Today, various media outlets shared their previews for Fire Emblem Engage, which releases in 2 weeks. Back in December, a few outlets already shared their previews, but not on this scale.

In no particular order…

Note: Here’s a playlist of all the featured previews.

GameXplain

GameXplain actually has 3 videos; this one seems the meatiest.

The video begins with the game’s title screen. The background appears to be in the Divine Dragon’s Castle and it’s where a lot of stuff happens at the beginning.

Then we see some familiar cutscenes, like Alear waking up to Framme and Clanne, being rescued by Lumera’s dragon form, etc. Plus part of a support conversation between Alear and Framme, presumably.

The previews all seem to show footage from up to Chapter 8 or so. Still, please be advised there are some mild spoilers.

Boo, we get a bit more context of the “evil” Alear shot at the end of “The Divine Dragon Awakens!”

Surprisingly, Lumera is here. Maybe this scene occurs in the past, before Alear went to sleep? Sadly these two shots are all we’ve got. I’m guessing it takes place at the end of the Premonition chapter.

The player quickly browses some of the characters. This appears to be the playable characters up to Chapter 8. For reference, Chapter 8 is the defence of the Brodian castle, while Chapter 7 is the battle at the bridge. Since Alcryst and his retainers are here, it should be after Chapter 7.

The character at the very bottom on the left is new: it’s Jean, who we’ll see again later.

We have official names for some personal skills: Share Spoils (Lapis), Get Behind Me! (Alcryst) and Make a Killing (Anna). Plus Healing Light and Staff Mastery 1, which are inherited skills from Micaiah. Additionally, the “heavy” axe weapons are Greataxes, not Poleax as I’ve previously translated.

The next bit shows unit movement at the Brodian defence map.

Afterwards, we move onto Chapter 6, which is at the night-time village ruins.

Mercurius, one of Marth’s weapons, doubles experience gain.

About the Break status, it seems my initial interepretation of it was correct, although I changed it afterwards following an official English tweet.

When a character is attacked with a weapon they have a triangle disadvantage against, they suffer Break. The important thing is that Break lasts until the end of the next fight. On the left, Engaged Alear is broken by a Lance Flier. On the right, they’re still broken when the next enemy attacks.

Here’s Anna being recruited to the team. We’ve seen bits of this exchange before. She can be recruited in Paralogue: Mysterious Merchant, located west from Chapter 6.

We just got Micaiah’s overview video earlier today, so here’s another look, but in English. Micaiah’s Engage skill is Augment (extends staff range and range of effect) and Great Sacrifice (fully heals all allies, but leaves user with 1 HP), while her Engage weapon is Shine (lights up 5 squares around foe).

Now, onto class-changing.

Characters require Proficiency (I previously translated as Talent) in certain weapons to change class. For example, you need Sword proficiency to become a Sword Fighter or Sword Cavalier etc. Characters begin with certain Proficiencies and can learn more from Emblems.

If you’re curious, here’s a near-full list of classes and proficiencies.

Tada, Alear class-changing from Dragon Child to promoted Divine Dragon.

Divine Spirit is a class skill that shortens the Engage meter by one step, allowing them to Engage again faster.

Alear has an innate Proficiency in Sword, but curiously it doesn’t increase their Sword rank. Is there another factor involved? For example, we’ve seen them with A Sword in their Dragon Child class.

Skill Inheritance next! In the list of characters, we see Jean, the new kid on the block.

Also, this confirms Micaiah is one of the first 4 rings obtained, potentially the 4th one. Alear already has Marth, then they get Sigurd from Lumera, while Céline likely comes with Celica. Just a guess, but maybe you get Micaiah from the Firenese castle.

After this should be Leif and Roy. We know Diamant/Brodia has Roy; maybe Leif is also theirs?

Here are Marth and Celica’s inheritable skills. Nothing massive since we’ve seen most of these before.

Sigurd’s list is new though. Canter is indeed inheritable. I missed it when it was first shown, but Canter allows up to 2 squares of movement after acting. So it’s not as busted as it used to be, but still really good!

Argh, the player doesn’t scroll to Micaiah’s list.

