During the media hour of PAX West 2024, the Boss Rush Network crew beelined to the Nintendo booth to get our hands on the demo for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. As huge Zelda fans, we went in with high hopes. We didn’t expect to have them exceeded.

The demo began in a familiar setting for Zelda fans: Hyrule Castle. And much like previous titles, we needed to escape from a jail cell. (The staff from Nintendo couldn’t tell us how far into the game this moment takes place, but it felt very early.)

The look and feel of these opening moments reminded me so much of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. As with the SNES title, the guards of Hyrule Castle view the protagonist as an enemy and patrol the castle grounds looking for the Hero. But unlike these familiar tropes, the gameplay for Echoes of Wisdom feels incredibly fresh and silky smooth.

As predicted by many, Zelda’s ability to clone items (create “Echoes”) with the Tri Rod is limited in quantity to the number of golden triangle (Triforce pieces?) floating behind Tri. For our demo, we had the ability to generate three items at a time. I found this element to be a welcome mechanic. Limiting my ability to generate items forced me to find more creative solutions to the puzzles in a given area rather than simply spamming Echoes.

When faced with a high bookshelf blocking my way during my dungeon escape, I initially tried to climb over by spawning alternate blocks and hopping back and forth to reach the needed height. However, I soon learned that this strategy didn’t grant me enough clearance to climb over, and I understood that the game wanted me to mix and match items of various size in order to pass the obstacle. This is the kind of nuance that Zelda’s Echo ability allows in facing puzzles and seeking traversal routes.

There was another moment in the demo when I had to reach a far off ledge. I climbed down from the right side of the screen and attempted to build up to the ledge, only to be well short of the exit. Having just learned the Echo for a bed, I then realized I needed to create a bed bridge from the right side of the screen to the left by stacking overlapping beds between platforms. Solving these kinds of spatial puzzles felt satisfying and thoroughly fun.

The demo also contained side-scrolling 2-D segments of the game, both a lateral traversal and a water passage. These portions of the game reminded me of Link’s Awakening; however, the controls for Echoes of Wisdom are far superior in terms of gameplay experience. I never felt like Zelda wouldn’t move to a certain spot, and overall the movement felt much tighter than the franchise’s predecessors.

The water passages make good use of the game’s physics engine, players will enjoy trying different Echoes to see how they perform in water. I had to spawn a rock to push down a floating crate, so I could bypass a crowded cave pool.

The demo ended for our team shortly after we reached the outside of Hyrule Castle, but there were a number of other fun moments as we reached the end:

• Impa shows up to ninja fight a crowd of Hyrule Castle guards
• Zelda can do her own spin attack with the Tri Rod to cut grass
• The dialogue is punchy and entertaining

Ultimately, I came away VERY impressed by The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Somehow Nintendo managed to give fans the beloved elements of the franchise’s 2-D roots, while incorporating the “solve it your own way” creativity of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. I suspect that this installment of Zelda will win over long-time fans and those who have taken up the series in the Switch era.

If the rest of the game is as enjoyable as the demo, I believe Nintendo has a Game of the Year contender in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

And of course, no Nintendo demo at PAX would be complete without a special Zelda pin. Check it out below–she’s a beauty!

Tell us what you think! Will you be playing The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom when it releases September 26? Share your reactions in the comments below or join the conversation in Boss Rush Network’s Discord, Facebook, and Twitter.

Source: Nintendo of America