There is a schism in the Zelda community between the new and the old. People who enjoy the older style of games are frustrated at the mechanical freedom that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom afford players. But some people like that same thing about them, harkening back to the core fundamentals of the original Zelda game. And then there’s me. Squarely in the middle. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a game squarely for me. It bridges these two ideologies almost perfectly, and while there are some minor issues, it’s a scintillating experience. As it stands, Echoes of Wisdom is a stellar debut to finally see Zelda as a playable main character.
Echoes of Wisdom cheekily opens in a way you’d expect any Zelda game to. You might even feel like you’ve booted the wrong game at first. But there’s a twist here – as you begin the journey, you play the princess herself. Rifts open up throughout this version of Hyrule and swallow everything within. Through some story events I won’t elaborate on, Zelda meets Tri, is given a magical staff that can summon Echoes and sets off on an adventure to free Hyrule and discover the mystery behind these rifts and who’s creating them.
It’s a simple story, doing its own thing but adhering to a very typical Zelda formula. While there are few surprises here, I would’ve loved for the villainous presence to be more present. I adored Ganon in Tears of the Kingdom, so to see that aspect of the story be given a backseat feels like a step back. Regardless, the story is interesting enough that I was engaged from beginning to end, so I’d argue it’s about the journey rather than the destination. And no, you Zelda lore nuts, there’s not much here for you either. Echoes of Wisdom is solely in its own lane.
Tears of the Kingdom was a revelation for me. I loved how it took everything that made Breath of the Wild so unique but still incorporated aspects I was missing from traditional Zelda games. Echoes of Wisdom continues that trend. It does strong work in bringing together the classic aspects of Zelda – think dungeons, specific items and great boss battles – with the lateral thinking approach that the abilities in the more recent Zelda games had. As Zelda continues to evolve, it becomes the best situation for both worlds. Echoes of Wisdom feels like the best version of that design philosophy.
Echoes of Wisdom is similarly structured to previous Zelda games – sending Zelda to different corners of the map to close the rifts causing such a commotion. It’s a tried-and-true formula, and Echoes of Wisdom offers similar freedom in deciding when you’ll complete each part of the story. However, clever design means that the idea of “items” has been changed. You’ll still find useful things during each story beat, but they’re often tied to the new Echoes system.
As you’d expect, Echoes really separate Echoes of Wisdom from other games. Zelda’s staff can create them, and they can take the form of any object, enemy or certain elements that Zelda has encountered. Each item has a cost; if you exceed that limit, the first item you created will disappear. Levelling up Tri through main or side quests can grant Tri more energy OR reduce the cost of certain Echoes to summon. It’s an elegantly designed system that doles out abilities to the player at an appropriate pace, and, more importantly, you won’t feel too overpowered too early.
That being said, the game does frontload you with many Echoes. Before my second dungeon, I had around fifty or so, and you very quickly became acquainted with the ones that best suit my preferences or playstyle. Each area you explore after, as part of the story, will often net you ten or so more Echoes, usually with a specific use in that dungeon or against that boss. Depending on when you discover other Echoes, the difficulty of each dungeon may fluctuate, as the Echoes reward player creativity and lateral thinking similarly to Tears of the Kingdom.
Like Tears, if you think of doing it in Echoes of Wisdom, you probably can. However, there are some moments where Echoes feels a bit limited compared to Tears. For example, hanging a platform over a torch so you can light it in rainy weather won’t work. But most other ways you can think about using your Echoes will. That being said, there are over a hundred Echoes, and it can be tedious sifting through them all to find the one you want early on. But as you play the game more and the game learns which ones you use, it becomes less of an issue. Still, hiding your Echoes from the quick select (or maybe even mark favourites) would’ve worked wonders here.
Zelda has other powers that round out her already robust selection of Echoes. She can use Tri to bind herself to an object so that it mirrors her movement or reverse that bind so she mirrors the object’s movement. If she binds to a bird and then mirrors her movement, Zelda will fly in the same way the bird does. It’s a simpler version of Ultrahand than the previous game, but it provides another tool for players to think outside the box when solving the puzzles thrown at them.
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And finally, Zelda also has access to a Swordfighter form. Essentially tied to what would be a magic meter in any other game, it allows Zelda to transform into a Link lookalike and use his sword to do better damage against enemies. It’s a form that’s expanded on early on in the adventure, especially to progress through some of the dungeons, but during combat, it does feel like a bit of a crutch. I used it less and less as time went by, as I felt it was too easy, but it is a pretty clever optional way to remove some challenge from the game’s harder battles without forcing a player to play on an easier mode.
