Fire Emblem Heroes

Fire Emblem Heroes is the first mobile spinoff to Nintendo’s fantasy tactical RPG series Fire Emblem. In the game, players collect new characters (commanders), level them up (to a maximum of 40 levels), make them stronger and battle it out against NPC’s other players. Using personalized and specialized armies and units, the players utilize different tactics and situations to win the battles and maps. Fire Emblem Heroes (FEH) was released in February 2017. It has received multiple nominations and awards in several best mobile game categories. The game is available for Android and iOS as a free-to-play downloadable app.

About the game

Fire Emblem heroes is played on different maps, and each map houses a number of enemy units strategically scattered around the area. Confronting the enemy starts the game's turn-based combat. In combat you get to select your units, move them and attack the opponent and use spells and effects. Attacks will be shown in a brief sequence. After placing your units strategically and attacking the enemy, the turn passes to the opponent.

FEH features a weapon system that lets players customize their soldiers, choosing between physical and magical weapons, ranged and melee. In the game, swords always beat axes, axes beat spears, and spears beat swords; thus creating a sort of triangle of weapons efficiency. Having the weapons advantage will give you a 20% attack increase over your opponent. There are also 4 different types of movement among the characters; infantry, cavalry, armor and flying. Depending on their type, soldiers may move more/less distance per turn, and through different types of terrain. As you can see, a lot of thought and tactic goes into creating the optimal army.

A massive downside to Fire Emblem Heroes is that it is frankly overwhelming for new players. There is so much information and things to learn and understand. The worst part is probably the menu. After completing the initial tutorial, the player is left in the main menu. This may sound perfectly logical, but there are so many different and vaguely described tabs that it feels like a labyrinth. Another downside is that the game takes up a lot of space. In fact, the game is so large that a non-HD, light-version had to be released.

Game modes

FEH is packed with content and different game modes, perhaps a bit too much honestly. In the beginning, you will want to stick to the tutorial, prologue and main story to level up your characters and learn the basics. The main story is split into 3 different books, following 3 different years in the lore. In addition, seasonal paralogue missions are a fun way to get some extra levels and bonuses for your commanders. The tactic drills and hero ordeals are mini puzzle-missions designed to teach the player more about the mechanics, weapons and skills of the game. The training tower is a similar game mode, where players can improve their skills and collect badges that will be needed to improve the soldiers later on. There are many other game modes, but the most important one to mention is the Coliseum. This is the games PVP arena where experienced players battle it out against each other. Aether Raid also lets you battle it out on other player-created maps.

Downloading Fire Emblem Heroes

In order to play Fire Emblem Heroes, simply visit the Apple App Store if you are playing on an iOS device such as iPhone or iPad, or the Google Play Store if you are using Android-based systems. Keep in mind that like most, if not all, of the Nintendo mobile games, Fire Emblem Heroes is a so-called Gacha game. This means that while the game is free, there is a type of lottery aspect to playing it. While not mandatory, players are given the option to massively boost their performance and cosmetics by using real life money (more info about online gambling, lotteries and betting can be found at Spelsidor.org).

Fire Emblem Heroes - In conclusion

Fire Emblem Heroes is an incredibly complex mobile game. For beginners, it is absolutely overwhelming, and having a friend helping you out or watching a beginners guide online is almost essential. The game takes a crazy amount of space on your mobile device, and you will need to invest a lot of time into it to master it. That being said, if you are a Fire Emblem veteran, or grind out the hours needed to get comfortable playing, FEH is an amazing RTP game packed to the brim with content.