Played on Nintendo Switch | Original Release Date: 26 September 2024 | Review Date: 13 February 2025

OVERVIEW

Zelda - finally Zelda. Our princess is shining, slashing, and saving Hyrule - finally. I know I’m not the first one to wonder why Link is our hero in a legend that is about Zelda, but here we are 24 years into the 21st century and our heroine is finally getting her time to shine. But how does she live up to the hype? How does she finally dawn the mantel of the main character in her own quest to save Hyrule and Link? Well, pretty fabulously actually. But I can’t help but think that our famous princess was done rotten by all her subjects. I mean, when was the last time Queen Camilla or Princess Kate were ever mistaken for their royalty because they wore a hoodie? (But in fairness, when did they last wear a hoodie?) So for all the bluster about our strong, capable, yet tragically sidelined princesses time to shine, does she? Abso-fucking-lutely. Bow down to her highness and get ready to echo across Hyrule.

STORY

Echos of Wisdom, is a literal fracture in the Zelda timeline, traditional gameplay, and the actual character you play as. Nintendo loves to create titles for the Zelda franchise that speak to more than just the game itself. Breath of the Wild - a breath of fresh air for Zelda gameplay. Tears of the Kingdom, tied so closely to the story and the collective tears shed with how the story plays out, and Echos of Wisdom - a title directly tied to the gameplay mechanics, but also recognizing the game is an echo of a beloved franchise. But does the game experience reverberate with the power of an echo in the Grand Canyon, or does it peter out into the expanse to never be heard from again, again, again….(sorry, I couldn’t help myself).

Let’s start from the beginning. Or at least from the end of the Link to the Past game/timeline. We’re thrown into the familiar shoes of our typical hero Link. He’s making his way through the final part of the castle to face off against the swine-form of Ganon. Zelda is trapped in a crystal waiting to be saved - yet again. But wait….what is this…..a fracture opens up and devours Ganon, Link, and many of the inhabitants of Hyrule into a purple-neon abyss. Just as we think all hope is lost, Link fires one final arrow at the crystal prison Zelda is trapped in, causing it to crack, and then fades into the fracture. All is lost….

And here is where our story, and finally our chance to play as the Princess Zelda kicks off. The player takes the helm of Zelda by breaking her out of the crystal prism, where she finds herself alone and instantly running for her life trying to avoid the growing fracture consuming all of Hyrule. As she emerges from the castle she finds herself on the precipice of a mountain, the fracture has stopped and she is alone surveying her land, and thrust into the role of finally, being the heroine of Hyrule. But Zelda was done a little dirty. God forbid they give her a sword and shield. No, dear Hylians, she has no weapon, she finds out the King (her dear papa) has fallen victim to the fracture, and evil imposters blame Zelda for all the fractures in the land and she is thrown in prison by the very guards once assigned to protect her.

Luckily, a spirit guide - Tri - finds their way to our shackled Princess and informs her that, together, they’ll unite to save Hyrule and all of Tri’s spirit friends. Using their magic, Tri creates the Staff of Wisdom which allows Zelda the ability to copy items, enemies, and lots of surprises throughout the land, and create echoes of these things to traverse the world, solve puzzles, and battle enemies. This is the point where Echo of Wisdom shakes up the traditional hack-and-slash gameplay we’re all used to, and asks the player to completely change their approach to exploration, combat, and ultimately saving Link and the people of Hyrule. Overall, it works - overall. There are echos of brilliance with the game that made my 30-hour play through enjoyable, but there are also echos of repetition that stand in the way of this being the best first outing for our often maligned Princess. But hear me out, this is an awesome Zelda title that is up there with the best and continues the streak of breaking the mold of what we think we want from a Zelda experience, by giving us a lot of what we love, but uniquely and excitingly to play a 2D adventure.

GAMEPLAY

Back to the gameplay. The core focus of the game is using the Wand of Echos to copy abilities of defeated enemies or certain items and use them to traverse the land or fight battles. One of the first echos you discover is a bed. For Zelda aficionados think of the bed we found Link sleeping in at the start of previous adventures. The bed becomes Zelda’s way of getting over gaps in the environment or replenishing her hearts if she decides to lie down in it. She soon discovers pottery, floating tiles, and even enemies that aid in her quest to confront other enemies through Hyrule. Throughout my play-through I found myself excited by discovering a new echo and figuring out how it would aid me along my journey. There are 127 echos throughout the game, but not all echos are created equal. Some you might use once and others you might use over and over again. I found myself gravitating back to echos I like when battling enemies and other echos for traversal because they made sense to how I approach the gameplay. What this means is you might spend your whole play through using a handful of echos you like, and only using a different one when the game effectively ‘makes’ you for some reason or another. I find this both a strength and a weakness of the game. On one hand, the game gives loads of different options to suit different styles and approaches. But on the other hand, I can’t help but think, if they limited the echos a bit more I might’ve explored using more of them - but I guess that’s on me and not a knock at the overall design. Options are great, but I get decision paralysis if I have to choose between too many things. And the UI designers didn’t help us out with how they made us choose the echos we discovered.

