Fire Emblem: Three Houses Is $45 In Rare Deal, Its Cheapest Price Yet (Nintendo Switch)

Fire Emblem: Three Houses wasn't just one of the best Nintendo Switch releases of last year; it also made our list of the top 10 games of 2019. The Japanese tactics game expanded on the popular series in fresh and surprising ways while delivering a fantastic story with four different available routes (and this time, Nintendo didn't make players pay for different versions as it did with Fire Emblem Fates). Unlike some Nintendo Switch releases where fans have complained about an unwavering $60 price tag given the amount of content included (the Link's Awakening remake, Pokemon Sword and Shield, etc.), Fire Emblem: Three Houses feels worth every penny. That's why it's even more exciting to see the game on sale for just $45 right now at Amazon and Best Buy, a rare deal for any first-party Nintendo game.

In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, your character is a mercenary and professor at Garreg Mach Monastery, where you'll choose between three houses of students to train and lead on the battlefield. The game is split between time in the monastery, where you can freely explore, build relationships with students, and take part in various activities; classroom instruction, where you can set goals for your students and develop certain strengths; and battles, which follow the same turn-based format on a grid-like map. For longtime fans, Fire Emblem: Three Houses feels both comfortably familiar and wonderfully new, and if you're new to the series, this is an excellent entry to start with. I'm currently on my third playthrough with over 150 hours sunk into this game, and I've still got another full route to play through after this one.

While certainly not necessary to enjoy the game, Fire Emblem: Three Houses also has a hefty expansion pass available for $25 that unlocks additional outfits, items, challenges, and, most recently, a brand-new side story that unlocks a new area below the monastery and introduces four new recruitable characters from the secret Ashen Wolves house. It might be worth trying out the game first before buying the expansion pass right away, but if you do fall in love with Fire Emblem: Three Houses, you'll definitely get your money's worth out of the expansion content. The new side story just released this month, so there's no better time to dive into Fire Emblem: Three Houses if it's been in your backlog since last year.