Nintendo just announced the newest character to join the Fire Emblem Engage roster in the form of the royal warrior Panette. With its upcoming release on January 20, 2023, more character announcements are very much welcome to create interest in the game.Fire Emblem Engage is the latest entry in the famous tactical role-playing game franchise. The game is set on the continent of Elyos and features the ability to summon previous protagonists of the series using what are called Emblem Rings, an important element the players need to gather to defeat the game's antagonist, the Fell Dragon.RELATED: Fire Emblem Engage Trailer Reveals Factions, Emblem Summons, and the Divine DragonThe official Fire Emblem Twitter account introduced the new character Panette, the latest to join the playable cast who does not originate from a previous game. Her rich history was detailed in three different tweets. Panette is a retainer to crown princess Timerra, comes from the Kingdom of Solm, and is assigned as a Berserker for her starting class. She joins characters such as Lumiere, Vale, Etie, and Alear as they make their debut in Fire Emblem Engage.

Per the Twitter posts, Panette is described as being elegant in nature and speaking in a manner befitting a royal retainer. However, it is implied by her backstory that this was not always the case and there used to be a more rough side to her, which sometimes shows during battles. It is still unknown how the relationship between Princess Timerra and Panette will affect Fire Emblem Engage's plot, but it certainly is an interesting facet to the character.

The game itself will heavily call on nostalgia, taking a huge number of well-known characters from previous games such as Marth, Roy, Lucina, and Byleth just to name a few. Hence, the announcement of more new characters to join Fire Emblem Engage is definitely a welcome addition to help build the originality and add to the franchise's lore. Adding more new names such as Panette will provide the opportunity to set up interesting interactions between the Fire Emblem characters of old and new to keep the story fresh.

The Fire Emblem franchise seems to enjoy using old tropes and past characters to give players a sense of familiarity in-game. Fans may remember Fire Emblem Awakening's fan service wherein the name Marth was an identity used by in-game character Lucina, not to mention the subsequent DLCs which added characters like Roy. If Fire Emblem Engage wants to keep the franchise going strong, it will have to move away from the reliance on the classics and help build the future by expanding the rich lore, maybe focusing on just referencing previous events rather than outright including characters from the previous games.

Fire Emblem Engage will release on January 20, 2023, for the Nintendo Switch.

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Source: FireEmblemJP/Twitter