The gameplay is similar to previous Fire Emblem games, focusing on turn-based, tactical movement of units across a grid-based battlefield.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is a tactical role-playing game where players take the role of royal siblings Eirika and Ephraim during separate campaigns as they fight hostile forces invading their homeland, along with allies acquired on their journey.

A notable change from earlier games is that multiple options are available for class evolution: for instance, a Cavalier can evolve into either a Paladin or a Great Knight.

[6] When a unit falls in battle, they are subjected to permanent death, removing them from the rest of the campaign unless the player restarts the game from a previous save file.

[6][8] In addition to the single-player, the game includes a local multiplayer option where four players can take chosen units into the Link Arena.

The Stones were used to seal away the soul of the Demon King Fomortiis at the end of a conflict between humans and monsters over 800 years ago.

Taken by surprise, Renais is defeated and the two siblings are separated: Eirika escapes to the northern nation of Frelia with the king's general Seth, while Ephraim goes underground to mount a resistance against the Grado Empire to the south.

As Eirika seeks aid from the other nations and gathers allies, the land becomes plagued with undead monsters, a sign of Fomortiis's return.

When Vigarde died of illness months before, Lyon had feared his inability to rule Grado and became desperate to bring his father back.

Lyon sacrificed his nation's Sacred Stone to revive the Emperor's body, but inadvertently absorbed the fragment of the Demon King's shattered soul sealed within.

Once reunited, the siblings gather their forces and liberate Renais, retrieving its true Sacred Stone, which had been replaced by a decoy when Grado invaded.

This inadvertently supplies the final sacrifice that resurrects the true mastermind behind Grado's invasion of Magvel and the War of the Stones, the Demon King Fomortiis.

Eirika and Ephraim use the Sacred Stone of Rausten to seal the Demon King's soul, and then their forces destroy its body.

[15] The majority of the gameplay systems designed for Fire Emblem were carried over into The Sacred Stones, barring some minor additions.

[1] To promote its release, a special commercial was created for broadcast in September of that year: it involved a girl playing on a Game Boy Advance being drawn into the worlds of the Fire Emblem series.

[13][16] According to Nintendo Treehouse staff members Tim O'Leary and Alan Averill, The Sacred Stones was an easier game to localize for as it had less text content than its predecessor.

[26] The move from the first Western game to The Sacred Stones and Path of Radiance meant that any work on localizing The Binding Blade could not be managed.

[28] It was later re-released on the Wii U Virtual Console: it was released in Japan on August 6, 2014, the PAL regions on January 1, 2015, and in North America on June 18 the same year.

[34] IGN's Craig Harris called the storytelling "absolutely top-notch, if just a little wordy for comfort", praising the writing for making him care about his characters.

[9] GameSpot's Greg Kasavin said that The Sacred Stones had "a well-written, surprisingly sophisticated narrative featuring plenty of endearing heroes and villains".

[37] PALGN reviewer Mark Marrow said the story was a step above its predecessor, calling it "a beautiful narrative featuring plenty of action from villains and heroes, and even some comic relief in-between all of this".

[38] Matthew Foster of RPGamer, while noting the quality of the translation, said that the story was the game's weakest point due to its clichéd nature.

[10] RPGFan's Alan Knight called the plot "light and fairly easy-going", noting its eccentric characters eased players along.