Fire Emblem series put players in the shoes of military commanders who have to oversee various battle tactics in combat. Fire Emblem Engage Difficulty settings play an important role in making the game more fun or challenging.
You can choose which difficulty level you want to play when starting Fire Emblem Engage. This is common knowledge; all games do this, but what each difficulty level of Fire Emblem Engage offers and how they work is kept hidden from the players.
With the new release, let us provide insight into the various FE Engage Difficulty Settings and permadeath mode in Fire Emblem Engage.
Fire Emblem Engage Difficulty Settings
As you start the game, FE Engage allows you to choose from Normal, Hard, and Maddening difficulties. But if you are confused about difficulty differences in each setting, then first take a look at each Difficulty settings and how hard FE Engage is in each difficulty setting:
Normal Difficulty
As expected, Normal Difficulty offers an essential experience. The difficulty is recommended for new and intermediate players. The Difficulty is perfect for those who just want to experience the immersive story of FE Engage without facing too much of a challenge.
Most complex gameplay features are simplified for you, and you can smoothly progress through the game.
Hard Difficulty
The second level. This difficulty level is suggested for experienced players. The Hard Difficulty requires a better grasp of the game’s combat mechanics. The only significant difference you will notice in Hard Difficulty is the increased number of enemies you will face at each turn and the more potent enemies you face than their regular counterparts.
Enemies have increased HP and deal more damage. Enemies are also better at avoiding your attacks and ganging up on you. Lastly, the total Rewind Charges that you have is reduced. Since the use is already limited, this is further reduced to lower your power in Hard Difficulty.
Maddening Difficulty
For those who seek challenge. Maddening is the highest difficulty level that you can choose in FE Engage.
Maddening Difficulty pulls out all stops. First, it allows you to skip tutorials since you are expected to know them all; otherwise, why would you go for Maddening Difficulty? You can go through the tutorials if you want, but most of them can be skipped if the players want to.
Next, unlike Normal and Hard Difficulty, you can no longer save during combat. Whenever you start a battle, you need to see it through to the end. Since you can no longer save and retry if you made a wrong move, all fights now carry much higher stakes every time, even if they are just against minor mobs.
Maddening Difficulty throws even more enemies at you as compared to Hard Difficulty. Not only do you face a ridiculous number of enemies, but all of them are also ridiculously buffed. Some enemies now even possess skills that they can freely use against you.
Best difficulty to choose in Fire Emblem Engage
The three difficulties have their different perks and detriments. Each Difficulty is for different types of players. If you are wondering how hard each difficulty is and what difficulty to choose, then here we will compare the three difficulties in Fire Emblem Engage so you can better understand each difficulty.
Normal vs Hard
Normal Difficulty is the standard Difficulty in FE Engage. Players who are new, unaware of game mechanics, and want to progress in the story should opt for this Difficulty.
This Difficulty is not challenging as the enemies have lower HP and can easily be killed. Alongside the complex game, mechanics are simplified for you in this setting.
When you are bored by Normal Difficulty and want to make the game harder, opt for FE Engage Hard Mode by selecting the Hard Difficulty Setting.
In this Difficulty setting, enemies will appear more significantly each time. They will be more resistant than Normal Difficulty because of increased HP and dodging your attacks. You will have to go through a lot of struggle to progress in the story.
Hard vs Maddening
Hard difficulty in FE Engage will make you face difficult enemies throughout the game.
But, if you can go through the hard Difficulty setting and seek a challenge to test your skills in FE Engage, then you should opt for the hardest Difficulty, the FE Engage Maddening Difficulty.
The only difficulty reward in Normal and Hard Difficulty is that you can save the game during progress. The FE Engage Maddening difficulty changes a lot of things. First, it makes the game extremely challenging by not allowing you to save it as expected.
If you die, you have to restart the level. And, of course, compared to Hard Difficulty, the enemies will be unfazed by your shivering attacks and appear in even more significant numbers.
One exciting thing about this Difficulty is that you can skip the tutorials as you are playing at the most challenging level, and you should know all the game’s mechanics.
How to change the difficulty
Fortunately, Fire Emblem Engage allows players to change their game’s Difficulty ONCE. However, players need to get through the first two chapters of the game on their selected level of Difficulty before they can change the Difficulty of the game.
At the end of Chapter 3 in FE Engage, players will unlock Somniel. You can reset your Difficulty to a lower level at this point in the game. This is the only time you have the option to change your Difficulty.
Keep in mind that not only can this be done once, but you can only LOWER the Difficulty, not increase it. If you started FE Engage at Normal Difficulty, you can not change it to Hard or Maddening.
Types of playable modes in FE Engage
Now that you have chosen your Difficulty, Fire Emblem Engage also offers a mode selection similar to previous games. Just like previous games, FE Engage has two playable modes.
Casual mode
This mode is recommended for players who want to play the game, regardless of Difficulty. Casual mode allows your killed units to return to the next battle. As such, you never lose manpower throughout the game, even if almost all of your units fall into combat.
You might need to strategize for a fight, but not for the whole game.
Classic mode and Permadeath
This is for those who excel at strategizing. In Classic Mode, FE Engage implements permadeath. If any of your units die in a fight, it is gone. There is no way to revive the unit, and your only option is to replace the unit altogether.
Permadeath in Fire Emblem Engage raises the stakes of every fight, even on Normal Difficulty. Losing your unit can make the remainder of the game almost impossible, especially if you lose your main fighter or healer. The death of a single unit can destroy all your plans. You must replace the fallen unit with a new, low-level untrained one.
Classic Mode is not for you if you are not willing to strategize a lot to look for workarounds for your losses. The overall Difficulty of your experience of Fire Emblem Engage is decided by what difficulty level and game mode you select.
