Title: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Developer: Nintendo, Grezzo
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: September 26, 2024
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Price: $59.99 (USD)

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has a lot riding on it.

It entered into the middle of a storm of discourse, through no fault of its own. The fan base is currently torn asunder over the future of the franchise, particularly the creative, freedom-oriented gameplay established by Breath of the Wild, which is now the standard as declared by series producer Eiji Aonuma.

Half the fanbase is infatuated with this philosophical change, and is keen to see just how creative the series can get. The other half longs for a return to form, yearning for the linearity of games like Twilight Princess. Of course, a gradient exists between these two extremes, but this contention has dominated the community, and every new piece of The Legend of Zelda news is analyzed through the lens of this discourse, as each side seeks to prove the series is moving towards their desired direction. This conversation is sometimes fruitful, but it is often toxic.

Princess Zelda is Here!

Echoes of Wisdom had the misfortune to release in the middle of this storm. 

From the moment the first trailer debuted, to days before release, fans have been hyper-fixated on crawling through Echoes of Wisdom for evidence on whether it is furthering the push towards freedom, or backpedaling towards linearity. From combing through trailer footage to observing costly leaks days before the scheduled release, fans on both ends of the debate have been tearing Echoes of Wisdom apart to validate their views.

Even after release, a shocking amount of discussion and reviews have focused on how Echoes of Wisdom “fixes” issues from Tears of the Kingdom. The title is so caught up in the discourse that there is often a lack of attention being paid to how Echoes of Wisdom fares as its own title. Echoes of Wisdom was not designed as an antithesis to either side of the debate; it was designed as a Zelda game that is meant to stand on its own merit. It isn’t meant to be viewed in support of, or opposition to, Tears of the Kingdom. 

Some level of comparison is inevitable, even in this review. They are adjacent releases after all, and there are undeniable similarities. Some of the criticisms of Tears of the Kingdom do seem worthy of consideration in Echoes of Wisdom. But this review is not about whether Echoes of Wisdom succeeds in all the areas Tears of the Kingdom failed and vice versa. It is a review that seeks to look at the game by its own merit and to decide if it is a success.

It most assuredly is.

Putting aside the discourse, let me tell it to you straight. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a marvel. It is well worth your time. It is not the best top-down Zelda game to ever release, but it is honestly close.

Presentation

How you feel about the audiovisuals of Echoes of Wisdom is going to depend on how you feel about an entirely different game. Echoes of Wisdom re-utilizes the engine from Grezzo’s 2019 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, and how you felt about the toy-box aesthetic then will likely parallel how you feel about it now.

Echoes of Wisdom has a unique style of its own within the aesthetic, but if you were one of the many who had a strong distaste for the style in 2019, I don’t think Echoes of Wisdom will change much. It builds on this aesthetic and pushes it to the limits, but nothing fundamentally changes. 

If you fell in love with the visuals of the 2019 remake as I did, you are very much in luck. It is a treasure to see this aesthetic used to develop an original game. Nintendo has offhandedly mentioned the possibility of the toy-box style being the new standard for top-down games going forward, and while I think that risks invoking aesthetic fatigue, I can understand why.

Visuals

It is hardly a Zelda release without some controversy around graphics.

Arguing over visuals is a pillar of the fandom, and it has been for nearly as long as the franchise has been in business. As far back as 1987, reviews were complaining that Zelda II: The Adventure of Link looked too different (and worse) than the original. The most famous manifestation of this discourse was of course in regards to the outcry over the reveal of The Wind Waker. The cartoonish trailer released after the Spaceworld 2001 tech demo that showcased a realistic (for the time) Link and Ganondorf crossing blades.

It was most vocal during marketing for The Wind Waker, but argument over art style was a point of contention for Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild as well. Nintendo gave fans a single taste of a realistic Zelda game with Twilight Princess, and every new visual style since is held up against it by a contingent of fans.This pattern held true with the release of Grezzo’s remake of Link’s Awakening, as the toy-box-oriented style came off as simply too childish to many.

Echoes of Wisdom heavily develops on what we received in 2019’s Link’s Awakening, but the fundamentals are the same. If you thought it was unappealing then, you are likely to feel the same about it now.

