Nintendo Releases Huge Free RPG Completely Out of The Blue

I certainly know what Fire Emblem fans will be up to this weekend.

Nintendo has quietly dropped Fire Emblem Shadows, a free strategy RPG that’s now available to enjoy on mobile.

This spin-off title seemingly introduces “a new style of battle featuring role-playing and social deduction,” according to an official release.

Within the title, each battle will see three allies work their way through a labyrinth united against a common enemy.

Or at least that’s what it’s supposed to look like.

One player will actually be chosen as a disciple of shadow, with their intent being to sabotage their fellow players.

There will be several skirmishes before players have to vote on who they think the traitor is.

From what I can gather, voting determines how difficult or easy future battles will be, although I’m not sure exactly how that works in practice.

The battle mechanics are supposed to mimic those you’ll find in the mainline games, so this added social deduction element shouldn’t alter the formula too much, although players say it feels more like an auto-battler.

This time around, there’s an original new cast of characters as the war between the goddesses of light and shadow rages on.

The game is fully voice-acted and features cutscenes.

I quite like the idea of the title; it’s basically what you’d get if you threw Among Us’ formula into the world of Fire Emblem.

Certainly, it would have been nice to see the game land on consoles, but I can see plenty of people picking this game up on mobile - especially as it's free.

Early reception, however, has been pretty lukewarm.

Polygon has labelled the game “an absolute mess”.

“I really wanted to give Fire Emblem Shadows a fair shake, tinkering with my spells and trying new deception tactics in battles, but I can not wrap my brain around the design of it all,” wrote the site’s Giovanni Colantonio.

“The fundamentals are so transparently flawed that it feels like a prank. Maybe it would work with another round? Or more players? But the dominating microtransaction layer makes it clear that the social deduction doesn’t really matter at all. All that matters is that you spend money powering up your furry heroes.”

Over on Reddit, user Hope_bringer referred to the game as “super under-developed”.

“I went in with an open mind, I actually like the character designs. This game makes no sense. The story is inexplicable, the gameplay even moreso. I don't know how they thought a social deduction game with only three players was supposed to work,” replied MegiDolaDyne.

Well, it’s there for free if you do want to give Fire Emblem Shadows a whirl.