The game was publicly announced in a September 2022 Nintendo Direct. On November 16, a story trailer was released, showing Alear's promise to their dying mother, and an evil version of Marth. The following week, Nintendo uploaded a gameplay trailer showcasing new characters and returning protagonists from the series.
Fire Emblem Engage is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the seventeenth installment in the Fire Emblem series, and was released worldwide on January 20, 2023. The game follows Alear, a dragon in human form, who awakens from a thousand-year slumber and quickly becomes embroiled in a conflict with the forces of the Fell Dragon Sombron. Alear travels the land of Elyos gaining allies while fighting against the armies of the rival Kingdom of Elusia and Sombron's resurrected undead forces; the player controls and maneuvers Alear's army in these battles. One of the core parts of both the setting and the gameplay are twelve magic rings that contain phantasmal copies of characters from previous Fire Emblem games. Characters wearing these "Emblem Rings" can "Engage" to gain vast power from summoning and merging with these phantoms. Both Alear and Sombron seek to gain control of the rings; possession of all twelve will allow a feat of immense magic to be performed.
The game released on January 20, 2023, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. A premium "Divine Edition" packaged version of the game was released in addition to the basic version; the Divine Edition includes an artbook, poster, steelbook case, and art cards depicting the characters of earlier Fire Emblem games featured as Emblems. The release was concurrent with an Expansion Pass, purchase of which would grant access to DLC to be released across four waves. The first wave was available on release and included two new Emblem Bracelets (equivalent of Emblem Rings): one with a combination of Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and another with Tiki from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and its direct sequels. The second wave was released on February 8, 2023, immediately following a Nintendo Direct. The second wave included three new Emblem Bracelets: Hector from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, Soren from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, and Camilla from Fire Emblem Fates. Wave 3 of the expansion pass was made available on March 8. It included a combination of Chrom and Robin from Fire Emblem Awakening and Veronica from Fire Emblem Heroes. Most of the DLC Emblems also include a "Divine Paralogue" chapter to go with them, where Alear's team faces a special challenge map before acquiring the Emblem Bracelet. Wave 4 of the expansion pass was released on April 4 and included a new "Fell Xenologue" side story. Completion of the "Fell Xenologue" allows five new characters to be recruited: three of them alternate heroic versions of the Four Hounds in the main game, and two new dragons named Nel and Nil. Two new classes are also unlocked for use.
A manga adaptation of Engage was created by Kazurō Kyō and published in Shueisha's Saikyō Jump magazine and Shōnen Jump+ website. The prologue was released in February 2023 and the first main chapter released on March 3.
Fire Emblem Engage was the best-selling retail game during its first week of release in Japan, selling around 145,000 physical copies across the country. By March 31, 2023, Engage had sold 1.61 million copies worldwide. According to Nintendo's list of games with the best digital sales on the Nintendo Switch eShop in Japan, Engage had the second-highest digital sales during the first half of 2023, behind The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom; and the tenth-highest digital sales over all of 2023.
An official CD/DVD version of the soundtrack was released in March 2024.