But the Echoes more than give Zelda enough combat ability if you want to use something other than Swordfighter as a crutch. Early on, I would summon a basic sea urchin to spike an enemy to death instead of a sword. As I learned more, I could summon a ReDead to stun them. I could do the same as Tri became more powerful, but summon an additional Wolfos or Lizalfos to do the damage while the ReDead stunned. There’s an immense variety of enemies in Echoes of Wisdom, which means there’s an immense variety of ways for Zelda to fight, too. And, much like using Echoes to solve puzzles, there’s bound to be a combination that suits your playstyle.
Dungeons return, and while the theming leaves something to be desired, they are intricate and well-designed. Many of them took me at least forty minutes to complete, though the order in which you complete them may shorten or even extend that time if you go into them with fewer Echoes. Some Echoes are only found in dungeons and while they’ll usually be the key to clearing that dungeon or its boss, you can still emerge victorious if you’re creative enough with your Echoes. The system is just that robust.
The variety of dungeons is complemented by an even wider variety of bosses. Some are new and old, but all are a joy to battle with. There are many bosses, some familiar, some brand new, but all a joy to battle. They feel good in all the ways a classic Zelda boss should be. They feel big and bombastic and require more than just hitting them with your weapon to defeat them. The added layer of complexity that the Echoes bring to the table only seeks to improve these encounters, too. Overall the difficulty feels just right – even playing on standard mode, I died a few times on each as I was starting. There was even a boss I died on for almost an hour, but I acknowledge I was getting a bit too greedy with my hits.
Besides the main quest, Echoes of Wisdom has over fifty optional side quests. Given to you in a similar log manner to the previous two games, most of them are well worth your time. A majority of them will take Zelda to smaller rifts to close. This feels like Echoes’ closest thing to a shrine – requiring you to use all your Echoes in a savvy way to collect Tri’s friends and power him up. Others are mini-dungeons with their own (often unique) boss battles. The majority of the optional content is substantial, though some quests are easier to finish, sometimes even the moment you get them, too.
The more straightforward side quests usually have you moving an object from one place to another using Zelda’s power or an NPC asking you to see something and then summoning it as an Echo. Others are tried-and-true Zelda staples – minigames including races, time-based collection trials, and combat trials. They’re all fun little distractions and often reward upgrade materials for Swordfighter form or smoothie ingredients to craft potions and buffs with. Regardless of whether the quests are big or small, there’s no mistaking that Echoes of Wisdom is easily the largest 2D Zelda ever, with heaps to do at any given moment.
While Echoes of Wisdom borrows its art style from the 2019 remake of Link’s Awakening, there is so much new in Echoes of Wisdom that it’s hard to complain. The game is brimming with charm and whimsy, with the same plastic miniature toybox look to all the characters. It’s a cute art style that’s only complemented by the fantastically realised dungeons and environments, which all look great owing to some solid lighting and particle effects. But that, of course, comes with a cost.
As is the case with many late-generation Switch games, Echoes of Wisdom has a few performance issues that should be highlighted while they don’t bring the experience down. Whenever Zelda gets to a town filled with people or an area with a lot of grass blowing in the wind, the framerate drops significantly. The game spends most of its time running at 30fps, jumping into 60fps when indoors, but otherwise, it can be inconsistent. An option to lock the framerate would be less jarring. I am not affected by issues like these, but some people are, and it’s a shame, as Echoes of Wisdom is a very nice-looking game for the most part.
The original score is borrowed from older games, essentially, but made new. Each of the tracks that play when you’re exploring sounds great, and it’s adorable to see Zelda’s Lullaby epically transformed into a field exploration theme. Some of the original tracks, especially the ones that play while exploring Hebra and the dungeons, are especially nice and some of my favourites in the series.
All in all, Echoes of Wisdom feels like the best of both worlds. It’s got everything I adored about Zelda before the Renaissance it enjoyed with Breath of the Wild – some great dungeons to trawl, puzzles to solve and a familiar cast of friendly and not-so-friendly characters to interact with. But it blends all of that with all the freedom of creativity afforded to players in the most recent Zeldas in a way that hasn’t been done before.
