Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes

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Some franches are a permanent staple of the gaming world for good reason. Call of Duty gives Redditors a series to complain about, for instance, which plays an important role in keeping them contained. Final Fantasy is great for keeping people out of work for weeks at a time, helping to minimize the spread of office flu. Koei Tecmo’s Musou, or Warriors, is another example, providing some of the best stress relief around.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is both the sequel to the original Fire Emblem Warriors and the latest heir to the Musou throne, allowing fans of the classic strategy-RPG Fire Emblem and fans of mass murder to find a place where their interests intersect.

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Three Hopes is essentially a retelling of the original game’s plot…except it’s not, really, as each route takes familiar characters and places them in a whole new set of circumstances. Main character Shez – masculine or feminine, per your choice – acts as a wild card here, joining up with one of the three factions and playing a role in the events that occur. Unlike the original Three Houses, much of the plot takes place outside of Garreg Mach Monastery, so we get a chance to see some sides of Fodlan we’d only heard about before.

It’s great for fans, though there’s probably something to be said for having played the original first to have gotten accustomed to the characters. Three Hopes certainly would prefer if you were already familiar with the cast, as the plot launches into overdrive pretty quickly.

Between fights, Shez and their companions will prepare for battle in their faction’s camp. There’s a staggering amount of things to do here that will allow you to tweak various aspects of Three Hopes to your liking. This is Fire Emblem, so of course you check out companions’ Support chats as they grow closer to Shez and each other, but what about cooking? Maybe you’d prefer going on a posh equestrian outing? Perhaps smithing weapons, gathering supplies or assigning stat-boosting soldiers are more your style? The sky’s the limit, and what’s more, you can collect resources to enhance each facility even further and get more out of them. Perhaps the most exciting system to work with involves assigning classes to your characters, allowing them to play in wholly different ways in combat.

When you finally do get into combat, you’ll quickly discover that Three Hopes has a lot in common with the many other members of its family tree. You’ve got a light attack, a heavy attack, and a sudden, gripping urge to apply those to thousands of baddies. Go for it! Three Hopes is happy to indulge. Beyond that, each character and class has unique traits that they bring to the table. These can be combined to create some interesting results. Marianne from the Golden Deer, for instance, is typically portrayed as a mage, but if you’d really like you can put her comet-raining unique trait to work in more agility or strength-based classes as well. Exploration and creativity are the name of the game, and there’s enough battle to go around that you can explore all of your options.

Much like the original Three Houses, Three Hopes has a lot riding on replay value. The three routes available to Shez, following each of the three factions, are significantly different and offer unique plots, playable characters, battles and more. The sheer amount of content Three Hopes has to offer is no joke as a result. Even more so than its strategy-based cousin, you’ll probably want to go through Three Hopes multiple times. Oh, and there’s entirely passable split-screen multiplayer, as if this game wasn’t offering enough.

There’s really no higher praise than that. In Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, you’ve got a game that not only badly wants you to replay it but is also enjoyable and deep enough that you’ll actually want to do so. That’s a win for my money and a win for fellow Musou fans. Grab a sword, hop on a horse, team up with your favorite companions and get to murderin’.