Iron Emblem (2021)

Platforms: Game Boy Advance
Genres: Role-playing (RPG), Tactical
Main story: about 15 hours
Completionist: about 2.0 hours

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A brutally unforgiving ironman Fire Emblem hack where every faceless unit fight feels like it could end the run for good.

punishingtensehigh-stakesstripped-downgrimhardcoreunforgiving

About

Iron Emblem is a hack that is designed with the only playstyle being true ironman (never resetting to restart a chapter, and the run being completely over when you have a game over). Every single unit is a generic, complete with covered eyes and identical mugs, and even no real names! They are all just as strong as the enemies, and nothing more, so using them may be a bit more difficult than the usual FE unit fare. The gameplay and setup of the hack were very inspired by my experiences with fe1/11. The challenge, then, is making your way through all 21 chapters successfully while getting invested in this group of nobodies trying to make their way through a cruel and harsh world of bloodshed and war. I hope you enjoy!

Screenshots

More games like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.