The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

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For a series titled the Legend of Zelda, we don’t typically see much of the titular princess. Our hero has always been Link, with Zelda working behind the scenes in one way or another. This has been especially prevalent in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, where we get to see a lot of Zelda’s work with the tech that aids Link. Slowly but surely, as we’ve gotten new entries with big changes in gameplay, we’ve gotten a little more Zelda, too. And she’s no longer just the princess to be saved.

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So, it’s kind of fitting, in a way, that with The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, we’re seeing a return to the original Zelda formula…but with Zelda herself on the hero’s journey. After Link saves Zelda from Ganon, he finds himself sucked into a rift, a type of strange, dark portal that has been appearing throughout Hyrule. Zelda manages to barely escape the clutches of the same rift and makes her way to the castle to tell her father what happened, but another rift suddenly opens and swallows her father and his Lefte and Wright hand advisors. Replaced by shadows of themselves, they order Zelda to be arrested.

However, all hope is not lost! With the help of a little sprite named Tri, Zelda becomes able to create echoes, images of objects that she can recreate at will. Armed with her new powers and the Mighty Sword, she begins a journey across Hyrule to repair the rifts and find her father.

Echoes of Wisdom, as previously mentioned, is not the vast, detailed open-world RPG of more recent adventures like Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom. It does borrow elements from those games, though. There is an open-world nature that allows you freedom to choose which areas you want to go to first and boasts a number of little caves and crevices to explore. I particularly liked the return of the graveyard where you could move the headstones and find secret passages, and a nice nod to pre-BotW adventures. It’s also not as big as its open-world cousins – it takes about 30 hours (or less) to beat the game and get your exploration on and off – but it definitely finds a good sweet spot.

Though, let’s be real. A return to older styles means a return to the monster-filled, puzzle heavy dungeons! As you wander through the multiple dungeons, you’ll be tasked with battling through rooms to hit switches, constant backtracking to find said switches, riddles asking you to find items to unblock your path, and so much more. The dungeons are even more fun with the addition of the echo mechanic, which allows you to use one of many echos – monsters you’ve previously defeated, trampolines, pots, beds, grilled fish, etc. – to get things done.

Not only is this feature the game’s namesake, but this allows you to have that element of creative problem solving that is so beloved in newer games, and provides you with a bit of extra help here and there. Shout out to the bed echo for allowing you to regain hearts from pretty much anywhere.

One thing that you’ll notice early, though, is that Echoes of Wisdom isn’t very combat heavy. You can use the Mighty Sword, but only for short periods of time, and it’s often imperative that you don’t waste that time, especially in areas where you don’t have access to something to refill your energy. The way the game makes up for this is with monster echos. You can create these echoes and the monster you make will attack the first enemy it sees. Upon defeating it, it’ll hop to the next one, and on and on while you reap the rewards or it gets destroyed. This frees you up to do other things, and allows you to focus your energy on coming in clutch when necessary.

Some may not like this. Zelda is a series that usually has some kind of unavoidable combat, especially in dungeons, so to only be able to use your sword so often, and have to let monster echoes do the work for you, might feel like you’re taking the backseat during combat. I personally didn’t feel this way, mostly because I see this as a way to differentiate Zelda and Link as heroes. Zelda has always been wise and intelligent at her core, so it makes sense that the gameplay for an entry starring her makes use of those traits versus the usual fight focus we see from Link. It’s definitely something that may or may not be your cuppa, though I can definitely admit that at times, it made combat tedious at best and overwhelming at worst.

Echoes of Wisdom is also a return to the more whimsical style of Link’s Awakening, particularly the more recent remake. While people who began with games like Breath of the Wild may find it a “downgrade,” others will enjoy the style that brings the color and design of classics like Wind Waker (or, in this author’s case, Phantom Hourglass). The Legend of Zelda franchise has always experimented and played with different visual styles, and this is a very nice looking game that’s complemented with a (no surprise) great soundtrack, especially when in the Zora area.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is an ambitious entry to the franchise, and while it stumbles a bit trying to manage its combat mechanics, it still finds something enjoyable in how it approaches problem solving. It borrows some favorite ideas from the series’ open-world entries, such as cooking (only here, everything is smoothies, and yes, you can still make dubious ones), while bringing back the dungeon style of the 2D adventures to create something that may not be wholly new, but still makes for a fun and satisfying first adventure for Princess Zelda.