PLATFORM: SWITCH | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Shaking things up for the latest entry in the long-running series, Echoes of Wisdom hands the starring role to Princess Zelda herself for the very first time. After being rescued by Link at the start of the game, a rift opens and Link disappears into it, but Zelda manages to escape and returns to her home at Hyrule Castle. But similar rifts are opening all over the land, and countless innocent people have been taken away. Now, accused by her own father of being responsible for what’s going on and thrown into jail to await execution (bloody hell, Nintendo! Bit harsh!), Zelda has to prove her innocence, uncover the truth behind what’s happening, and save the people of Hyrule.
At first glance it might seem that Echoes is a mere spinoff title, with its childlike visuals and “new” protagonist, but make no mistake, this is very much a fully-fledged game in its own right. Following in the footsteps of 2019’s Link’s Awakening remake, this toybox-like version of Hyrule is incredibly pleasing to look at and contains many landmarks and layouts that will be familiar to long-term fans, and most pleasingly of all, dungeons make their long-awaited return! This makes Echoes feel very much like a classic Zelda game, giving off the sort of old-school vibe that has been missing from the last couple of major entries in the series. With a map eight times larger than Link’s Awakening, there are plenty of intriguing things to see and characters to meet, with countless optional areas that – in true Zelda style – reward inquisitive adventurers with useful items and tools that will prove massively beneficial to your quest.
By using a a magical rod given to her by her fairy companion, Tri, Zelda can learn how to produce “echoes” of countless objects simply by walking up to any shimmering object. Once learned, echoes can be reproduced at the press of a button and used to help solve puzzles. An early example comes from Zelda’s attempt to break out of jail, where she learns how to create the echo of a simple table before using it to clamber over a wall. The amount of echoes you can produce at any one time is fairly limited at first, but as Tri’s power increases so does Zelda’s ability to create more echoes, allowing for increasingly complex puzzles as the game progresses. Your list of available echoes will grow very quickly, giving you an almost bewildering amount of toys to play with – and it’s not just inanimate objects that you can summon, as you also learn echoes of every type of enemy that you defeat.
The enemy echoes come in very handy, as although Zelda does gain the ability to use a sword early in the game, its use is limited by a gauge that depletes rapidly, meaning she’s nowhere near as adept at swordfighting as Link. While you can certainly use the sword in combat, it’s often a better idea to summon echoes of monsters to do the fighting for you, saving your sword gauge for when you really need it. Letting something else take care of the combat while you stay out of trouble feels a bit strange at first, but becomes more enjoyable after getting a few stronger echoes under your belt and spending a bit of time mastering the movement and targeting controls. The menu system for selecting the echo you want to produce could be a bit more friendly – you amass such a huge list that scrolling through it quickly becomes cumbersome – but it’s a small price to pay for a mechanic that adds a new dimension to the usual Zelda formula in such a fun way. There are other new mechanics too, like Tri’s ability to “bind” to objects that Zelda can then either move around or follow their movements, adding further options for solving the many dungeons’ puzzles.
Echoes of Wisdom blends elements of both old-school and modern-era Zelda and brings a host of new ideas to the table at the same time, resulting in something that feels fresh and exciting, even for a series that’s almost 40 years old. The focus on exploration and finding items that can help you to navigate your way through puzzle-filled dungeons will please those with a fondness for the pre-Breath of the Wild era, while the emphasis on using your creativity (there are always multiple solutions to any given problem) means that fans of the more recent Switch titles are still well catered for. Without question, Echoes of Wisdom is very much a top tier Zelda game!
