2024’s Best RPG Is a Must-Play for Fire Emblem Fans

28 Sep at 06:00 Comment Views: 3

While arena combat has long been a staple of role-playing games—sharing space with subterranean sewers and classic prison breaks—it usually serves as a fleeting distraction from the grand mission of saving the realm. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave flips this dynamic entirely. Its opening act immerses you directly in Dagsion’s Heroic Games through the perspectives of four distinct contenders. If you find yourself completely captivated by the premise of an RPG anchored around a high-stakes tournament, Atlus’s phenomenal 2024 masterpiece, Metaphor: ReFantazio, demands your immediate attention.

The narrative kicks off with the shocking assassination of the reigning monarch by Louis Guiabern—an alluring yet dangerous sociopath who bears a striking resemblance to Dietrich from Fortune’s Weave. During the state funeral, Louis boldly stakes his claim to the crown. However, his ambitions are abruptly interrupted when the royal palace levitates into the heavens, revealing the deceased king’s visage carved into the bedrock below. A posthumous decree from the sovereign mandates a Royal Tournament to select the successor based on the genuine will of the populace. This is where your journey begins. Playing as Will, a young protagonist harboring an enigmatic past, you must gather a capable vanguard, elevate your public standing, and ultimately derail Louis’s tyrannical ascent.

Although Metaphor: ReFantazio leans into dungeon crawling rather than tactical strategy, its core gameplay loops echo Fortune’s Weave in surprisingly harmonious ways, extending far beyond the shared tournament premise. Both experiences incorporate meticulous calendar and reputation mechanics, granting generous windows of free time to spend as you see fit. In Fortune’s Weave, you spend these intervals exploring sprawling overworlds, engaging in minor skirmishes, and cultivating deep bonds with companions and prospective recruits alike, all leading up to high-stakes tactical showdowns in the arena when the month closes.

Similarly, while Metaphor features a more streamlined active party, it allows you to forge meaningful “follower bonds” with dozens of distinct characters, teammates included. If you appreciate the support mechanics found in the Fire Emblem series, Atlus elevates the concept further by offering eight dedicated conversational tiers for each follower. You are similarly invited to explore a sprawling, overhead world map at your own pace, completing side objectives, unearthing hidden loot, and facing off against minor foes. Each month culminates in a mandatory dungeon exploration that you can conquer incrementally or tackle all in one breathless sweep.

Fortune’s Weave is a gargantuan undertaking, easily demanding nearly 150 hours to finish—assuming you don’t chase after all four narrative routes. Metaphor: ReFantazio is considerably more compact yet still massive, requiring roughly 80 hours to clear the primary campaign alongside a generous portion of side content.

If you’re currently losing yourself in the intricate lore and vibrant ensemble of characters within Fortune’s Weave, Metaphor: ReFantazio deserves an immediate spot in your gaming queue. It is currently available on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. With a Nintendo Switch 2 version arriving on November 12, players will have the perfect escape to bypass the surrounding industry noise and lose themselves in pure anime RPG bliss for the remainder of the year.

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Source: Polygon