Fire Emblem makes you feel like a monster for choosing Conquest over Birthright

You don’t usually see the plural version of the word “fate.” That’s because it is counterintuitive to claim one person’s life has multiple, inevitable endings. But that is the idea that the new Fire Emblem explores — only I’m betting your fate will lead to you choosing one game over the other.

Fire Emblem: Fates is out today for the Nintendo 3DS, and we love its branching narrative and difficult battles. But let me tell you what I didn’t like: choosing to play Conquest over Birthright. One of the big new spins on the classic Fire Emblem formula this time around is that Fates is two separate tales (with a third supplemental story coming next month). Birthright and Conquest, the subtitles for these versions of Fates, tell two sides of the same story. Birthright is simpler in terms of both difficulty and story. Conquest, however, is dark, complicated, and brutally tough — oh, and developer Intelligent Systems doesn’t hesitate to make it feel like the wrong choice.