The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was first announced in the month of June of this year during a Nintendo Direct event. It had the same artstyle as “Link’s Awakening” with also similar gameplay style and the top-down view. It was released on the 26th of September on the Switch.
Familiar Story Elements But Not Quite
While there were some releases in the past where we could play as Zelda, those games weren’t in fact published or made by Nintendo, Echoes of Wisdom is practically the first game that is both made and published by Nintendo where we can play as the princess for a change.
Although the game follows the artstyle that the Link’s Awakening remake did, it does not have the deep story that Link’s Awakening had. Here, we were only presented with the setting of Hyrule being overrun by a malevolent force which is creating rifts across the land similar to how there were holes that lead to the depths in Tears of the Kingdom.
Zelda gets wrongly accused of creating these rifts which have turned her father and Link into statues along with some of the people Hyrule. She then gets put in a cell from where we start our journey with her.
Long time fans of the franchise will be able to spot the similarities in dialog of this game and from the previous titles such as the moment when Zelda gets accused of creating these rifts, it was similar to how Link was accused in “A Link To The Past”. Zelda also gets accompanied by Tri, similar to how Link had Navi with him from “Ocarina of Time”.
Zelda’s Powers And Capabilities
While with Link, Nintendo has explored and innovated the various ways with Link’s way of fighting, Nintendo is starting off small with giving Zelda a scepter and the ability to conjure objects as she comes across enemies throughout Hyrule.
Zelda generally doesn’t fight herself, instead summoning warriors that fight for her, these summons have a cost where with each summon the meter gets lower but at the limit the first summoned object or warrior gets removed to summon the newest one.
Zelda can also summon a line of blades that can slice and hit multiple enemies through, she can hurl rocks at enemies repeatedly but by far her most powerful skill is the ability to turn into the “Sword fighter” form temporarily, she takes the form of link and is able to attack enemies with the scepter also turning into a sword, giving her the moves Link had in “Link’s Awakening”.
A Treasure Trove Of Puzzles
There is no shortage of the number of puzzles that are present in Echoes of Wisdom and how almost all of them require some level of lateral thinking. With Tears of the kingdom, players were left with figuring out what to build to solve the problem in front of them, creating a device or a hodgepodge of elements that in the end gets the job done. In Echoes of Wisdom however, Zelda gets a preset of things she can conjure thus giving the player a sense of trying to find the right pieces as one would when trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle.
There will never be a moment where a player will struggle with the puzzles but at the same time they aren’t too simple to complete and thus with each puzzle completed the player feels more and more satisfied. What is another brilliant piece of gameplay is the masterclass of platforming shown in this game, again incorporating the ability to conjure various objects is the key to solving these platforming puzzles that lead to dungeons, chests and items.
A Worthy Game To Close Out The Switch’s LifeCycle
It was clear that the switch wasn’t meant to handle some of the ambitious titles Nintendo themselves released, Tears of the kingdom is a clear example of that. It seems fitting to send off the Switch with a brilliant, relaxing and ultimately satisfying puzzle platformer like Echoes of Wisdom. The game is a must have for any Zelda fan that wants to play as Zelda and wants to save Hyrule instead of Link for a change.
While there were some expectations that Nintendo might try something new here, they have still managed to make a brilliant game without trying to step out of their boundaries to do so. It has the same story elements as any of the last games had but its gameplay systems is what will make it a memorable experience for everyone.