Fire Emblem Three Houses was adored by many for its detailed characters, intricate relationship building, and consequential story choices. The series’ strategy combat was still there, but hardly the main attraction. Based on early reviews, it sounds like Fire Emblem Engage flips the tables, rewarding fans of the strategy series’ roots while at the same time curtailing the ambitious social elements introduced by its predecessor.

Out January 20 on Nintendo Switch, Fire Emblem Engage sports VTuber-looking protagonists and a gameplay gimmick that lets players summon heroes from the series’ past to help them in battle. What it doesn’t necessarily have is a cast of fascinating warriors to befriend or a compelling conflict. There are a host of visual and quality-of-life improvements, but the game appears to be more of an homage to the series’ past than its next step forward. As a result, it currently sits at 82 on Metacritic, about seven points below Three Houses. In the current battle over the soul of Fire Emblem, it sounds like the combat has temporarily won out.

As with other Nintendo games, Kotaku was denied review code for Fire Emblem Engage, so our coverage won’t be up until after the game releases. But in the meantime here’s what other reviews are saying about the seventeenth mainline entry in the beloved strategy RPG franchise:

There’s something deeply seductive about Fire Emblem Engage’s combat. It’s the reason why I contentedly spent…