[GameSpot] - Nintendo Shows Off Everything You Can Do In Fire Emblem Engage's Hub Area

[343iBot]

Nintendo has put out a new trailer for Fire Emblem Engage showing off its homebase, the floating island Somniel, and all the activities you can do on it.

Like Fire Emblem Three Houses' Garreg Mach Monastery, Somniel is a place you'll be spending a lot of time, primarily interacting with the various characters you meet along the way. The plaza is where you'll prepare for all your main story battles, with an armory for weapons and an item shop for tonics and other useful gear.

One of the main things you'll be doing in the game is collecting rings to summon classic Emblem characters, and the Ring Chamber is where you'll be storing all those rings. You'll be able to talk to the various Emblems there, as well as inherit skills from them to use in battle. It's also possible to make bond rings from your Emblem rings, which appear to harbor other, less prominent Fire Emblem characters, which you can wear to boost stats. After battle, you can polish tarnished rings to bond with the Emblems further.

If you're looking to gain a bit more experience, you can head to the Arena to do practice battles. Alternatively, you can head to the Tower of Trials to take on a range of battles and challenges for rewards, or even make and share your own battle map.

Getting to know your allies will be a big deal in this Fire Emblem too, as they'll be dotted around Somniel for you to talk to, which is something you should do often. The Cafe Terrace will let you eat meals with your allies too, and if prepared correctly, you might both get some stat boosts in the next battle.

Any items you find around Somniel can also be given as gifts to your allies, which will help you deepen your bonds with them.

For the animal-lover out there you'll be happy to hear there's a small farmyard where you can take care of animals you find out in the wild. There's also a strange creature to be found on Somniel called Sommie who might be the best little thing in the world, and appears to give you a form of currency when you pet him.

There's also a boutique you can visit to dress up both yourself and your allies, with seemingly quite a range of options.

Fishing returns as a minigame, which is pretty self-explanatory. There's also the option to take to the skies on a wyvern and play a rail shooter minigame where you shoot at different targets.

Engage will also have Amiibo functionality, which you can use in the Amiibo Gazebo--a perfect name for it--where using a compatible Amiibo can unlock gear of other Fire Emblem characters, as well as music from the game's they're from.

Lastly, you get your own bedroom that you can take naps in, though occasionally you might be woken up by one of your allies.

Fire Emblem Engage launches exclusively on Nintendo Switch January 20, and will also have a paid expansion pass, with the first wave of DLC coming on launch day.

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