Nintendo shadow drops a new Fire Emblem game that’s part Among Us clone

A new Fire Emblem mobile game has randomly launched with zero fanfare and it’s quickly proven divisive with fans.

In 2016, Nintendo’s announcement that it would begin making games for mobile devices caused panic and consternation amongst fans, and yet by the time the 2020s rolled around, the company appeared to have largely given up on them.

That’s due to the Nintendo Switch being a far bigger success than anyone expected, whereas the mobile games weren’t proving nearly as popular. That is, except for Fire Emblem Heroes, which was a big hit in Japan for its gacha style collection element.

And now, nearly four years since the company’s last mobile game (Pikmin Bloom), Nintendo has launched a brand new one with zero fanfare in the middle of the night, and it’s a strange cross between Fire Emblem and Among Us.

Named Fire Emblem Shadows, the game sees three players exploring a labyrinth and fighting enemies in simple real-time battles, as opposed to the series’ typical turn-based fare.

The twist, however, is that one player is secretly a traitor who’s trying to kill the other two. After the first battle, everyone votes on who they think the traitor is and their identity is revealed in the second battle, with the character transforming into a monstrous animal.

Anyone who correctly guesses the traitor’s identity then receives an advantage in the battle, where the two sides duke it out.

As it’s free-to-play, there are, of course, microtransactions in the form of a battle pass for unlocking new magic skills, weapons, and another playable character. In this case, it’s fan favourite Lyn from the Game Boy Advance game The Blazing Blade, who turns into an evil looking centaur if she role-plays as the traitor.

There is an original storyline starring brand new characters, which encourages you to play as both sides to understand the full plot, but there’ll no doubt be more cameos from previous Fire Emblem characters in future updates.

It is strange that Nintendo made no effort to advertise it beforehand, not even with a short announcement during its last Nintendo Direct, but mobile games are often given soft launches, sometimes only in one region, so it’s not necessarily a sign of a lack of confidence.

While there are no user reviews on either the Apple or Google Play stores, initial impressions among Fire Emblem fans appear split. One thread on the Fire Emblem subreddit calls it ‘shockingly bad. Like worse than I could’ve imagined going in.’

One fan is baffled by how little strategy is required for battles, as well as the lack of any social interactions in this social deduction game, since there’s no way for players to talk with one another like in Among Us.

‘The whole thing is so bizarre,’ writes another. ‘They clearly invested a lot of resources into making this, yet the gameplay is so… bleh.’

It’s not without its defenders, though, with some fans admitting they’re enjoying the game, or at least find it okay, and are playing it for the character art.

There’d probably be a lot more fan outrage had Nintendo not already announced the next console Fire Emblem game earlier this month. Titled Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, it’ll launch for Nintendo Switch 2 next year.

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