The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Review

For the unfamiliar, seeing The Legend of Zelda for the first time many people might think that Link is actually Zelda. With dozens of games in the series now, there are very few games with the name “Link” in the title. Instead, the legend has always been of Zelda and how Link gets roped into saving her so we can’t blame the ignorant.

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The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom flips the formula on its head as Princess Zelda sets off to save the Kingdom of Hyrule instead of Link. Believe it or not but this sort of thing could have easily happened in the past but Link has somehow always managed to avoid the danger. This time, he wasn’t so lucky. After being consumed by a rift and leaving Zelda behind with no clue what’s going on, she now has to piece together the mystery surrounding Link’s disappearance while helping cure the land of these purple ruptures that have formed.

The story is quite simple and I didn’t expect anything more. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom plays into the series’ biggest strengths to deliver an adventure that feels familiar while at the same time refreshing. Zelda treks across Hyrule to the usual outposts to help the usual Gorons and Zora people while gathering Rupees to buy new stuff, trapping fairies in a bottle, fighting off Moblins and solving puzzles across vast dungeons.

But where the game brings the new is in the form of a magical floating globe thing called Tri and its Rod. This Rod can learn echoes and using Tri’s powers, Zelda can create these echoes anywhere and at any time. Is this Tears of the Kingdom levels of customization? Not so much but it is enough to make The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom incredibly fun.

The biggest sell here is that The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom will likely play out quite differently for each player. As I explored the kingdom, I found echoes that I used throughout the game. The order in which I found these echoes was all dependent on the quest direction I took first. So if you venture off the path or decide to take on a different quest, you’ll have different echoes to use as you progress the game.

This is important because Echoes are everything. They are monsters you can summon to help fight other monsters, furniture you can use to get over gaps and items you can place down to help solve puzzles. However, exploration is likely where they are the most helpful. Using them to reach higher ledges is all about learning what height is what object and using the best selection of echoes to build a makeshift pathway to your goal.

At first, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom can be restrictive with this system. You only have a few echoes for the first few hours of the game but after a while, you’ll have a few dozen to choose from and they are all incredibly fun to use. Of course, I found myself sticking to certain echoes over others. I am sure you will likely do the same. I loved the bats, even though they were useless and weak and times. The trampoline made jumping around fun and the Peahat was a powerful flying seed that just knocked around enemies.

I did feel like the echoes put me in a box. As much as the game pushed me to be creative with them, once I had a selection of favourites, I stuck with them and didn’t care what else I found. The Water Block, for example, is the most OP of all parkour echoes. You can place down literal blocks of water and swim through them. This meant I could place down four and later five and more blocks and make a tower in the sky where I could reach most locations.

But at the same time, the game doesn’t really care if you abuse the system. If there is a system there to abuse in the first place. It simply wants you to have fun even if this means using the same echoes for everything. So I spent most of my time in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom spamming bat spawns and placing down water blocks. And that’s okay because it didn’t take away from the game.

Bind is another ability Tri grants Zelda. This let me toss Tri forward and link it to the rod and Zelda. Essentially, this sticks her to objects and lets me move them around and even take on the motion of an object. So if I used Bind on a bird, for example, and followed its movement, I would fly around in the air with it. This was also helpful at times when I had to cross large areas. Also a key mechanic in puzzle solving.

Most of the time, echoes can solve everything so Bind wasn’t always top of my mind but the option to use any approach gives The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom its creative charm. The game’s excitement is only as good as your approach to whatever challenge you’re facing.

Even with the same echoes, the Kingdom of Hyrule is a pure joy to explore. The map is crammed full of little areas to venture to, dungeons to get through and side quests to take on. Granted, these side quests are straightforward but they do add life to the game’s world.

Then there’s the Still World which is accessed by Tri opening up a portal to the purple rupture in the area. These dungeons feature upside-down and back-to-front assets that have been brilliantly placed down to cause an obstacle course Zelda has to get through. Enemies knocked me off ledges while I scurried about to place down echoes in order to reach Tri’s trapped friends and free them. These areas offered quite a lot to depth to them especially when they were tied to a large rift. However, there are smaller optional rifts scattered around too.

Some areas are completely optional but they rewarded me with important materials such as Might Crystals and ingredients. Might Crystals let me enhance Zelda’s Swordfighter Form. This ability let me switch to a Link-like fighter to slash enemies up and use other weapons which I won’t spoil here. This form is what it would be like if Zelda was the green-capped hero with the powerful sword instead of Link. Because without Echoes, she’s pretty powerless.

This form is limited in its use though. Energy depletes over time and Zelda can renew this with blue crystals and by drinking certain smoothies. This form can be levelled up too using the Crystals which are found everywhere if you search hard enough. Sometimes I would simply pick up a rock and find one hidden underneath. It made me want to explore the map from top to bottom.

Speaking of which, crafting is also a big deal in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. By using ingredients, I was also able to mix up stuff to make a drink. Granted, the depth of this system isn’t as robust as Tears of the Kingdom with only 16 ingredients but the mix and matching of items to make cool recipes was a fun mechanic.

I was often reminded of A Link Between Worlds while playing The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Not only does the rift mechanic feel similar but the game’s world and need to go everywhere felt the same. I wanted to explore every dungeon and climb every hill. The echoes made this all possible. There were very few times when I was limited to where I could go.

If this happened, I simply returned after upgrading Tri’s ability to make more echoes. After hours of exploring and enjoying the world, I felt as if The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was a well-packaged adventure. It wasn’t as large as Tears of the Kingdom and that’s okay. The size suits the scale of the story here and there’s a lot of of charm to enjoy which has been poured into every system.

I did struggle with some performance issues on the Switch, however. The game’s frame rate does drop at times. This is noticeable in outdoor areas with lots of detail. The same issue was found in Links Awakening. Given the similar engine and art style, I guess there’s just a hardware limitation here. But it didn’t take away from the experience at all.

I could say that The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is likely one of my favourite Zelda games. Mainly because it tries something new and it works. Zelda being the star of the show here adds more than just a Princess to the cover of the game. She forced me to adapt to a new Hyrule where she wasn’t all powerful and able. Her inexperience isn’t seen as a weakness but instead, as an opportunity to grow the game into a fresh new direction and these mechanics all add enjoyment to the adventure.

Echoes of Wisdom also doesn’t want to be a game made for a certain demographic because of its female lead. Unlike Princess Peach Showtime! which felt like a game made for a younger audience, this Zelda adventure is whimsical at times and at other times, grown up. It fits into the series perfectly and I think you’ll find a lot of enjoyment here. It is an adventure you’ll likely binge through and return much later for a few more playthroughs.

This The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom review is based on a code sent to us by Nintendo. The game is available on 26 September exclusively on Nintendo Switch. You can pick up a physical copy of the game for R1,199.