An Alternative to the Separate Paths of Three Houses.
Data mines would seemingly indicate the presence of a Fourth Route in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, a spin-off hack and slash title to Fire Emblem Three Houses. With the upcoming release of this second Warriors collaboration between Koei Tecmo and Intelligent Systems, the developer released a playable demo ahead of time that allowed players to play through the first three chapters of each available route in Three Hopes. Progress earned through this demo can be carried over into the full release if players purchase the complete product.
The news for this variation of the original story that featured Three Houses characters and settings took place during the Nintendo Direct in February. The gameplay shown did not seem to diverge from the standard formula slotted into Warrior games, where one playable character takes on hundreds and thousands of enemies, mowing them down with basic attacks and special moves. As Koei Tecmo played a considerate part in the original development of Three Houses, the devs of Three Hopes are perhaps more familiar with the characters and settings of Three Houses as opposed to their collaborations with other IPs.
This presumption regarding their familiarity spews over into the data discovered from the demo for Three Hopes, pointing to the possibility of a fourth route for the game. Data found in the demo seems to indicate leftover data from the full version of the game. Included are mentions of all the potentially playable characters that will feature within the title, names of all story chapters, and new game plus.
Some of the perusable content in the google document falls under spoiler territory, and answers some of the questions held by players within the fanbase as to how Three Hopes will differ from Three Houses, and if it will change up the major plot points of the original title. There are headings and names in the Google Doc that would suggest the presence of an alternative route or chapter available to players who would complete multiple story routes in Three Hopes and go into New Game Plus.
Discussion and debates surrounding the release of Three Hopes have always been curious due to the supposed argument of the game being a retread of Three Houses except featuring a brand new protagonist as opposed to Byleth. There are arguably things only achievable in a retelling of an existing story, and that is to present new possibilities that could take the story in brand new directions, for better, or worse. From those leaks, it at least appears that the devs for Three Hopes are ready to present a new spin on the story that takes place in Fódlan.
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is scheduled for release on the 24th of June, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
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