The Protagonist

The latest Nintendo Direct on 12 September 2025 showcased a variety of awesome games, but there’s always one announcement I yearn for each time…

Yes, we are GETTING A NEW FIRE EMBLEM GAME, baby!

I am beyond excited. I wasn’t able to watch the Direct live this time but woke up the next morning to posts and DMs about it. I watched the trailer and my face went:

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is the 18th instalment in the main Fire Emblem franchise (including remakes). The tactical role-playing (RPG) series, which has been around since 1990, is set in a medieval fantasy world where players can recruit and build deep bonds with a host of diverse and colourful allies for battle. A distinctive characteristic of the series is the ‘Permadeath’ mode, where each unit can permanently die in combat. Nothing, and I mean nothing, forces you to sharpen your strategy faster than knowing it’s GG for your units if you can’t get your sh*t together.

Fortune’s Weave introduces the Heroic Games, where warriors battle in a giant arena for victory. As the trailer unfolds, we are briefly introduced to each character and catch a glimpse of their backgrounds and motives. A new combat mechanic called Blaze Arts is also featured.

The trailer ends with Sothis addressing the viewer, revealing that Fortune’s Weave is set in the Fire Emblem: Three Houses universe (released back in 2019). This is huge news as Three Houses is the best-selling game in the franchise.

You can watch the full trailer here on Youtube.

The release date is TBA but so far we know it’s in 2026. I’m so ready. In fact, I’ve BEEN ready. For years. I played Fire Emblem Engage when it came out in 2023 and although I enjoyed and appreciated the new direction they tried to execute, it fell flat for me. This seems to be the general sentiment across the fanbase. Although I won’t discourage anyone who is curious from playing it, I don’t think it’s a priority.

Scratching the Fire Emblem itch

I thoroughly loved Three Houses and ever since then, there’s been a burning, an itch, a void to fill until the next Fire Emblem game-

Behold, Unicorn Overlord!

I know.

The name 🦄 🧚‍♂️ . I see you. The number of times I’ve tried to explain the game to friends and they get excited and then they ask, “What’s the game called?”, and I would mumble “Unicorn Overlord“, and they’d give me that same look you’re giving me right now. It’s not what you think it is.

It’s a cool game though ok. Really, really awesome. Just hear me out. I spent over 100 hours in it and let me tell you it really did scratch the itch.

Before I prescribe the game as the temporary remedy, let me share my thoughts to help you decide whether it’s right for you.

What is Unicorn Overlord anyway?

Vanillaware x Atlus West’s Unicorn Overlord is a tactical RPG released in 2024. The story follows a young prince named Alain and his quest to save his fallen kingdom and the whole continent from a great evil. Since game launch, it has received high praises from other tactical RPG fans, a rating of 9/10 from IGN and game nomination for Best Sim/strategy game. Furthermore, Atlus West announced that the game surpassed sales of over $1 million worldwide in September 2024- only six months after its release! Now that’s epic.

What to expect

Expect a smooth, beautifully designed game. Originally, I was just after something that had a similar storyline or genre to Fire Emblem, but I wasn’t prepared for how polished this game was. I played it on the Switch, but it’s also available on Playstation and Xbox.

Gameplay & Combat

The combat mechanics are an immediate point of difference between this game and Fire Emblem, and not in an inferior way. Where Fire Emblem is renowned for its turn-based, chess-style combat enabling players to move a single unit at a time, Unicorn Overlord‘s combat system is more real-time, with several units making up a formation to attack. The units in each formation move together and are strategically placed to optimise their class strengths (such as tanks in the front line, mages in the back line). This added depth to tactical decision-making as it allows the possibility of countless synergies to try out. There didn’t feel like obvious, canon formations you had to stick to, which gives the player more flexible options. The mechanics seemed daunting to learn at first, but the game does a good job at walking you through it and I picked it up fairly quickly. I also loved not having weapon durability- one less thing to worry about!

For better or for worse though, I want to call out that there is no permadeath mode in this game- this will either be a sigh of relief or a sigh of frustration for you.

Story and Characters

The world of Unicorn Overlord was nothing short of rich. Although the story itself wasn’t incredibly complex or groundbreaking, the lore runs deep and the pacing overall was solid. I will say though that the game difficulty definitely felt like it went from 0 to 100 near the end, so just something to keep in mind. There was no shortage of playable characters for your army and I adored the neat designs and unique classes. Lord of the Rings fans will love the references too! It felt like the game knew what it wanted to be, which was sometimes very cliche, but it leaned in and it was better off for it. Most of the playable characters felt different enough to add to the army even when they were the same classes. There are a variety of races other than just humans- I will say no more on that though 👀.

UI/ UX

Another aspect of the game that deserves a special mention is how well done the user interface and user experience was. There is a lot going on in a tactical RPG and I was very impressed by the uncluttered interface, and not at the cost of user experience either. RPG games are notorious for being grindy at the best of times, easily a time sink of hundreds of hours, so you want to enjoy doing the same things over and over as much as possible. In Unicorn Overlord, the monotonous elements were minimised. For example, you had the option to skip combat cut scenes altogether, helping you get through the same enemies faster. The side quests also kept the game refreshing, as they weren’t all long, extravagant battles like the main quests were most of the time. Thanks to the intuitive map design, I enjoyed exploring every nook and cranny of the Overworld without getting too lost, or feeling bored. There were many great quality of life touches relating to other aspects like class upgrades too.

Audio

Usually I find a soundtrack to be stuck in my head for days. Although this didn’t happen with Unicorn Overlord, the soundtrack is still excellent. It wasn’t as memorable as the Fire Emblem soundtrack, but it conveyed the right emotions. Something about orchestral battle music in general really invigorates the spirit.
Additionally, I am a huge sucker for voice acting and this game delivers when it comes to that.

In summary

Unicorn Overlord is a vibrant, cosy and modern love letter to tactical RPGs that has rightfully earnt its place.

Now go forth and be the Overlord of Unicorns! You won’t regret it.

Look after yourself,

Elena