By my estimation, Echoes of Wisdom is a visual splendor. The vibrancy is a true sight to behold. It leaves me aching to experience the game on an OLED model switch, but even on my plebeian, standard console, the colors leap off the screen. From a damp and gloomy jungle to a blizzard-like Snowpeak, Echoes of Wisdom showcases a lot of variation in color, and each location is as colorful and lush as the last. Breath of the Wild proved that Nintendo has mastered the ability to make even the most plain areas seem vibrant, and Echoes of Wisdom proves it is a skill they are still honing. 

Echoes of Wisdom puts the toy-box aesthetic to work. The title is something of a love letter to the series, showcasing races, characters, and enemies from across the franchise, and I felt like a literal kid in a toy store seeing how each one made the transition to their toy-like form. Characters that are inherently cute like the small Deku Scrubs obviously thrive in this art style, but what is most impressive is how enemies that seemingly contradict the toy-box philosophy are well-adapted.

Creepy enemies like the ReDead and Wolfos would seem to be too offputting to make the jump to the toy box, and yet they are lovingly rendered into designs that maintain their inherent fearsomeness while still fitting in with the cute designs. The ReDead still looks unsettling, but it also doesn’t look jarring next to a cute Octorok. Truthfully, it makes sense. Being a toy doesn’t preclude something from being scary. Having a toy that frightened us too much to be outside the toy box after dark is, I think, a communal experience.

I was a bit let down with how inexpressive Princess Zelda was by and large. There are a few moments, particularly one at the very end, where expression of emotion was a defining moment of the scene; but by and large, Princess Zelda spends most of the game with limited emotion. This isn’t totally surprising. This is genuinely the case with Link in the top-down titles, so it bears out that Princess Zelda is the same. It is just a letdown perhaps because Link’s Awakening is a uniquely expressive game, and I was hoping it would at least strive towards that, sharing an engine and all. 

Overall, however, if you are partial to the aesthetic, Echoes of Wisdom is a real looker. I relished the chance to get more of the art style from Link’s Awakening (2019), and Echoes of Wisdom took the ball and ran with it.

Audio

To be honest, I’m still grappling with my opinion on the soundtrack for Echoes of Wisdom. On one hand, I think my judgement is a bit unfair. On the other hand, I think it is of value, particularly to longtime fans.

The long and short of it is that while the soundtrack of Echoes of Wisdom is very good, I am used to The Legend of Zelda soundtracks being excellent.

If we were to take Echoes of Wisdom on its own terms, separate from the rest of the franchise and compared to contemporary games, the soundtrack is a positive aspect. There isn’t a bad track in the bunch, and it is impressive how the composing team of Manaka Kataoka and Masato Ohashi managed to maintain the dreamlike aesthetic of the music from Link’s Awakening while working with the more grounded setting of A Link to the Past.

The backing tracks are competent everywhere they are found, from exploring Death Mountain to delving into dungeons, the music does an admirable job of enhancing the experience. There are even some real standout pieces, such as a rendition of “Zelda’s Lullaby” that plays after an important plot moment. After the ambient focus of the last two Zelda games, I’m happy to have active music at all, and good music at that!

The reason I believe my judgement may be unfair is because while Echoes of Wisdom has very good music, I’m used to the soundtracks for The Legend of Zelda being excellent. The best in the business. The music of The Legend of Zelda is so fantastic that when a title releases with music that is “merely” very good, it stands out as noticeable to me.

Music from this franchise resonates with me in a way few other franchises are capable of, and I am certainly not alone in this feeling. My playlists are dotted with music from the series that I choose to listen to in my leisure time, entirely detached from the games. The Legend of Zelda music isn’t merely “good for video game music”; it is simply good music. A Hollywood film like Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World can casually slot the “Fairy Fountain Theme” into its score, and it doesn’t merely fit in with the rest of the soundtrack, but stands out as a highlight. Zelda music is magnificent.

I don’t think the music in Echoes of Wisdom is magnificent. A few tracks, certainly, but it doesn’t have the top-to-bottom excellence I am so used to from this franchise. Much of the soundtrack serves the purpose of fading into the background without annoying you, and nothing more. There aren’t many songs from Echoes of Wisdom making it into my playlist.

This is my conundrum, then. Decoupled from the series, the game has a perfectly fine score. Nothing to complain about, no annoying tracks, everything is pleasing to the ears. I’d happily give the soundtrack a B+ letter grade, perhaps even an A-. But this is a franchise in which the music consistently earns an A+, with extra credit. I can’t lie and say I wasn’t disappointed by the soundtrack, but that is only in comparison to the franchise at large, because the music has committed the crime of being merely “very good”.

