The Fire Emblem series has steadily grown to be one of Nintendo's most popular, and the release of Fire Emblem Engage earlier this year shows the franchise is not slowing down anytime soon. While the Switch has received two mainline entries and a handful of spin-offs, one feature common to the 3DS era has been missing. Entries like Fire Emblem Engage and Fire Emblem: Three Houses have iconic looks for their protagonists, but the next entry in the series should include the ability to completely customize the player's avatar like some of the 3DS titles.
Part of the popularity of the Fire Emblem franchise is its large cast of characters, as fans are able to pick out their favorites from pre-established design like Marth, Ike, or most recently, Alear. While these consistent designs help give protagonists a specific identity, they remove the ability for players to connect with their avatar through personal choice. Although the past few titles have given players the option to choose between a male and female variant for the protagonist, players have still been locked out of further customization options.
The Next Fire Emblem Game Could Take Character Customization to the Next Level
The Fire Emblem series dabbled with customizable avatars in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade and Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem, yet the former does not feature its avatar as a deployable unit and the latter was never released outside of Japan. The first in-depth avatar customization that most players would be familiar with came in the 3DS' Fire Emblem: Awakening, where players could customize their avatar's gender, body, face, hair, voice, and stat growths. This was also the first time an avatar character was featured prominently in the game's plot rather than being a deuteragonist to the main character.
The next 3DS entry, Fire Emblem Fates, upped its customization with even more hair and face options for players to choose from. Following the remake Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, which didn't feature customization, future entries like Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, and Fire Emblem Engage would scale back by only allowing players to choose their gender (and clothing in Engage). While these games took the series to new heights, their limited character customization options after those of the 3DS titles felt underwhelming.
With the more powerful hardware of the Switch, it would seem like Fire Emblem games should have the ability to go beyond the customizations options of the 3DS. The next entry in the series could takethe idea even further by eliminating pre-made choices for things like body, face, and hair in favor of sliders that allow players to tweak every aspect of their avatar - much like how character creation in many modern RPGs such as Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077 work. This game could even expand on custom options that affect gameplay, such as starting class and initial stat investments.
Although some of these features would be a new frontier for the Fire Emblem series, improved hardware of the Switch and its potential successor could warrant a shift in this direction. As future Fire Emblem titles look to iterate upon past mechanics, it should bring back in-depth avatar customization in a big way. While the series seems to be trying to balance core gameplay alongside optional content, revamping avatar creation options seems like the next logical step for enhancing immersion.
Fire Emblem Engage is available now for Nintendo Switch.
