Once known for following a tried and true formula, the Legend of Zelda series has been taking big risks and big swings in recent years. From the open world expanse of Breath of the Wild to the building and crafting focus of Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo have been using the series to try some new things, while sprinkling them with the familiar to keep old fans of the series happy. As someone who has been playing these games my whole life, and embracing every new change, there was one risk I never thought Nintendo would take – a Zelda game about Zelda. But here we are, and with Echoes of Wisdom, we have a game that takes a whole lot of risks, including the scariest risk of all with its protagonist, and it’s clear that this Zelda game with Zelda the protagonist is leaps and bounds above the ‘excuse meeeee princess’ days of the last game that dared to tread this path.
In many ways, Echoes of Wisdom feels like the perfect next step after Tears of the Kingdom. It’s much smaller in scale, more in keeping with the length of its’ visual twin – the 2019 remake of Link’s Awakening – but large in concept. Fans of the series will recognise many familiar elements – perhaps more than in recent games – but with the roles of protagonist and damsel in distress reversed, there’s an undeniable shift in the energy of the whole affair.
Because with a new protagonist comes a new host of abilities. Link, referred to in this game largely as ‘the swordfighter’, ‘the hero’, and a number of other generic terms he’s come to be known by, is in many ways beholden to the formula of the past. When playing Tears of the Kingdom, my instinct was always to use the skills Link is best known for – he slashes, he rolls, he shoots things with his bow, sometimes he mixes things up with a hookshot or a bomb. Crafting and using a set of different tools felt exciting, but it almost felt wrong. But Zelda? Zelda can do anything. When Zelda is given a wand by ‘Tri’, a magical friend from a different realm, and becomes able to create ‘echoes’ of things she discovers in the world, it feels natural for her.
There’s a period of adjustment where it does feel a little strange to be playing a Zelda game, and tackling what are – for the most part – tried and true scenarios of the series. You’re running across a field, and enemies are attacking, and the first instinct is to strike them with your sword – but you can’t, you remember. You’re Zelda. Zelda is for all intents and purposes, a ranged fighter – a mage, really – who summons others to fight her battles for her, because her talents like in knowing how to direct her allies. Once defeated in battle for the first time, enemies will leave their echo behind to be collected and then they can be called upon at will. Each enemy, like various objects in the world, will have its own cost. You may, for example, be able to summon three of a weaker enemy at a time, but only one of a stronger variant. Battle planning, therefore, then becomes about figuring out what the best tactic is for taking on a given enemy, but about setting about allies to do it for you, and then moving to the side and letting it play out.
Most of the time, anyway.
Along with echo creation, Zelda has the ability to take on a ‘swordfighter form’, one which essentially transforms her, for a short time, into a variation of Link. She has his tools at her disposal, his slightly higher jump, his slightly faster run – but only until her energy bar runs out. At first, I relied on this resource, because it allowed me to play Zelda games the way I knew how. But by making it a limited resource, the game forced me to fall back on solutions that revolved around echoes instead. In some scenarios, the swordfighter form is clearly the preferred way to tackle it – but there is always a way to take things on with echoes instead.
And that goes for everything. Puzzles, world traversal, fights – there’s an echo for everything, and it isn’t always the one you expect. An echo of an enemy you pick up on a whim because you happen to defeat it on your journey can become the handiest tool in your arsenal. For me, the biggest surprise was a spider, which I willingly (a huge deal, if you know me) summoned as one of my most frequently used echoes, because it has the ability to crawl up walls and take you to exciting parts of the map. You can also used objects like beds or tables to access higher areas, or move across gaps, and your options for this kind of traversal become more exciting and easier to wield as the game goes on – but some of the simplest things, those things you discover at the beginning, will still be some of your most used right up until the end.
While the way you’ll be solving puzzles and approach scenarios is new, much of the game does feel like well-trodden territory. Zelda, on her own hero’s journey, will traverse the lands many of us have traversed as link before. Hyrule Field, Eldin Volcano, Gerudo Desert, and Hebra Mountain – all of these, and many others, make an appearance. The land of Hyrule hasn’t really changed, it’s just the one exploring it who has, and that brings with it a beautiful new perspective that allows for viewing a world we all love through a new lens. It’s still populated by the same races as always – there are Gorons, Zoras, and Gerudos abound – but meeting them as Zelda allows you to meet them in a new way.
To talk too much about the story, even the parts that won’t come as much of a shock, would be to spoil what is a beautiful adventure to experience in real time. It’s a perfect blend of old and new, which is really the best way I can sum up Echoes of Wisdom in its entirety. It’s everything I expected it to be, along with some welcome surprises, and a coziness that only the Zelda games can provide. I love knowing what I’m going to get from a game, and knowing that there are also things I won’t expect – and trusting in the game to provide them. I’ve always trusted this series to provide that, and Echoes of Wisdom is no different. It challenges you to creatively solve puzzles, and fight battles, and to know that whatever scenario you walk into, the game wouldn’t have let you get there if it didn’t think you could handle it – even if you feel like you cheated your way there. Here, there’s no such thing.
I love that this was the first real game with Zelda as the protagonist, and I love the kind of protagonist she is. I love that this game knows its boundaries and its limits, and yet also makes you feel like the way you can approach it is limitless. I love Hyrule, and its inhabitants, and I love the way they’re presented in this incarnation. I hope this game is a sign that Nintendo is going to take more risks, particularly with this series, because every single one keeps paying off. This game, even in its moments of great frustration, brought me nothing but joy – and I hope its’ mark on the series is truly lasting.