From the Arena, the player checks out Alfred and Sigurd’s bond conversation. It’s nice to see Sigurd bringing up Ethlyn, although he doesn’t name her. Also, didn’t expect these two to be birds in a feather!

A glimpse of the Bulletin Board (aka Notice Board), specifically the Achievements menu. Apparently Bond Fragments, used for Bond Rings and challenging Emblems in the Arena, are pretty easy to get.

Speaking of Bond Rings, here are Celica’s Bond Rings. If you missed it, Bond Rings are replacements for Emblem Rings that give minor stat boosts and, at higher ranks, unique skills. These are the things you can obtain from the “gacha”, using Bond Fragments.

The player then wanders around the Somniel a bit, chatting with Celica and Céline.

During this time, we see Vander and Sigurd’s bond conversation, although Sigurd’s dialogue is cut off.

We’re off to the Farmyard for a bit to check the animals and collect ingredients from the ground.

Plus some petting of Sommie.

After that, a quick visit to the Smithy, for some weapon forging. For reference, this was covered here.

Onto the world map next. The player is at the Mountain Settlement, where Chapter 6 is. As mentioned, to the west is the Bandits’ Hideout, where Anna’s paralogue is.

North is Chapter 7, at the Grand Crossing (Grande Soeur Bridge). This is where you meet Alcryst and fight Hortensia’s gang.

…And here’s Alcryst’s entrance. You have to see it.

Mentioned above, but here’s the location of Paralogue: Mysterious Merchant. You can view the map at the bottom of Corrin’s overview.

After the fight there, the player explores the battleground (covered here). They adopt an Elyosian Pidgeon and speak to Jean, the new kid.

I wonder when Jean joins? A complete guess, but perhaps he’s from this Firenese paralogue, on an island with a villa? Yunaka, I think might join in Chapter 6, judging from her intro video.

Near the end now. The player wanders around the battleground of Chapter 4, at the first Firenese town. It’s cool seeing the villagers, wearing similar fashion to the ones in the Boutique.

Finally, a snippet from Alear and Yunaka’s support conversation, probably. This gal definitely isn’t who she seems…

N1-UP

N1-UP showcases the class-change system and gives us a tour of the Somniel.

For those who missed it, Class-Changing was covered here.

The player promotes Alfred into his Avenir class, while showing Céline’s full list of classes.

I already linked it above, but if you want the (presumably) full class list, please go here.

Otherwise, here’s just the new info:

Céline’s Fleurge class is Vidame in the English version.

Halberdier is back as a promoted class! Lance Fighters can promote to this or Royal Knight, which is a new Lance/Staff cavalry (we saw enemies with this class).

Bow Knight is a promoted Archer class that can wield Sword, Lance or Axe in addition to Bow (again, we saw enemies with this class).

Great Knight is a promoted Armor that can wield two weapons from Sword, Lance or Axe. Bunet’s default class can wield Sword and Axe.

As suspected, Griffin Knight is a promoted Flier that can wield Sword, Lance or Axe, in addition to Staff. Wyvern Knight is another promoted Flier that can wield two weapons from Sword, Lance or Axe, like Great Knight. Rosado’s class can wield Lance and Axe. Falcon Knight is MIA.

Finally, Mage Knight surprisingly can wield Sword, Lance or Axe, in addition to Tomes. We saw Clanne as a Mage Knight in a commercial, plus enemy Mage Knights.

To clarify, for classes with multiple weapon options (eg. Bow Knight), you don’t gain the weapon options upon promotion. It’s the reverse: you must have the correct weapon proficiencies to enter that class. Eg. if you have Sword and Bow proficiencies, you can become the Sword and Bow, Bow Knight. But not the Lance and Axe ones.

