Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia releases in just a few weeks and will serve as, presumably, one of Nintendo’s last big-name 3DS exclusives. As with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the company is supporting it with a plethora of downloadable content, but the pricing of the extras could raise some eyebrows.
Available alongside the game on May 19, the Fire Emblem Echoes season pass will cost you an extra $45 for 22 pieces of content, which Nintendo pointed out in a press release is a savings of 30 percent compared to the downloadable content packs’ individual prices. That’s still $5 more than the cost of the standard Fire Emblem Echoes game, however, and some of the season pass’ contents remains a mystery.
The first downloadable content pack, the “Fledgling Warriors” pack, arrives on May 19 and offers a new dungeon called The Astral Temple and two new maps, and will set you back $8. The second and third packs, “Undaunted Heroes” and “Lost Altars,” both release a week later on May 25 and offer new dungeons, with the latter also offering “the power to upgrade characters to exclusive classes that don’t appear in the main game. They’ll cost $10 and $15, respectively.
On June 1, players can purchase the “Rise of the Deliverance” pack for $13, which contains a prologue detailing the “previously untold history of Valentia,” as well as extra challenging maps and the ability to control characters that aren’t available in the main game. The final paid downloadable pack doesn’t have a name or release date, but it will cost another $6 when it releases and contains two pieces of content.
While Nintendo is quick to point out that other downloadable content for Fire Emblem Echoes will be free, and you can also use your Amiibo figures to get extra bonuses in the game, we’d advise anyone considering buying the game to wait until they’ve played it before purchasing such a pricey bunch of extras.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is out on May 19. A $60 limited edition is also available, offering extra music and a pin set.
