They just had to say "The binding weakens" and then follow that up immediately with a closeup of the red-haired side of the protag's face. If they hadn't established the new continent, the recycled Einherjar concept, or a Fell Dragon rather than a Demon Dragon beforehand; they might have had me there. I also realized this is the first mainline game to actually feature both Marth and Roy, and the first localized mainline game to feature Jugdral lords in an official capacity (Get back in your corner, Awakening Einherjar! You do not count, even if you inspired this. Same with amiibo).
So......we finally have our FE17, our next mainline game, Fire Emblem Engage. ......Not what I was expecting, to say the least. I avoided all leaks, so the first thing I thought when I saw our new protag was, "Why does he look like Alphonse and Roy fusion danced?" Anyways I did enjoy the FE Persona aspect of TMS, so I may pick this one up. Maybe. I'm starting to hate that my old FE bias is showing.
In light of this reveal, I will make a prediction/hope: A bit down the line, between now and the game's release, there will be a Fire Emblem Direct. In no particular order, they will give us the lowdown on Engage, but they will also reveal an Echoes remake slated for say, summer or fall 2023 (I still hold out hope for FE6 remake). If they were able to work on Shadows of Valentia and Three Houses at the same time, then this is very much possible. Yes I know Koei Tecmo co-developed 3H, but that came out two years after SoV. If this direct does not happen before Engage launches... then I suppose I'll have to give up hope on FE6 Echoes for another 3 years...*sigh* just when I thought the stars were perfectly lined up (the set precedent of SoV director's old statement saying he wanted to make it next, the Roy and Lilina scale figures, FE6 turning 20 this year. It was all coming together...).
Not much to say about the rest of the direct. But oh man, GameXplain and Arlo are gonna (or already have) go apeshit over Pikmin 4. Definitely gonna check out their reactions.