Topic: Fire Emblem Shadows

Nintendo shadow dropped a new Fire Emblem mobile game called Fire Emblem Shadows

The gameplay of Fire Emblem Shadows combines real-time strategy and social deduction.
One of the three allies participating in each battle is secretly a treacherous disciple of shadow. Players choose to take on the role of either a disciple of light, aiming to find their way through the labyrinth, or a disciple of shadow.

After the initial battle, players vote to determine who they believe is the treacherous disciple of shadow. The outcome of the vote affects whether the next battle is more favorable or more challenging. Whether the disciples of light can correctly discover the traitor—or the disciple of shadow can successfully deceive the others—holds the key to how the next battle unfolds.

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/release/en/2025/250925.html

I literally just got a notification from Nintendo Today about this and finished the trailer about a minute ago. This came out of FREAKING NOWHERE, lol. If it's free I might try it out. It sounds like a crossover of Fire Emblem and Among us (one of my favorite online multiplayer games, btw)

Super unexpected, another Fire Emblem mobile game isn’t that crazy considering how successful FEH was, but a social deduction game no one could’ve seen coming

I don't think this game will last very long tbh. Heroes already fills the "Fire Emblem on mobile" niche and I'm not sure how I feel about the gameplay

I can confirm that Bluetooth earbuds don't work in this game, at least for me. The first time I tried them the noise still came out of my phone and the second time there was no noise at all.

Also, the story prologue was interesting. I actually want to find out what happens next. Whether I'll stick around for it is another thing. This is actually my first time playing a Fire Emblem game btw 🤣.

Oof, just checked it out out of curiosity, and it leaves such a terrible first impression. Character design is odd and mismatched, almost like the characters were assembled from a bank of generic pieces. There's an unskippable, boring cutscene right out the gate. Units move and attack automatically, and they do so very, very sloooowly. All you do in battle is choose which special attacks to use and when.

It took so long to get to the social deduction and before that could really get interesting, it asked for a third download. I uninstalled it. Maybe if they'd hooked me in one of the many cutscenes between battles, like when we find out the protagonist is dreaming parts of the tutorial (thrilling), but they never did. Maybe if successfully identifying the traitor meaningfully impacted the gameplay in any way, but it didn't in what I played. If I guessed wrong, I just got less of a bonus for the follow-up battle. 🤷

Heroes isn't really a FE game either, but it at least piqued my interest a bit, back when I tried it. Sorry to be so negative, but I really didn't enjoy Shadows at all.

@hisownsidekick I've just seen the trailer and I find it a very interesting concept, but after reading your comment my expectations have dropped a lot.

Maybe it's better that way, so I don't get disappointed in person, but I will have to give it a chance and judge for myself. I'll tell you what I think after playing it.

@supermarido Maybe it gets better and it just has poor on-boarding (or just poor for me). Some people have definitely enjoyed it, and it's free anyway, so definitely give it a shot if you're curious.

Yeah I’m sorry, maybe the game bets way better later on, but this is just awful. The character design really isn’t that great (why are they all animals?), the social deduction aspect is extremely lackluster, and there is zero strategic depth. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but perhaps I treated Fire Emblem Heroes too harshly.

Heroes is fine, because it's like a Fire Emblem game in miniature. Just don't spend any money on the gacha, unless you want to go down a potentially very expensive rabbit hole.

This just feels like a crossover spinoff that they felt that they had to make because Heroes has been so successful.

Now that I've finished the Light part of the first chapter, it's time for me to share my thoughts on the game. For me, it's a 7/10 game that is worth playing when I'm on vacation without my Switch, and sometimes every once in a while at home, just like Mario Kart Tour, which I also give a 7/10. I actually like the way that the battles work. They're only a few minutes long, so whenever I've had a few minutes to spare these past few days, I've turned this game on for a Battle or two, as well as listened to the story (currently still progressing through the Shadow part of chapter 1). Is this game a 10/10 goty-tier masterpiece that will set the world on fire? Heck no. But is it a cute time waster with an interesting plot that you can pick up for a few entertaining minutes and then put down for a while? Absolutely. Hopefully this game doesn't eventually get worser monetization like what happens to a lot of mobile games the older they get 🤞.

@ShieldHero 7 out of 10 is a very good rating for a free game, and if you compare it with Mario Kart Tour then it is definitely worth a try. In the end, we're talking about a mobile game, and if you ask me I prefer to carry with me all day in my pocket a medium quality time waster than a masterpiece, if I know what's good for me.

Book 2 came out today, it's shorter than the first one. I haven't even played it since the week or so after it launched and I've still got some of the Shadow part of Book 1 left, but I'll probably get to it eventually since I'm still playing the game.