The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom review: Reverberations of courage

Zelda finally takes the role of the main protagonist in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, a welcome shake-up to the series' formula.

Nintendo surprised fans with the announcement of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom during the June 2024 Nintendo Direct presentation. The new entry into the Zelda franchise brings together the best parts of the classic top-down game style with gameplay mechanics and overworld design from modern titles like Breath of the Wild and last year's Tears of the Kingdom.

Tears in the Kingdom

The game starts off with the player controlling Link on a somewhat familiar mission to save Princess Zelda who is locked away in a crystal by Ganon in his pig form. After defeating Ganon, a rift opens up, swallowing Link, but he was able to shoot an arrow that freed Zelda before disappearing.

Literal tears have appeared all over the Kingdom of Hyrule, ripping apart families, villages, and creating a mess fit for a king. As Zelda returns to Hyrule Castle, she arrives just in time to watch her father, the King of Hyrule be swallowed up into the nothingness. With the king and Link incapacitated, Zelda is tasked with saving Hyrule.

Making matters worse, evil versions of the king, General Wright and Minister Lefte, appear and order Zelda arrested for being the source of the rifts. Even the soldiers arresting Zelda remain skeptical as they follow the dubious orders.

What ensues is an adventure unlike any in The Legend of Zelda franchise, pitting the titular character against an increasingly challenging world where she must prove herself to a scared populace while trying to save the world.

The Legend of Old Bed

Stuck in jail, the first playable sequence is a stealth mission that doubles as a tutorial where players are tasked with busting out of the heavily guarded Hyrule Castle. It's in that jail cell where Zelda meets Tri, an ethereal being with a love of triangles and the ability to heal rifts. Zelda is able to see and hear Tri, and is given the Tri Rod along with the power to summon Echoes.

Shortly after the introduction of Tri, Zelda gets down to the business of escaping. The first few Echoes learned are a Table, a Crate, and the ever-important Old Bed. I am not exaggerating when I say that I probably used hundreds of Old Bed Echoes during my playthrough of this game. Certain Echoes really shake up gameplay in a meaningful way, and being able to stack beds or create a makeshift bridge out of them frequently comes in handy. Spamming Sea Urchin Echoes got me out of a few sticky situations as well.

Battle chess or battle checkers?

the man with the briefcase on Cortex

Something that I noticed early on during my playthrough is that the Echo gameplay mechanic can look as intricate or simple as the player allows it to. Early on, it seems logical to try to attack enemies with an Echo of the enemy, but players will end up watching a stalemate play out in a somewhat boring fashion. This issue alleviated as I progressed, unlocking more and more Echoes that made the battle gameplay feel more like chess than checkers. I found myself a bit concerned with the Echo mechanic in the early part of the game.

Some enemy/Echo AI is not the most intelligent, which can lead to some silly moments early on. Sometimes emergent gameplay moments will just be born out of silly memeable events, and I think the various Echoes will give players all sorts of fun ways to play on the top-down open world.

Tri Hard

Zelda's new buddy Tri brings new Bind and Reverse Bond powers to the top-down gameplay formula. While these mechanics are similar to Ultrahand in Tears of the Kingdom, there is definitely a learning curve to the control scheme. The game does a good job of giving players opportunities to learn and experiment through some puzzles early on, but some players may find the practice of creating an Echo and Reverse Bonding to it to be a bit unwieldy at first.

A similar issue was raised by some Tears of the Kingdom players, but it's safe to say that the learning curve of all of Tri's powers in Echoes of Wisdom is still less steep than that of the gameplay mechanics introduced in the last two 3D Zelda games.

Players will also have a metered Sword Fighter Form that gives Zelda some of Link's abilities to fight with a sword, bomb, and bow. Juggling Sword Fighter Form with Echoes and Bind powers can become a bit overwhelming at times.

With so much stuff going on the screen I found Z-targetting suffered as a means of locking onto enemies because Zelda can target inanimate objects including Echoes. Luckily, players can call back all Echoes by hard pressing the ZR button when things get hairy.

Early in the game, players may be frustrated by the amount of gameplay systems to balance, but I fell into a bit of flow state by the back half of my time playing the game that made the mistakes I made along the way truly worth it. The inventory menu does become harder to navigate as you discover more Echoes, but that is mitigated by being able to sort by Type, Cost, Recently Used, Most Used, and Last Learned. 

Sometimes the game will troll players for selecting the wrong Echo leading to hilarious deaths like when I accidentally set a bridge of Old Beds on fire and plummeted to the depths below. Not all emergent gameplay moments that come out of Echoes of Wisdom will be professional highlights, but I do look forward to the series of Wile E. Coyote-style failings that will be posted to the Internet over the next few months.

Things do get extremely fun once players figure out their favorite Echoes and buff Tri's power level to allow for more summons. Grabbing enemies with Bind and holding them in from of your Echoes is just one example of how things really click as you progress through the game.

The Adventure of Zelda

After escaping Hyrule Castle, and obtaining a disguise to prevent being spotted, Zelda sets off on her adventure. Players will instantly notice some gameplay differences when comparing Link's traditional moveset to hers in that Zelda can't jump as high, she doesn't have any weapons, but she does do a cute twirl that can cut grass like a sword.

Zelda's lack of warrior skills informs the gameplay of Echoes of Wisdom and ends up being a key differentiator that makes the game stand out among other entries in the franchise. She is not a soldier or a swordsman, and she fights with dignity... and by throwing rocks at enemies when all else fails.