I’ve settled on considering the music a positive aspect in regards to the review score to reflect the inherent quality of the score, while making it clear to you, dear reader, that I do believe the soundtrack pales in comparison to the typical The Legend of Zelda soundtrack.

Go into Echoes of Wisdom expecting to enjoy a perfectly competent score with no sore spots, but also to leave the experience without much of the music embedding itself into your subconscious the way Zelda music is so prone to. 

Echoes of Wisdom pairs gorgeous visuals with a very good score to result in a game that consistently remained a joy to look and listen to from start to finish. Nothing gets repetitive, nothing feels half-baked. This is the quality you have come to expect from The Legend of Zelda. The soundtrack might not go above and beyond, but the visuals certainly do.

Story

Echoes of Wisdom’s narrative has to shoulder some significant weight. It isn’t just the first title released since the onslaught of criticism surrounding the narrative of Tears of the Kingdom, but it is also the first game in the series to offer Princess Zelda as a protagonist. These are not trifling obligations.

Yet despite the obstacles in its path, Echoes of Wisdom does not buckle under the pressure. I wouldn’t say it particularly excels either, the story of Echoes of Wisdom will not go down as one of the series best. But it is a perfectly competent narrative that is often quite cute, and occasionally touching. 

The Narrative

Hyrule is once again in trouble, but this time, there is no Link to save the day.

As foul rifts begin to open all across Hyrule, swallowing everyone and everything in their path, foul doppelgangers begin to replace those who were consumed. All hope rests on the shoulders of Link, who is set for his showdown with the evil Ganon, who it is assumed is the cause of the rifts. Yet, when a final stroke of Link’s sword puts an end to the King of Evil, the rifts only expand, swallowing Link as well. With a last moment of heroism, Link’s arrow frees the captive Princess Zelda, who takes Link’s sword and flees to the castle.

What are these rifts, and who is the true cause of them if not Ganon? What is the true nature of the still world? Who could possibly be so powerful that the mighty Ganon is merely a puppet for them?

Echoes of Wisdom’s central tension is genuinely compelling. There is a mystery to be solved here, and it is one with a genuine answer and a satisfying conclusion.

For reasons best experienced instead of explained, Princess Zelda is blamed for the creation of the rifts, and takes to exile in disguise. Alongside her newfound friend Tri, and with the powers of the Tri Rod, Princess Zelda travels across Hyrule closing the rifts. 

While there are a number of optional rifts to close with little-to-no narrative purpose, the largest rifts serve as Princess Zelda’s primary targets. These mega rifts are causing untold problems for Hyrule’s populace, and for Princess Zelda, solving these problems goes hand in hand with closing the rifts.

Take the aquatic fishlike Zora people for example, who are suffering a dispute between the leaders of the river and ocean tribes, after their deity Jabu-Jabu began acting irrationally after the opening of a rift. Or the adorable Deku Scrubs, who suffer an addiction to “cotton candy,” in actuality spider webs created from spiders from the rift. Each area is suffering their own rift-related issues.

These stories are delightful. The self-enclosed stories entwined with the solving of each dungeon have been a historic joy in Zelda games from Ocarina of Time onward; and that tradition is alive and well in Echoes of Wisdom. One story, related to the rift upon Hebra Mountain and the Yeti folk, evoked genuine emotion out of me.

The primary storyline is mostly thrown to the back burner until near the end, which is something the top-down titles have always struggled with. Their stories tend to be massively front- and back-loaded, leaving the middle barren and entirely supported by the side stories for each dungeon locale. The “3D” games (for lack of a better term) do a much better job of keeping the primary narrative relevant through the entire experience. Unfortunately, Echoes of Wisdom is as guilty as any other top-down release for having a relatively bare-bones middle, narratively speaking.

The climax is worth it though. It is grandiose, compelling, and even a little emotional. The full extend of the mystery of the rifts isn’t revealed until the final moments, and it is a fascinating turn. I am entirely avoiding speaking on the “true” villain for a reason; it is worth experiencing for yourself. What I will say is that the villain is refreshing. With the exception of Majora from Majora’s Mask, and to a lesser extent Vaati from a couple titles, Nintendo has really struggled to establish villains that aren’t Ganondorf, controlled by Ganondorf, or Ganondorf in a different form. With Echoes of Wisdom, I think they succeeded. 