Also, we now know most of the class skills. Here are the new ones only (existing skills documented here):

• Vidame: Ignis – Dex% chance of adding half of Str to magic damage or half of Mag to physical damage.
• Swordmaster: Run Through – Use to attack an adjacent foe, the move to space opposite that foe.
• Hero: Brave Assist – If unit’s HP is max when making chain attack, unit attacks twice.
• Halberdier: Pincer Attack – If unit initiates while ally is on opposite side of foe, always follow up (if weapon allows).
• Royal Knight: Reforge – If unit’s HP is 11 or more and an adjacent ally is broken after combat, sacrifices 10 HP to remove Break status from that ally.
• Warrior: Merciless – Unit deals +50% damage to broken foes.
• Sniper: No Distractions – Grants Crit +10 during combat when foe can’t counter.
• Bow Knight: Careful Aim – If unit initiates without moving, grants Hit +40 during combat.
• Great Knight: Allied Defense – If unit is between an ally and a foe, reduces damage to unit by 3 during combat with that foe.
• Griffin Knight: Clear the Way – Unit’s space and adjacent spaces have a movement cost of 1 for allies.
• Wyvern Knight: Air Raid – If unit initiates from a space foe cannot enter, grants Spd +5 during combat.
• Sage: Spell Harmony – If unit initiates combat with a tome, grants Atk equal to number of adjacent allies with tome.
• Mage Knight: Chaos Style – If unit initiates with a physical attack against a foe armed with magic or vice versa, grants Spd +3 during combat.
• High Priest: Self-Healing – Unit can target itself with healing staves.
• Thief: Pass – Foes do not block user’s movement.

As for Céline herself, she has an innate Tome proficiency. She also has boosted Tome proficiency as a High Priest, but nowhere else?

Afterwards, the tour of the Somniel begins.

Anisse manages the Item Shop. Of note, the Torch staff is now Illume, likely to differentiate from the Torch item.

Time to pay Durthon’s Armory another visit. The Mini Bow and Short Knife are the Slim equivalents, although the Mini Bow has 1 Range similar to the Surge tome (but without the infinite accuracy).

The player chats to Yunaka, then checks out the Boutique. Alear’s looking pretty snazzy in that last tutorial image.

Rather than buying new outfits, the player checks out the existing outfits. I think these are used for the poolside and strength training. Ahhh, they literally stopped scrolling just before Céline! Oh well, her cuteness can wait another day…

A sneak peak at Engraving weapons at the Smithy. This was introduced alongside Lucina’s overview video.

A tutorial for the Records Hall. Apparently you can take photos. Not sure how they’ll explain that in-universe, but you are living in a floating island, so anything’s possible I guess.

Here’s the Somniel map (previously seen here), which can be used for fast-traveling. The loading screen features sprites of the characters running along the screen! There’s also a random tip along the top.

A quick look at enhancing Engage Weapons, previously covered here. Besides boosting stats, you can add class banes, like Cavalry, Armor and Flier. Also Corrupted and Dragon, judging from the material icons.

Each enhancement uses up capacity. You can reset the enhancements to free up capacity. Also, raising the Emblem’s Bond Level will increase the capacity.

The player hovers over some Engage weapons. This confirms that Micaiah gets Nosferatu and Thani. Also, we have stats for all of Marth, Celica, Sigurd and Micaiah’s weapons. (Celica only has two weapons because one is a staff: Recover.)

Daily Nintendo

This video begins with the opening to Chapter 5, when Alear and company reach the Firenese castle.

The artwork of Firene Castle was shown earlier. From the wording, it sounds like Céline escaped from the castle.

The focus moves to inside the castle, where Nelucce from the Elusian army is questioning Queen Eve.

Zephia steps in and threatens to kill everyone in the castle, saying her quote from “The Divine Dragon Awakens!” Zephia suspects Eve gave Céline the ring they’re searching for, which sounds like Celica’s ring. Hmm, is Micaiah’s ring unrelated…? I nearly forgot: we did hear Eve saying her country has two rings in the same trailer.

Afterwards, there’s a bunch of gameplay footage from the Chapter 5 battle. We’ve seen this already and I don’t think there’s anything new. Enjoy some Level Ups.

Afterwards, some footage of the end of Chapter 7, at the Brodian bridge. After being defeated, Hortensia keeps Lucina’s ring. However, you do get a Master Seal for your efforts.

Having driven off the Elusians for now, Alear roams the bridge, chatting to allies, grabbing loot and befriending some animals. Some animals require boosting Brodia’s Donation Level. Also, Jean is present at this point in time.

A brief look at the World Map. First is the location of Chapter 5 (at the castle), Chapter 4 (at the Firenese town) and lastly a Paralogue at a tea-field village.

