# Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave goes big and open on Switch 2

> Nintendo's tactical RPG series embraces open-ended design with multiple hero routes and a massive 130-hour adventure.
- Title: Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave goes big and open on Switch 2
- Summary: Nintendo's tactical RPG series embraces open-ended design with multiple hero routes and a massive 130-hour adventure. Fortune's Weave lets you play multiple…
- Keywords: fire emblem, fortune's weave, nintendo, switch 2, jay peters, the verge, tactical rpg, dagsion, three houses, breath of the wild, tears of the kingdom, technology
- Source: The Verge — https://theverge.com/games/995539/fire-emblem-fortunes-weave-switch-2-review
- Author: Jay Peters
- Published: 2026-09-16T12:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: fire emblem, fortune's weave, nintendo, switch 2, jay peters, the verge, tactical rpg, dagsion, three houses, breath of the wild, tears of the kingdom, technology
## Nintendo brings openness to Fire Emblem
After transforming Zelda with Breath of the Wild, Nintendo applies open-ended design to Fire Emblem. Fortune's Weave lets you progress and build teams however you want.
## Four hero routes in one playthrough
You can experience multiple storylines in a single massive game. Swap between heroes at will and merge character stats across routes to create supercharacters.
## The game has three main parts
A brief prologue leads to part one's tournament in Dagsion, part two's war battles, and part three where you unite heroes to fight the undead.
## A calendar system with real freedom
Days count down to story events, but you decide how to spend them. Explore maps, train skills, share meals to build rapport, or grind XP between battles.
## Classic Fire Emblem strategy battles
Turn-based tactical combat requires diverse squads. Flying units are great until archers show up, so balance is key to surviving varied objectives.
## God blessings help when you mess up
On standard difficulty with permadeath off, battles aren't too hard. Divine blessings let you rewind moves if you make mistakes.
## RPG battles you can skip
Dungeon encounters play like typical turn-based RPGs instead of strategy. An autoplay feature lets you skip these less interesting fights for the XP.
## 100 hours to finish all hero routes
Completing all four heroes in parts one and two took about 100 hours, even with reduced animations, skipped cutscenes, and fast travel.
## Part three adds multiple squads
Instead of one team, you juggle multiple squads across the map simultaneously. Initially daunting, it becomes satisfying as you deploy teams to different corners.
## Repetition drags in places
Parts one and two repeat quests and cutscenes. Part two uses identical levels with swapped characters. The weird bird time minigame returns from Three Houses.

> I promise the bird form makes sense in the context of the story, but it's still weird.
## 130 hours of immersive gameplay
Despite repetition, the loop of leveling characters and routing enemies was nearly perfect. Bringing all teams together in part three felt like a huge reward.
## The culmination of Fire Emblem's evolution
Unlike Breath of the Wild's transformation of Zelda, Fortune's Weave adds strategic layers to what Three Houses started building toward.

> Fortune's Weave feels like the culmination of what Nintendo has been building Fire Emblem to be.
## Key takeaway

Fortune's Weave lets you play multiple hero storylines in one playthrough, merging stats across routes to create powerful custom teams.