The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Review: An Adventure Worthy of Royalty

Despite having her name in the franchise title, Zelda has never gotten a chance to really act as the protagonist in the Legend of Zelda franchise. Outside of a mostly forgotten CD-i game from three decades ago, Zelda has always played second fiddle to Link in the series. Nintendo has finally seen fit to rectify that situation with The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom , a new Switch game that finally puts the princess in the spotlight. It's been a long time coming, but the end results are very positive, with an adventure that manages to feel unique, while still retaining the best elements of the series.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom starts out like it's the end of one of Link's adventures. With a full arsenal, and a whole lot of hearts, Link pursues Ganon in a quest to save Zelda. While Link manages to defeat the villain, he is quickly swallowed up by a Rift, but manages to fire an arrow first. That arrow is enough to allow Zelda to break free from her crystalline prison. After meeting her new friend Tri, Zelda heads back to Hyrule Castle. The princess quickly discovers that the entire kingdom is being swallowed by these Rifts, and the populace is being replaced by shadow versions of familiar faces. With Link missing, it's up to Zelda and Tri to save the day.

Tri serves a role similar to a lot of other secondary characters in Zelda games, helping to move along the narrative, while also offering a direct connection to the new gameplay elements. Using the Tri Rod, Zelda can learn to create Echoes of objects and enemies, which can then be used to solve puzzles, explore the world, and defeat enemies. In the latter case, Echoes of Wisdom almost acts like a monster catching game, like Pokemon. Zelda's offensive abilities are limited from the outset, requiring that she send these Echoes to battle in her place.

The monster system in Echoes of Wisdom is one of the game's most interesting elements. Zelda can learn the Echoes of inanimate objects immediately upon finding them, but with enemies, she has to defeat them first. The game offers a mix of enemies new and old, allowing Zelda to essentially recruit some of the most famous foes from the franchise. Suddenly, Moblins, Keese, and Darknuts are turned into allies that can be used in battle, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Traditionally, Zelda games have given players a limited number of options in battle: mostly swords and arrows. However, the Echo system offers a lot of freedom to find what works for you. Each Echo has an associated cost though, in the form of triangles that float behind Tri. If Zelda sends out an Echo that uses more triangles than Tri has remaining, the earliest one sent out will automatically disappear.

The Echo system has a surprising amount of depth, and some neat nuances. There's no punishment for an Echo's defeat, and Zelda can take advantage of their disappearances when she uses up Tri's triangles. If a Darknut Echo is fighting an enemy head on and is nearly defeated, you can send another one right back out from behind the creature, allowing it to get in some critical hits before it turns around. Many monster Echoes also have extra abilities that can be used to solve puzzles as well, like Ignizol which can light things on fire, or Strandtula, which creates web strands that Zelda can climb. The Echo system might be one of the best mechanics the series has ever adopted, and I really hope to see it return in future games. Echoes of Wisdom should open the door for a dedicated monster spin-off series, like Square Enix has done with Dragon Quest Monsters. It took more than two decades of Zelda fandom for me to feel this passionately about the enemies in Zelda games, and that really is a testament to this game.

In addition to the use of Echoes, Zelda eventually does gain a Swordfighter mode. Unlike Link, who can use a sword all the time, Zelda has a gauge that quickly depletes, forcing players to conserve it and use it sparingly. Getting used to playing a Zelda game with limited sword use was admittedly challenging at times; even when I was 10-15 hours into the game, I'd still catch myself instinctively trying to swing a sword when I'd jump back into a game session. It really shows just how much these elements have become standardized in the franchise's nearly four decade history. However, I would quickly realize the error of my ways, and found that figuring out the best way to use Echoes is very rewarding.

While the monster hunting element works exceptionally well, using Echoes of items is a little more limited. Players can learn Echoes of items like beds and boulders and then use them for climbing or to open new paths. Once you've gotten the hang of which Echoes work best, it's easy to know which ones to summon. However, if there's one complaint I have about the Echo system, it's that many puzzles still only have one solution. At one point early in the game, I kept trying to reach an item high up using beds to create a staircase, and other various Echoes, all to no avail. It wasn't until I noticed a certain ledge that I realized the only way to get the necessary item was by creating a Keese Echo and then holding on and gliding down. That puzzle quickly taught me that, while Echoes of Wisdom does offer more freedom than any previous 2D Zelda game, it isn't nearly on the same level we saw in Tears of the Kingdom .

Increased freedom is one of the ways Echoes of Wisdom learns from the 3D Zelda games, but there are a lot of small details that feel directly inspired by Breath of the Wild . From finding smaller food items that can be made into more beneficial dishes, to the way Moblins can be seen hanging around camps and structures. Nintendo had already been looking for ways to evolve the 2D Zelda games as far back as 2013's A Link Between Worlds , but it's interesting to see the influence Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom clearly had.

Echoes of Wisdom is releasing just a few months after Princess Peach: Showtime! , another Nintendo Switch game centered on an oft-captured female protagonist. There are some similarities between the two games, in that both give their characters new powers to use, which shape the overall gameplay. However, while Princess Peach's game feels like the potential start of a new series , Echoes of Wisdom is unmistakably a Zelda game. If you've ever played a 2D Zelda before, particularly the 2019 remake of Link's Awakening , you'll have an idea of what to expect in terms of gameplay and the overall cycle. The game features the same isometric perspective used in 2D games since the NES days, though there are also sidescrolling sections just like in Link's awakening .

The Link's Awakening remake clearly served as the basis for Echoes of Wisdom , but the developers have drastically improved most elements from that game. There's still some slowdown, but the game's performance is significantly smoother than Link's Awakening . The visual style is the same, but there's a lot more variety on display. Echoes of Wisdom isn't the prettiest game on Switch, but the visuals are pushed a lot harder than they were in the previous 2D Zelda. Part of that can be attributed to the fact that Link's Awakening was a remake, while Echoes of Wisdom is a completely original title. That gave the developers more freedom to add varied locations, and that resulted in a prettier world that's more enjoyable to explore.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom doesn't quite manage to deliver the level of freedom seen in 3D entries like Tears of the Kingdom , but it's hard to complain about some rigid puzzle elements when the game has opened things up so much. Clearly, Nintendo's developers are looking for ways to blend the new and old, and this is another part of that journey. The Echo system is a pleasure to use, the world is more attractive than the last Zelda game, and there's a lot of content in this package. The result is a 2D Zelda game perfectly tailored for fans that first discovered the series with Breath of the Wild . That said, whether you're a longtime Zelda fan, or someone newer to the series, Echoes of Wisdom is a bold step forward for the 2D entries in the franchise. It took decades for Zelda to have a great game to call her own, but the result is worth celebrating.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is set to release September 26th, exclusively on Nintendo Switch. A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review, and it was reviewed on a Nintendo Switch OLED.