The game is a collaboration between Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors franchise and Nintendo and Intelligent Systems's Fire Emblem series.

In addition to hack-and-slash combat, the game includes the ability to give tactical commands to units and the Weapon Triangle, which originated from the Fire Emblem series.

[2] While the royal twins of Aytolis, Rowan and Lianna spar with their friend Prince Darios of Gristonne, the kingdom is suddenly attacked by monsters.

[3] The game was co-developed by Koei Tecmo studios Omega Force and Team Ninja and Fire Emblem developers Intelligent Systems.

[4] The idea of the game came during the development of Hyrule Warriors Legends, as the touchscreen controls bore similarities to those of the Fire Emblem series.

[2] The game was announced in January 2017 as part of a Nintendo Direct broadcast dedicated to the Fire Emblem series,[3] although it had already been in development for around two years before this time.

[8][9] The game received praise for bringing a more nuanced, textured experience to the musou genre,[16] but drew criticism for its shallow take on traditional Fire Emblem mechanics and roster choice.