10 Most Disappointing Video Games Of 2023 (So Far)
5. Fire Emblem Engage
Releasing way back on January 20th, Fire Emblem Engage was the year's first big disappointment. Actually, worse than this, it was an unexpected stumbling block in a franchise that had quickly been growing into one of Nintendo's most respected.
It's worth saying at least that whilst developers Intelligent Systems find themselves on this list, Fire Emblem Engage overall reviewed well and most players enjoyed it's further refinement of the turn-based strategy battling system. However, there were a lot of things that really weren't what fans were hoping for.
The storyline, something 2019's Fire Emblem: Three Houses was given no shortage of praise for, manages to be paper-thin and an incoherent mess all at once. It uses tired tropes aplenty, and the game seems to be a pretty basic FE game stapled together with fan service rather than actually doing anything to move the series forward.
Where Three Houses had a great setting, Engage's is forgettable. The Emblems (returning characters from the franchise in the form of magical summons) overshadow the core cast.
It wasn't an outright disaster by any stretch, but certainly a misstep which guarantees the game will be seen as a superfluous entry in the franchise in the decades to come.