Best tactics RPGs to play like Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave

We’re just about two months out from the release of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, the highly anticipated next entry in the Fire Emblem series, which officially launches for the Nintendo Switch 2 on Sept. 17. So far, it’s looking like Fortune’s Weave will take players back to world of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the franchise’s best-selling title. Throughout its 36-year history, Fire Emblem became iconic for its permadeath mechanic, weapon triangle, and, more recently, its heavy emphasis on character relationships and social simulation gameplay.

Whether you love Fire Emblem for the life-sim elements of its recent entries, the punishing battles of its hardest difficulty settings, or its elevated take on rock-paper-scissors, here are seven games that reach nearly every corner of the tactical RPG genre.

1

Unicorn Overlord

Where to play: PS4, PS5, Switch Xbox Series X

In 2024, Unicorn Overlord joined Fire Emblem: Engage and Three Houses as another tactical fantasy epic playable on the Switch, bringing with it a vast overworld and emphasis on real-time strategy. Unicorn Overlord’s storyline wouldn’t seem out of place in a Fire Emblem title: an exiled prince forms an army to liberate his home from an evil empire. Players explore the continent of Fevrith, carefully positioning small teams of units for real-time battles. Rather than manually inputting everything your units do, you develop layers of action and reaction. Through the games Tactics system, you program a list of priorities, actions, and conditions for the game to follow. At a basic level, you might program a character to attack the enemy with the lowest HP, or heal themselves if their own HP falls below a certain threshold. At its most complex, Unicorn Overlord might have you programming a cascading list of actions based on stats, equipment, and allies before combat even begins. If you find yourself spending more time meticulously selecting units, equipping weapons, and arranging your army than actually battling, Unicorn Overlord might be for you.

2

Tactics Ogre: Reborn

Where to play: PS4, PS5, Switch, Windows PC

1995’s Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, the second game in the Ogre Battle series, revolutionized the tactical RPG genre with branching story paths, varied endings, and intense political drama. It got a PlayStation Portable remake in 2010 and, in 2022, a modern remaster in the form of Tactics Ogre: Reborn, bringing the warring factions of Valeria to current generation hardware. Much likeThree Houses, Reborn quickly splits into distinct routes: Law, Chaos, and Neutral, which may push protagonist Denam toward morally dubious — or outright reprehensible — choices. In terms of gameplay, Reborn offers isometric, grid-based combat. In contrast with some Fire Emblem titles, you can’t approach a nasty battle by relying on a tanky, over-leveled unit. As the story progresses, your party’s “Union Level” increases, raising the level caps for your units. Enemies are typically right at or just above your level cap, forcing you to rely immensely on terrain and unit positioning.

3

Horizon’s Gate

Where to play: Windows PC

If your favorite thing about Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia was spending a lot of time on boats, you may want to check out Horizon’s Gate, an open-world tactical RPG from indie developer Rad Codex. You set sail across the realm of Eral as an explorer, trader, or privateer, free to decide who you trade, ally, and associate with. In the background, a three-pronged fame system lets you live out your dreams of being the greatest swashbuckler, trader, or explorer the world has ever seen. Combat can occur on both land and sea, allowing you to control both individual characters and naval fleets. Like Fire Emblem, Horizon’s Gate features turn-based grid combat, character recruitment, and a branching class system, but its bare-bones story and emphasis on sandbox exploration set it apart from a strictly linear Fire Emblem game.

4

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

Where to play: Switch

Ten years ago, the idea of an Ubisoft-led Mario game that was also a turn-based strategy RPG that also starred Rabbids probably sounded ridiculous. Ten years and a sequel later, it still sounds kind of ridiculous —but it’s a great game. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle combines turn-based combat with puzzle solving and a heavy emphasis on movement. Where the Movement stat in a traditional Fire Emblem game gets your unit from point A to point B, dashes and “Team Jumps” make movement a critical offensive strategy. Yoshi might vault himself off of an ally for increased range before landing a ground piund that damages opponents around him. Marth could never. All that said, if you still have a shadow of a doubt that Mario + Rabbids has earned its status as a great tactical RPG, remember that it inspired XCOM creative director Jake Solomon to rethink the genre.

5

The Banner Saga

Where to play: Android, iOS, PS4, Windows PC, Xbox One

There’s nothing further in tone from Mario + Rabbids than Stoic’s The Banner Saga, where the gods are dead, and the sun has stopped moving. Inspired by Norse mythology, The Banner Saga follows a caravan of humans and giants as they fight the Dredge, an ancient race bent on eradicating humans. Like Fire Emblem, it’s a story-driven tactical RPG featuring permadeath, but characters don’t die because they lost a battle. Instead, making the wrong story or dialogue choice could mean the difference between life and death for some characters. The game doesn’t want you to try and take back those choices, either. Where, in a Fire Emblem game, you might restart a chapter (or, in newer games, turn back time) when something goes wrong, The Banner Saga uses an autosave system to try and prevent you from taking back the choices you made. If you play the game’s two sequels, your save file — and the consequences of your choices — are carried over.

6

Marvel’s Midnight Suns

Where to play: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Windows PC

Directed by XCOM designer (and, as established, Mario + Rabbids fan) Jake Solomon, Marvel’s Midnight Suns combines superhero storytelling with tactical deck building and social simulation. Between combat, your character (a superhero you customize called “The Hunter”) returns to the Abbey, a social base that in many ways resembles Garreg Mach Monastery in Three Houses. There, you can give characters gifts and arrange hangouts to level up your relationships. Throughout the game, you also recruit heroes like Wolverine, Scarlet Witch, and Spider-Man to join your team. Maxing out friendships with your teammates grants you combat cards and passive bonuses to improve your combat performance. If you loved the social elements of Three Houses and Engage, you can immerse yourself in the dramatic personal lives of the superheroes you team up with in Marvel’s Midnight Suns.

7

Triangle Strategy

Where to play: PS5, Switch, Windows PC, Xbox Series X

Released in 2022, Square Enix and Artdink’s Triangle Strategy shares Fire Emblem’s grid-based map and high fantasy storyline, but swaps Player and Enemy phase combat for an individual turn order based on unit speed. It also has a greater emphasis on elevation and position: which way your unit is facing at the end of a turn could mean life or death (but not permadeath — fallen units come back after a battle, similar to Fire Emblem’s casual mode). Triangle Strategy features choices that split the story into paths that branch out and collapse back together, culminating in four different endings. An invisible conviction system, guided by your gameplay and dialogue choices, determines protagonist Serenoa’s sense of unity, liberty, and utility. Those convictions in turn affect your character’s ability to persuade allies and recruit new characters. With brilliant visuals resembling previous Square Enix release Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy tells a political drama through intense, strategic battles and beautiful — though arguably excessive — cutscenes. If you’re drawn toward the war drama and political intrigue of Fire Emblem storylines, Triangle Strategy might be what you’re looking for.