I can’t say with completely certainty, but Jean could potentially be recruited here. The footage skips ahead to after the Paralogue is completed (red diamond changes to blue). In the roster, Jean is present as the final character. Although we don’t know exactly when he joined.

Nevermind, I made a big misassumption long ago… During the Talk post, Jean was shown as a NPC that you can talk to, to recruit. At the time, I mistakenly thought they were a NPC because of the hat and muted colours. Thanks to Rexcalibur75 for reminding me. This is even the same Paralogue, with the villa and rows of hedges.

Here are Celica’s upgrades by Bond Level. Of note, she confers Magic Proficiency at Level 6 and Sword Proficiency at Level 9. So Emblems can indeed give multiple Proficiencies. Will Leif gives loads?

Also, Céline’s personal skill is Gentle Flower in English.

Next is the C bond conversation between Céline and Celica. Despite her country possessing Celica’s ring, Céline is at a loss for words when meeting the real deal.

The player roams around the Somniel a bit. At the Farmyard, you can allow up to 5 animals to wander outside.

At last, we get to see the Sommie customisation. It doesn’t disappoint.

Time to eat next. The player browses Alfred’s support options.

• Can support: Boucheron, Céline, Yunaka, Diamant, Amber, Vander
• Can’t support: Framme, Anna, Jean, Chloé, Louis, Alcryst, Clanne, Citrinne, Lapis

We also see Jean’s map sprite. He holds a martial arts scroll just like Framme, in her Martial Monk class.

The player requests Etie to prepare a Potato Pancake for Alfred and Vander.

Fancy some fishing? It works like you’d expect, except you can choose Sommie as a fishing partner!

After hooking the fish, you drag it in by pulling the left stick. Then there’s a QTE to pull it out of the water.

A quick trip to the shops next, but nothing we haven’t seen. Then to the Arena!

Marth grants Sword Agility 3 and Sword Proficiency at Bond 8, Avoid +20 at Bond 9 and Mercurius at Bond 10. Right, it makes sense that Marth lets you wield swords. Presumably Roy will also have Sword Proficiency.

The last bit of new info is the Donations menu, covered here. It shows what you get for upgrading Firene from Level 1 to 2.

To recap, the more you invest in countries, the higher the chance of encountering rare enemies (Golden and Silver Corrupted) in skirmishes, the more items you can find and animals you can tame during battleground explorations and you may receive one-off rewards too, like the Harvest’s Bounty.

Nintendo World Report

This video begins with some shots presumably from the opening video.

We see the 4 royals with their Emblem Rings and country’s insignia.

During battles, you can enable tool tips that show a character’s class type. Since every class type has an innate bonus, it can be handy to know who’s what. Like if you’re fight an enemy Covert class in terrain with high Avoid, you know to lure them away or use a Mystical class.

I didn’t expect this, but you can rename Sommie. Also, Sommie can show up during strength training, not just fishing!

Hmm, capable as she may be, I’m not sure if letting children manage the kitchen’s a good idea.

Here’s a different tool tip option, where it shows everyone’s Atk and Def stats instead. Though useful, it makes the actual units really hard to see…

Also, Jean is confirmed to be a Martial Monk here.

Rosado is fighting Alfred at the Chapter 7 battle. Their Stunning Smile skill triggers at the start of combat. Also, Rosado has been confirmed to be male.

If you get a Game Over, you can retain the experience from the current fight. Useful so you don’t feel like you completely wasted your time.

During the defence of the Brodian castle in Chapter 8, Ivy is a boss with Leif’s Emblem. Makes sense from her intro video. Huh, so Elusia has at least three Emblems: Lucina, Leif and Lyn (who their father, Hyacinth has).

The Sothe S Bond Ring has Bane as a unique skill! It has a Dex/2% chance of lowering non-immune foes to 1 HP, like in Radiant Dawn.

Not all S Bond Rings have unique skills though. Poor Katarina doesn’t get one.

Above, we can see 8 out of 10 of Micaiah’s Bond Rings: Nephenee, Caineghis, Black Knight, Naesala, Sothe, Tibarn, Nailah and Elincia. Hmm, who could the last two be, I wonder?

