but the previous protagonist would instead be an antagonist, I was immediately curious. Known as the Ashen Demon or Byleth, the character players used in Fire Emblem: Three Houses still work for Jeralt’s Mercenaries instead of joining the Church staff as a teacher.

Instead, users control a new character, Shez, also a mercenary. They wind up taking the Ashen Demon’s place, and instead of teaching at the Church, they join one of the three factions: The Black Eagles, Blue Lions, and Golden Deer.

Perhaps one of the coolest parts of the early game was seeing the previous protagonist show up, and the default name was the name I used in Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

The prologue is the first four chapters, and after that, Fire Emblem: Three Hopes gets serious. If gamers choose “Classic,” this is where permadeath begins. At this point, the time skip happens, the three factions leave the Church and return to their home