Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave's verdict: an 89, and one of the best-reviewed games of 2026
Fortune's Weave scored 89 on Metacritic and OpenCritic, tying Three Houses. What critics praised, the one recurring complaint, and whether to buy it.
Stated by the maker, publisher, or platform holder.
Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave came out on 17 September as a Switch 2 exclusive, and it has landed as one of the best-reviewed games of the year: an 89 on both Metacritic and OpenCritic.
That ties Three Houses for the second-highest score in the series' history. Only Awakening, at 92, scored higher.
What's confirmed
Note the $10 gap between digital and physical before you pick a version.
What critics praised
The campaign is split across four interconnected storylines, and reviewers kept coming back to how well the tactical combat and the management layer work together across them. IGN said it "builds upon its strategic arts in ways I couldn't have anticipated." VGC called it "an essential game for fans of Fire Emblem and SRPGs," and Gamereactor called it "undeniably one of the best titles of the year."
The recurring complaint
Length and busywork. A full playthrough runs roughly 70 to 100 hours, and several reviews say the between-battle tasks get repetitive and the late game drags. Most treat it as a fair trade for a campaign this ambitious, but it comes up in positive reviews as well as mixed ones.
Should you buy it
Yes, if you own a Switch 2 and like strategy games at all. At 89 with near-universal recommendation, it's one of the strongest reasons to own the console this autumn.
Maybe wait, if 70-plus-hour games tend to stall for you, especially with Grand Theft Auto VI arriving on 19 November. Our autumn release rundown has the rest of the calendar.