Echoes of Wisdom has a plot that doesn’t have any major areas of weakness, but also doesn’t really excel anywhere (aside from perhaps the villain.) The story is definitely a positive aspect, but it lacks that extra layer of emotionality that The Legend of Zelda games are so good at. There are moments of emotion here, but nothing that resonated with me like the annihilation of Koholint Island in Link’s Awakening. There are a lot of enjoyable characters, but none as compelling as Koholint’s Marin, and none with as much development as Phantom Hourglass’s Linebeck. I enjoyed Echoes of Wisdom’s narrative quite a bit, I just know that The Legend of Zelda is capable of better.

The Princess Is Here

The most talked about aspect of Echoes of Wisdom is of course the focus on Princess Zelda as the main character. This isn’t the first time the Princess has been the star of the show; she’s been the protagonist of the wretched CDi spinoff Zelda’s Adventure, but it is the first in a game with The Legend of Zelda in the title. 

For the most part, I think they did well. 

The playable hour or so of Echoes of Wisdom had a number of people worried that even though this is ostensibly a Princess Zelda-led title, the attention was nonetheless focused on Link. I can understand where these rumors came from, as Link’s name is mentioned a lot in the opening hours, but it isn’t an issue once the princess embarks on her quest proper. It is only really one character who frequently talks about Link, just one you interact with a fair bit in the early game. 

The vast majority of Hyrule seems to have no idea who Link is, and when Princess Zelda arrives to save the day, it is she that receives the accolades. If you were hoping Princess Zelda would solely own the spotlight you’ll be disappointed, as Link does play an important role throughout the game, but I don’t feel as if it was at all overshadowing. It is comparative to the role that Princess Zelda generally plays in Link’s own adventures. 

I do find it to be a shame that Nintendo chose not to narratively explore what it means to play as Princess Zelda to any meaningful depth. They continued the tradition of a silent protagonist, which makes sense, but Princess Zelda is also rather unemotional.

Additionally, it seems that in this iteration, the royal family is without much power because even once Princess Zelda reveals herself, she isn’t really recognized. The fact she is the Princess of Hyrule has almost no bearing on her interaction with the denizens of Hyrule. It doesn’t earn her easy allies or secret enemies. It is a huge missed opportunity by failing to take advantage of the rare chance to write from the perspective of a princess. 

Lore and More!

Echoes of Wisdom embraces the mythos of The Legend of Zelda in a big way, and it is a pleasure to engage with. This is only really impactful for the Zelda lore hounds, especially those who feel burnt out by the willful separation from series canon by Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. If you are the type to theory-craft, Echoes of Wisdom will treat you well.

Specifically, Echoes of Wisdom offers a new lore nugget that has the potential to completely re-contextualize the history of the series as we know it, and does so without sacrificing or damaging the other games in the process. I obviously won’t divulge the specifics here; and just how impactful the reveal is will entirely depend how tangled in the Zelda lore weeds you are. Perhaps I am overselling it, but by my estimation, this reveal will give Zelda theorists fodder to chew on for a long time. 

Gameplay

There was a lot of curiosity orbiting the marketing cycle of Echoes of Wisdom, as people wondered how this game was going to feel to actually play. Not just because we’ll be controlling somebody other than Link, but primarily because of the Echoes. Every Zelda game has a gimmick that brings a gameplay twist, but this seemed different. The changes brought about by the Echoes seemed fundamental. A step past shoehorned wolf link sections, or mandatory train minigames, Echoes change how the game itself is approached. Will this even still feel like a Zelda game? 

The answer by my estimation is a resounding yes. Without a doubt, Echoes of Wisdom is a true followup to the formula untouched since 2013’s A Link Between Worlds. Rather than distancing the title from the traditional formula, the Echoes bring it closer as they do a fantastic job of emulating the item-based progression the series relied on prior to Breath of the Wild. Don’t get me wrong, Echoes of Wisdom feels unlike any other game in the series, but it still very much feels like it belongs as a part of that series. 

Playing as Princess Zelda

While the Echoes have the biggest impact on the play experience, there is no doubt the biggest point of discussion surrounding Echoes of Wisdom has been the choice of Princess Zelda as the protagonist. Finally.

