Fire Emblem Heroes is changing in big ways next month

Nintendo’s shaking up mobile role-playing game Fire Emblem Heroes in a ton of ways starting next month with the introduction of new battle features, rule sets and hardcore events to come.

The most exciting update coming in April is two new ways to battle. Defense — which requires clearing the map in a set number of turns — and additional enemy reinforcements will both become clear conditions starting next month. That should up the difficulty for Fire Emblem Heroes, making its level of challenge more in line with its console and handheld counterparts.

Fire Emblem Heroes will also add permadeath as part of a new in-game event. In classic Fire Emblem games, players can’t revive fallen allies, but it’s a feature that’s since been made optional with recent entries.

In Heroes, all allies are revived after battle by default; that makes sense, given that players often have to dole out some in-game currency to acquire them. But Nintendo promised that this mysterious future in-game event will “require tactical thinking,” unless players want to lose their favorite heroes for good.

In the lead-up to that, there are tweaks to the Arena mode coming that may help better prepare characters for this fight of mortal proportions. This multiplayer feature will have more intelligent matchmaking that takes into account a variety of factors when pitting players together, so that they can get better scores and fight fairer battles. That’s planned for later this spring.

Nintendo remains dedicated to filling out Fire Emblem Heroes, a mobile game that we’ve found to be the company’s most successful release for the medium thus far. It’s free-to-play, so now’s as good a time as any to dive in — just know that Heroes is changing around a lot in just a few weeks.