A Link to the Future: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has been out long enough that many of us have rolled credits, and have had a moment to reflect on what we experienced, as well as how it might impact the series going forward. There is a lot to talk about.

1. Creativity is Here to Stay

At this point, there should be little doubt that the future of The Legend of Zelda involves player creativity. With Echoes of Wisdom, that makes three straight core The Legend of Zelda releases with a focus on player agency and open-ended problem solving, and there is little reason to believe the next title will change course. Especially considering the critical and financial success the titles are enjoying.

A focus on player freedom was introduced with Breath of the Wild, which allowed complete autonomy in where to go and what to do, as well as introducing puzzles with multiple solutions. Tears of the Kingdom took this creative approach to the extreme with the ability to literally create, via building Zonai devices with Ultrahand.

Echoes of Wisdom translated this creativity into the 2D plane with the echo system. It will be exciting to see how this philosophy manifests in the next title in the series. 

2. Linearity is Not a Bad Word

Echoes of Wisdom proved that a game can still have a focus on creativity and freedom while also placing limits on the player’s autonomy. In fact, restrictions can make that creativity all the more rewarding. As the old saying goes, “limitations breed innovation.”

The player has an immense amount of freedom in Echoes of Wisdom. They can use echoes anywhere at any time. They can enter late-game areas early, and can attain powerful late-game echoes way earlier than intended.

There is even a good deal of freedom in dungeon order. But there is also a sense of linearity not present in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, from a move away from open ended terminal-based dungeons, to the fact that dungeon order exists at all.

Echoes of Wisdom shows that the creativity Nintendo has fallen in love with can coexist with the old structure that many fans miss, at least in the top down space. 

3. Nintendo is Horrible at UI

The echo system is an amazing new mechanic, but the process of selecting them is atrocious. A player’s choices are to either pause the game every time a new echo is needed (which will be often considering it is the central mechanic), sorting through pages and pages of echoes, or engaging with the woefully inadequate quick select menu. There is no way to manually assign echoes to a hotbar, and the absence is painfully felt.

This is a trend that has been present throughout series history. Who can forget pausing a million times to equip and unequip the Iron Boots in Ocarina of Time? Or constantly pausing to rotate between a big roster of items in Link’s Awakening and the Oracle games, with only two assignable slots? How about fusing an item to your arrow in Tears of the Kingdom, and having to scroll through every single item to pick what you want?

Nintendo’s eternal battle with decent user menu experience continues, and Echoes of Wisdom has gained very little ground.

4. Grezzo is Ready for the Big Time

Grezzo and Nintendo have had a relationship for a long time now. Starting with the development of Ocarina of Time 3D in 2011, the two companies have had well over a decade of fruitful collaboration.

Over that time Grezzo has been given more and more responsibility, peaking with a co-development role for The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes. Though even then, Nintendo was still largely responsible for the design.

With Echoes of Wisdom, Aonuma and the rest of the leaders have been quite candid about how Grezzo was deeply involved not just in the development, but in designing the game itself. It feels like Grezzo is being groomed  into a position to eventually develop games in The Legend of Zelda series with little to no supervision, and I think this is an excellent idea.

Grezzo isn’t flawless. Both Echoes of Wisdom and their remake of Link’s Awakening have performance issues I would have loved to see ironed out. But the studio has been doing an excellent job with The Legend of Zelda, and I would love to see the leash continue to be lengthened with every title they work on.

5. Top-Down Zelda is BACK

It feels wild to say, but Echoes of Wisdom is the first original top-down The Legend of Zelda title since 2015’s Tri Force Heroes. That is nearly a full decade without a new top-down title. This is highly unusual. The biggest gap between top-down releases prior to this had been the nearly four-year gap between 2009’s Spirit Tracks and 2013’s A Link Between Worlds.

The gap between Tri Force Heroes and Echoes of Wisdom is nearly double. Top down The Legend of Zelda has traditionally been the realm of handhelds after Ocarina of Time saw the console titles move to 3D, and many feared that with the Nintendo Switch merging the home console and handheld market, the era of The Legend of Zelda top down titles may be over. 

For nearly a decade, that proved correct.

However, Echoes of Wisdom smashes that fear. The game itself is a glorious return to form, resplendent with all the exclusive features we love so much about the top down games. But further than even that, is declarations by the developers themselves that The Legend of Zelda in top down form is here to stay.

In Closing

Echoes of Wisdom is a splendid game, and I’m already itching for a replay. The echo system is a revelation, and a truly enjoyable way to continue developing on the creative direction introduced to the series with Breath of the Wild.

It is also nice to see the return of some more linear elements, such as lock-and-key dungeons. But the more things change, the more they stay the same, and the UI in Echoes of Wisdom continues the tradition of The Legend of Zelda games struggling with intuitive menus.

That aside, the resounding success of Echoes of Wisdom shows that Grezzo should continue to be trusted with more responsibility, and perhaps one day, a The Legend of Zelda title that is entirely their own. It may very well be a top-down title, because as the developers have affirmed, The Legend of Zelda in the top-down style is here to stay!

What do you think, what were your biggest takeaways from Echoes of Wisdom? Let us know in the comments down below!

Featured Image: Nintendo