Ooh, maybe Rafiel could be one? Actually, it’d be cool to have the rest of the Herons too–perhaps it’d be possible with Ike’s Bond Rings.

Update: Courtesy of GrimaceDuMinace, who did the preview, we have the full set of characters who appear in Marth, Celica, Sigurd and Micaiah’s Bond Rings.

Leanne managed to sneak in, in place of her brother, Rafiel. Sanaki is another great choice too. Although I feel kind of sorry for Pelleas failing to make the cut.

Additionally, Alm’s S Bond Ring confers the Windsweep skill. This is a throwback to Shadows of Valentia and FE Heroes. This version of Windsweep doesn’t seem as good though, since it has a random activation. On the other hand, it doesn’t prevent the user from attacking twice.

Some support conversations next. In Alfred and Yunaka supports, Yunaka seems puzzled that nobody is questioning her dubious origins.

In Framme and Anna’s supports, Anna is reminded of the family she’s been separated from. It gives her a bit more depth than just money, money.

Here’s a glimpse of Céline and Jean’s supports. When I learned Jean is from a tea-field village, I thought Céline would be interested, since she mentioned tea fields in her support with Chloé.

Finally, there are shots of the 4 royals fighting at Lythos, while Alear and Marth rush to the gate. Since the previews are up to Chapter 8, this must appear early on. It’s not also from the Premonition, is it?

Gaming Boulevard

This video is unique in that it shows the handheld footage, on a Nintendo Switch OLED model.

Because of the nature of the video, there isn’t too much new or of interest. We do get to see the player exploring various battlegrounds. I think they’re from Chapters 1 (Lythos with separated Clanne and Framme), 2 (Lythos tutorial with Lumera), 3 (night-time hallway) and 4 (first Firenese town).

Here’s the name of Chapter 4: A Land in Bloom. Also, old man couldn’t hear the ruckus going on outside? Well, can’t complain about a free Javelin.

Here’s the name of Chapter 3: Hostilities. You can also see the moment just before Alfred and his retainers appear as reinforcements.

Finally, something I wanted to see: the potential Premonition chapter. There have been hints it existed.

In a tutorial message about Dragon classes, it shows Level 20 Alear Synced with Marth, whose name is unknown. Later, we see the strange pillar/walls in the background, in a much later chapter.

With the maps we’ve seen thus far, I have a feeling this “Premonition” chapter may be labelled as the Prologue or Chapter 0 instead. Since we’re missing one map otherwise.

Anyway, it fits. We see Alear Engaged with Marth, although Marth’s name is unknown. Likewise, Sombron’s name is unknown. This version of Sombron is a tome wielder, with a tome called Obscurité.

To finish off, here’s what humanoid Sombron looks like in battle.

Gamersyde

Gamersyde’s preview features a nice tour of the Somniel, plus a look at Chapter 7.

First things first, you can have Sommie follow you around! It’s kinda slow, but I guess it’s trying? It reminds me of the following Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet (although they return to their Poké Ball if you stray too far).

Also, although the Somniel doesn’t seem that big (compared to Garreg Mach), there are some pretty cool sights, especially the underground tunnel near Sommie’s shrine.

We get to see more of the Chapter 7 opening scene. I won’t spoil too much…

Lapis triggers the Smash tutorial. To recap, Blade, Greatlance, Greataxe and similar weapons can trigger Smash when initiating combat, knocking the foe back one space. These weapons go last and cannot follow up. If an enemy can’t be knocked back, it will suffer Break instead.

Sigurd’s sync skill Headlong Rush confers immunity to freeze. Will there be many foes that inflict this though?

You can get Bond Fragments by waiting on Lost Spirits. It seems tiny, but better than nothing?

Foes with Emblem Rings can be semi-Engaged. They have their same outfit, but can wield the Emblem’s weapons and Engage attacks. Here, Hortensia uses All for One, which makes all allies within 2 squares participate in Chain Attacks–in this case, a random pegasus knight and Goldmary.

Goldmary’s personal skill is officially Disarming Sigh.

Marth’s Sword Agility 2 grants Avoid +15 at the cost of Crit -10. Sword Agility 1 was known to grant Avoid +10 for Crit -10.

This analysis is continued here.