The crossbar is back, the same UI interface from Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. But not in a good way. To produce an echo, you call up the menu with the “up” button on the left joycon. You keep it pressed and then use the right analog stick to cycle through the options. At first, when you only have 10 to 15 echos it’s fine. But once you progress further into the game you can spend too much time looking for the echo you want. There are ‘sorting’ options, but they only reinforce using recently learned or most used echos. There is a way to have a broader selection screen of echos when you press the ‘-‘ button, but this is tied to the map and smoothie screen, so there is still searching you have to do. I didn’t like this option as it felt more disruptive to gameplay flow than simply calling up the crossbar option. All of this is a minor complaint, but one that needs to be recognised.

And why this is a minor complaint is the game isn’t asking you to have a frenetic style of play. It wants you to approach things at a slower or more thoughtful pace. It delights in throwing you into different battle situations and lets you discover fun ways to use the echos you’ve collected along the way. “What will this ping pong armadillo do to a group of Bokoblins? Let’s see?” Or “How could this water block help me reach new heights? Let’s find out.” By giving the player a chance to effectively pause the action on screen, look through the various echos you have, and consider how to approach things, we discover the land of Hyrule can be explored at a slower, yet very satisfying pace. Once I shifted my mindset to the pacing of play I found my groove with Echos of Wisdom and rather enjoyed a more stoic approach to the gameplay.

One familiar aspect of the franchise that has returned is the dungeons! And thank the Goddesses they are back! I love a good Zelda dungeon. There’s nothing like entering one for the first time and the anticipation of what secrets and challenges the player will be asked to discover and overcome. And Echos doesn’t disappoint. Each dungeon has its unique theme or elemental challenge to puzzle through. There are water areas, frozen areas, desert areas, and more. But unlike Zelda’s of the past, you’re not required to find a special item and use it to defeat the final boss of the dungeon. You will find unique echos within dungeons, and they can be used to help defeat the boss or solve puzzles, but it isn’t the main focus. I really enjoyed this aspect of the game. It’s another example of giving the player aspects of the franchise we love but not falling victim to its history. The challenge and length of the dungeons are good. Nothing is too hard or obtuse and you’ll most likely get through the dungeons without dying, but they scratch the itch of classic Zelda after years of playing BotW and TotK.

Another evolution of EoW to the 2D franchise is the introduction of a more robust side quests structure. The side quests aren’t anything overall time-consuming or difficult to navigate, but they allow for a more dynamic experience. The classic request to corral the cuckoos returns as well as helping a lost child escape from being trapped in a rock or finding a catsuit to talk to missing cats - one of the most adorable side quests of any game I’ve come across. (Can’t wait to see this version of Zelda at cosplay conventions!). Not all the side quests are created equal, but they allow for a more vibrant and “lived-in” Hyrule we don’t typically get from a 2D Zelda. Some of the quests will reward you with helpful items for upgrading weapons, and other side quests will give you rupees or smoothie ingredients - all of which are helpful but not essential to progressing the game or leveling up. They simply create a way to engage with the world and expand your time in Hyrule - which is fine.

Another similar troupe of Zelda’s past is the dual world aspect tied directly to the gameplay and story. The fractures throughout Hyrule are this game’s version of the light and dark world introduced in a Link to the Past or the Depths from Tears of the Kingdom. But in this version of Hyrule, the fractures have swallowed up innocent citizens of Hyrule and made them ill or even evil versions of themselves. As Zelda and Tri make their way across the land they come across different areas that have been overcome by the fracture. These can be small tiny fractures that are quick and easy to get rid of, or they can be more challenging fractures that require a lot of thought to puzzle through. The recurring theme of the fractures is that Tri’s friends are trapped by the evil within them. And together with Zelda, you’ll be asked to jump into the fracture and rescue Tri’s them. Once all of Tri’s friends have been found they can use their collective power to restore the damaged area of Hyrule to its former glory and release the Hylians who feel victim to the fracture, back to their normal state of being. Overall I enjoyed the challenge the fractures presented. I liked how they interconnected the story of the game and served a purpose. Like the shrines in BotW or TofK, some of the fractures were more memorable than others, but you always completed one that supported gameplay in other ways, so in that sense, they didn’t feel like needless distractions or filler content. And the more fractures you clear I’d directly connected to levelling up Tri. Allowing for more echos to be created, or access to more powerful echos. You also receive the material you can use to upgrade the power for Zelda to transform into a Link Echo and use his classic sword, shield, and bow for combat.

