As a hardcore tactics fanatic with over 200 hours clocked across the Fire Emblem series, I‘ve been eagerly counting down the days until I can tear into Engage‘s grid-based battle system. And with over 26 massive story chapters promising thrills aplenty, I know this adventure will keep me strategizing for dozens of delightful hours.
But between collecting heroes, customizing loadouts, fishing up side quests and more, how long will it actually take to roll credits on this beast? What key factors shape that elusive "game length" metric we obsess over?
Well fret not, fellow commanders – I‘ve got you covered. In this detailed guide, we‘ll explore everything impacting Engage‘s epic length to help you strategize your playtime accordingly!
Base Game Length Breakdown
Let‘s kick things off by establishing Engage‘s core game duration for the main story campaign:
| Story Acts | Chapters | Avg. Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Opening Act | 7 Chapters | 10 hours |
| Kingdom Campaign Act | 12 Chapters + Prologue Finale | 30 hours |
| Total | 26 Chapters | ~40 hours |
Based on early estimates I‘ve compiled from preview impressions across IGN, GameSpot and Nintendo Life, players spend around 40 hours focused solely on Engage‘s main quest line on the default "Normal" difficulty.
Factoring in Engage‘s broader scope with side content and replayability perks, we can expect that number to scale up. But at its core, the 26 chapter epic should reliably clock in around 40 hours for most gamers.
How does Engage compare lengthwise to previous Fire Emblem entries? Let‘s check some numbers:
| Game | Main Story Length |
|---|---|
| Fire Emblem Fates | 35-40 hours |
| Fire Emblem: Three Houses | 40-45 hours |
| Fire Emblem Engage | 40-45 hours |
As we can see, Engage lands firmly in line with modern FE game length expectations. So Tacticians hoping for a journey as mammoth as Three Houses‘ 60-80 hour routes needn‘t fret – there are plenty of factors that extend Engage‘s playtime.
Variable Factors That Influence Game Length
While Engage‘s main story will take ~40 hours minimum, certain gameplay decisions can nearly double your total playtime. Based on my hundreds of hours with FE, here are the key variables lengthening your stay:
Difficulty Settings
Engage offers 3 base difficulties, each escalating in complexity:
- Normal: Balanced for newcomers & veterans
- Hard: Smarter enemies & greater challenge
- Maddening: Brutal intensity for experts
Cranking up the difficulty directly translates to increased game length due to requiring more strategic care in battle.
Based on my Hard mode runs of Three Houses taking ~20 hours longer than Normal, we can reasonably estimate similarly extended times for Engage:
| Difficulty | Estimated Playtime |
|---|---|
| Normal | 40 hours |
| Hard | 55-60 hours |
| Maddening | 70-75 hours |
So seasoned tacticians can expect an extra 30+ hours on Maddening over a casual run – that‘s nearly the base game‘s length again in added playtime!
Side Content
Engage supplements its main story with optional Paralogues starring bonus heroes plus vignettes fleshing out relationships between units. Based on my completionist playstyle, this easily tacks on 15-20 additional hours:
- Paralogues: 15 character side stories
- Supports: 700+ relationship conversations
And while not required, diving into this bonus content keeps the experience feeling fresh vs just mainlining the story chapters.
Support conversations add significant playtime (Imgur/rFireEmblem)
Permadeath
Engage retains Fire Emblem‘s signature permadeath system where fallen units die permanently for that playthrough upon defeat. This pressures players towards cautious, calculated move-by-move play to protect favorites.
Based on my Conquest experience, permadeath easily added 10-15 retries replaying hour-long maps to keep my party alive. Coupled with slower overall progress fearing unit losses, enabling permadeath can cost 20+ hours compared to softer modes allowing mid-battle saving.
Completionist Tendencies
While not required, completionists like myself feel compelled to wring out every last bit of content before closure. That means diving deep on all of the above:
- Longest story route
- Max difficulty
- All Paralogues
- Maximum Supports
- No lost units
And the resultant game length? A combined 80-100 hours to fully "complete" Engage based on my Three Houses numbers.
Certainly a staggering figure, but rewarding for us looking to utterly dominate this realm! Casual runs still clock a healthy 40ish hours of entertainment.
Speedrunning Tips For Minimum Game Length
What about players who prefer rapid-fire tactical action over languishing in Support conversations?
Speedrunning provides the ultimate test of efficiency for those curious about Engage‘s minimum clear times!
By exploiting mechanics and sequence breaks that essentially "break" standard play, top-tier runners have managed shockingly brief clears of prior FE titles:
| Game | Speedrun Record | Normal Playtime |
|---|---|---|
| FE: Shadows of Valentia | 1h 13m | ~40 hours |
| FE: Three Houses | 3h 32m | ~80 hours |
Applying similar feats to Engage could see elite runners crushing the campaign in potentially under 2 hours – that cuts an average playthrough down by 95%! 🤯
Now pulling off world record times requires masterful skill – but for us common folk looking to briskly finish the journey, speedrunning guides reveal key time-savers:
- Choosing the shortest story route
- Minimal/efficient Supports
- Offensive character builds to blitz maps
- Reliance on overleveled bonus units
- Reuse saved team configurations
Combining these techniques with New Game+ advantages (more on that later!) can reliably beat Engage in under 20 hours – 50% quicker than normal.
Speedrun tactics enable the fastest playthroughs (Imgur/SmashBros)
New Game Plus Speed Advantages
After finally topping the campaign‘s climax, players gain access to New Game Plus (NG+) – a new run carrying over progress from your cleared save.
Importing a powered-up roster provides tremendous time-saving benefits towards another playthrough. With higher starting levels, stockpiled resources and gear, early chapters absolutely fly by compared to initially starting from zero.
Based on my NG+ runs chopping previous FE games nearly in half, Engage clocks around 20 hours on a second living – letting you enjoy the story faster without tedious early grind.
Completion Time Estimates
Let‘s recap the array of playstyles and their expected game length ranges:
| Playstyle | Game Length |
|---|---|
| Main Story | |
| Casual Playthrough | 35-45 hours |
| Hard Mode | 50-60 hours |
| Maddening | 60-75 hours |
| Completionist | |
| All Content Cleared | 80-100+ hours |
| Speedrun | |
| World Record Pace | <2 hours |
| Efficient Play | <20 hours |
| New Game+ | |
| Powered-Up Roster | 20-30 hours |
So whether you‘re an elite speedrunner or obsessive Support collector like myself, Engage can scale from brief blast to multi-week epic delivering your money‘s worth!
Choose your own adventure and settle in with the game length that matches your appetite. Just be warned… once you get hooked wielding Engage‘s refined tactical combat, you may find any playthrough flying by far too quickly! 😅
Let me know which path you plan to embark on when Engage releases! I‘m already packed for a hundred hour excursion at least. This is set to be the Fire Emblem adventure I‘ve waited years for!