There are several times when players will see a stark contrast in playing a game as Zelda as opposed to Link, with Gerudo Desert really sticking out. Gone is the tired trope of Link having to dress up as a woman to be allowed into the village. Instead, Zelda is met with skepticism by many people. She is tasked with earning the trust of the Gerudo, and actions speak much louder than words or fashion choices.

Throughout The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, players will build up Zelda's reputation by sealing rifts and helping to repair the kingdom. This game is essentially her origin story and players build Zelda's legend with each repaired rift. Tri also levels up each time, allowing Zelda to summon more echoes.

Dungeons, Dekus, and Doh!

Dungeons are truly back in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Top-down Zelda dungeons with Treasure Chests, Keys, a Big Key, and all new puzzles that are enhanced by Tri's powers. Most dungeons feature a miniboss followed by a big bad. Every dungeon comes with a map that players can find, and the best possible quality of life update has to be the introduction of Waypoints.

Sure, Zelda games have had fast travel for a while, but where Echoes of Wisdom really won me over is the implementation of Waypoints inside of dungeons. Backtracking is a common pain point for some players out there, and being able to still enjoy the misdirection of a classic top-down Zelda dungeon with Waypoints is a major game changer for this series.

Tri's powers truly shine brightest in these revamped dungeons enhancing each puzzle with a whole new meta for players to figure out. Zelda speedrunners are going to come up with some hilarious solutions, but I really appreciated how stupid this game made me feel at times while I overcomplicated the situation. A good puzzle has that effect on people, and this game is teeming with puzzle experiences strewn throughout Hyrule. The most challenging puzzles truly stand out in dungeons.

The way Echoes of Wisdom uses the Still World is similar to the Depths and the Sky Islands of Tears of the Kingdom, but the Still World creates smaller sections of the overall map. Dungeons are all located in the Still World and many of them involve multiple entries and exits that truly mix up the gameplay experience. Having to navigate an overworld and dungeon creates even greater puzzle and problem-solving opportunities. Smaller rifts serve a similar function to Shrines in Breath of the Wild, but there are not as many out there. Repairing rifts with the help of Tri and their buddies will net players XP that can be spent upgrading your Sword, Bow, Bomb, or Swordsman Form Energy meter at Mr. Lueberry's.

The Still World is a perfect place for dungeons and an evolution of Zelda puzzles in that it features quite complex 3D platforming segments as well as challenging sidescrolling segments. I actually like a water level? In this economy?

Condé not nasty at all

Zelda meets countless characters throughout her journey through the Kingdom of Hyrule and many of them have their own songs. Standout music would have to be Stamp Guy, Condé, Business Scrub, and Kakariko Village. The overworld tune is also great as are the dungeon songs.

This is an adorable game at times. A game where you can talk to cats if you clear a specific sidequest. Each non-playable character (NPC) in this game features their own song, and a story that is more interesting than the usual Zelda fare. In the case of the Gerudos, Dohna and Seera's mother-daughter dynamic is an example of just how different this game is from past entries as it dives into stories of strong women and young girls still learning how to lead.

This was also true in the story of a young Goron chief named Darston, an insecure leader attempting to save his people but overthinking every next step. It was interesting to see Tri's understanding of human behavior evolve throughout the game, and that was abundantly clear in the time Zelda spent with Darston. Zelda and Tri's relationship feels a lot like Link and Navi's in Ocarina of Time, and seeing a less robotic NPC companion in this game was another highlight.

Which brings me to Condé. I love Condé. This beautiful abominable snowman is wonderful and I would do anything to make sure he is safe and happy. It's just nice to know that the Hebra Mountains have such a wonderful resident keeping things clean. Condé 2024.

Now we're playing with princess power

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a welcome shake-up for top-down entries in the series. The game interweaves sidescrolling 2D gameplay into top-down environments while introducing features from Breath of the Wild. Performance did have hitches when loading into a different village or around Hyrule Castle, but it is safe to say that is the Nintendo Switch hardware showing its age. Most of my gameplay experience was solid while fighting bosses, solving puzzles, and fabricating staircases out of Tables.

Instead of cooking food in Breath of the Wild, Zelda makes smoothies out of ingredients she comes across. Players can ride a horse in Echoes of Wisdom, which is quite enjoyable as the horses allow for Zelda to pick up coins and use Tri's powers while riding around. Zelda also has several Accessories available to her that can buff her swimming speed, increase the chance of hearts appearing, and other cool power-ups. There are pieces of hearts spread across Hyrule and the Still World, allowing for players to increase the amount of hearts in a similar fashion to the rest of the series. The game scratches the nostalgic itch of the days of gold NES cartridges while feeling new and unique.

My run through the game during this review period lasted a bit over 30 hours, but the game will take longer for the completionists out there. Each player will tell a different story with how they play, solve puzzles, the order in which they clear dungeons, and so much more that I can't talk about at risk of spoiling the story. Needless to say, long-time Zelda players will be smiling from ear to ear when they roll credits. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is full of wonderful surprises, engaging gameplay, and tons of stuff to do in the biggest top-down iteration of Hyrule yet.

This review is based on an early copy provided by the publisher. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom comes out on Nintendo Switch on September 26, 2024.

Review for
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
10
Pros

• Playing as Zelda
• Classic Dungeon design enhanced by the Still World
• Echoes and Bind make for cooler puzzles
• Outstanding music and sound design
• BOTW/TOTK influences are a welcome addition
• Condé

Cons

• Controls may be tough to learn at first