The designers found a way to still allow the player to wield a sword and shield but with limitations. Throughout the game, you’ll discover and come across possessed versions of Link, who seems to be running around the fractures causing havoc. You’ll be forced to battle him and when you do you’ll earn the power of his sword, shield, bow, and other classic fighting items. You can then use them throughout the game to fight off enemies or even jump higher to reach certain locations. It’s kind of like an instant ‘easy’ mode for when you are tired of using echos or simply just want to whale on a dungeon boss to defeat it. I have mixed feelings about this inclusion. On one hand, it gives you more options, but on the other hand, it’s almost as if the developers were too afraid to simply let the power of the echos drive the game completely. At the end of the day, it’s your choice to use them or not, but I can’t help but think what would’ve happened if we just didn’t have access to these abilities. Again, not a major issue or complaint and, if I’m really honest, an option I used more often than not.

GRAPHICS

If you played Links’s Awakening remake, you’ll recognize the aesthetic right away. Super cute, charming toyetic character models create the world. They are shiny and vibrant and have the right amount of detail to bring the world to life. It’s really sweet seeing all the beloved races from the different versions Hyrule but in their 2D form. The designers blend old and new character models in a way that pays reverence to previous game versions of the characters while including the modern versions of them as well. One great example of this is the fish race. There are characters directly inspired by the Link to the Past and characters from Breath of the Wild. And in a cheeky nod - these two versions of aquatic citizens find themselves in a minor faction war that Zelda must help heal. The characters work in their own right in this game and still feel connected to the overall Zelda universe.

However, the Switch does a disservice to the game overall. It really struggles to keep a smooth gameplay experience. I don’t know how a game like Breath of the Wild can (mostly) run without issue - a game that is asking way more of the hardware than Echos of Wisdom. Yet the game struggles, chugging along and slowing down to points that remind me of playing an NES game when there are too many characters on the screen. Sure we put up with it, but c’mon, put the polish on it and make it smooth. (Major caveat - I’m not a developer and I have no idea what I’m talking about - so do with my opinion, what you will.) I should also mention, that I’m not typically bothered by chasing frames per second. Sure I notice it when it dips, but it never gets in the way of the gameplay or completely takes me out of the experience. Your mileage may vary, but just to flag it, I think is important.

MUSIC

The music in this game is fantastic. Hajime Wakai and his team created music fitting for Zelda’s first outing as a playable character. Echos of Wisdom music is a great mix of tracks that include remixes of the Overworld theme from previous games, to all new pieces that create atmosphere and set the tone for each region. But even though there are call backs to other Zelda game’s music, the composing team manages to make the music feel fresh and unique to this title. They pulled on music from the whole of the Zelda library, which pay homage to both the 2D and 3D lineage at the same time. Those familiar with the regional themes from Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, will instantly recognise the music of Gerudo Desert or the Goron Village. These callbacks and references serve to connect the various versions of Hyrule so things feel familiar yet different. Where the music really shines for me is in the dungeons. My favourite being The Faron Woods Temple followed closely by the Jabul Ruins temple. Both very different, but still part of the same world. I also have to mention the Rift location music, it’s very sparse yet creepy and sets the right tone. There is also a cool 8-bit throw back to a fun encounter that had me smiling during the battle. The only place where I think they got it wrong, was the sound when you turn into sword welding Link. I’m not sure why they made the decision to use this bit of music, but it’s really jarring and kind of annoying, but this is a minor gripe as you’re in and out of this mode pretty quickly. The music is a real standout for this game and one I find myself listening to while working, it’s great background music and serves to elevate the overall gaming experience.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Echos of Wisdom. It’s an epic adventure in its own right, and yet scratches the itch for a smaller, classic Zelda adventure but for the modern times. The development team had a great understanding of what makes 2D Zelda beloved by fans since it was first released back in 1986 for the Famicom. Yet they weren’t held back by tradition and allowed themselves to break free from the Link that binds all Hylian adventure together, and finally, let our heroine shine and echo throughout the land! Don’t sleep on this one, unless it’s the bed echo and you’re trying to get some more hearts between battles, then sleep away.

OUT OF SYNC GAMING REVIEW SCORE | 8 out of 10

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The Legend of Zelda: Echos of Wisdom Review