Fans like myself have been waiting for this day to come for a long time. My desire for a playable Zelda was satiated by her central role in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, as well as Cadence of Hyrule, but now the day has finally come and I… could be happier, honestly. In many ways, Princess Zelda’s role is somewhat underwhelming in this game.

First though, I want to acknowledge what a fantastic design choice it was to alter the mechanics to Princess Zelda, instead of simply making her a re-skin of Link. No doubt, I still would have appreciated a sword-slinging adventure as the princess, but it would have felt uninspired. Instead the designers chose to give Zelda an entirely unique repertoire of abilities that result in her play experience feeling entirely unique.

I love this approach.

Additionally, Echoes of Wisdom maintains a focus on costumes introduced to the series in 2015 with the release of Tri Force Heroes on the Nintendo 3DS. Hytopia may be no more, but fashion will never die. 

In Echoes of Wisdom, Princess Zelda has access to accessories and costumes. Accessories can be equipped to provide a buff to Zelda, and have no visual appearance. Costumes may or may not have an effect, but they always provide a cosmetic change. These costumes can be earned through side quests after a certain point of the game, and they are all very cute. There are a few amiibo-exclusive outfits I did not get to enjoy as a result of not owning the needed amiibo, but they look cute as well. The costume system is a great addition, and one I hope to see continue to be a mainstay of the series. Princess Zelda has always been a stylish dresser, and it is pleasing to see this worked into gameplay. However, I do wish the accessories visually manifested in some form as well. 

It has long been a pet theory of the community that if a playable Princess Zelda was to materialize, she’d focus on magic over martial prowess. This turned out to be mostly correct! In fact, she does still have access to the good old fashioned sword and shield through “Swordfighter Form,” which does turn Princess Zelda into essentially a re-skinned Link, and allows the player to use traditional top-down gameplay for a limited time, measured by a constantly decreasing meter, which can be refilled either via smoothies or by collecting floating collectibles while in the Still World. This form is very powerful, almost too powerful as I felt it trivialized some of the bosses, but those who are hesitant towards the radical shift in gameplay will greatly enjoy its presence.

Most of the time however, as predicted, Zelda interacts with the world via a form of magic through her Echoes. 

The Echo System

The bulk of the game will be interfaced with through the new Echo system, which is the power that truly puts this iteration of Princess Zelda apart from not only Link, but any Zelda to come before her. The Echo system is powerful. It allows Princess Zelda to summon objects or creatures encountered throughout the world, be it a simple bed or mere pot, as well as a powerful Wolfos or Wizzerobe.

The objects allow Zelda to interact with the world, while the creatures battle on her behalf. The Echo system is all-encompassing, nearly everything is handled via echoes. Navigation, puzzle-solving, combat, all of it is solved with Echoes. The system is very clever and fleshed out, though it is not without tedium. Both because of a dreadfully designed UI, and the fact that sometimes watching monsters fight your battles for you can get a bit dull. Overall, the Echoes system is a resounding success.

The Echoes can be roughly divided into objects and creatures. Object Echoes are mostly used to interact with the world, and creature Echoes are mostly used to fight. These are not hard and fast categories by any means, plenty of object Echoes can be used for combat, and many creature Echoes are useful for navigation or puzzles solving. But this division provides a useful and mostly accurate framework to talk about the echoes. 

Functionally, object Echoes fill the role that items would in a traditional Zelda game. Summoning a Bed or Crate can allow you to reach higher places like the Hookshot. The Flying Floor Tile can allow you to pass gaps like the Hover Boots. The Boulder can weigh things down like the Iron Boots. You get the idea. The primary difference between Echoes and items from past games is that whereas items traditionally have fairly narrow use cases, any given Echo can be used in a surprising number of ways, and it remained consistently enjoyable to experiment with them throughout the game. 

There was concern that Echoes would give the player too much freedom, and risked putting the game in a similar position to Tears of the Kingdom, where something like the infamous air-bike can be built that is so powerful that it trivializes much of the game. I’m happy to report for the most part, that is not the case in Echoes of Wisdom.

Certainly there are areas that can be exploited through clever Echo use, but it is almost never as simple as using a single Echo for everything, whereas the air-bike really could be used to solve basically every navigational problem in Tears of the Kingdom. The Bed Echo will remain a constant throughout your playthrough, but I would equate that to the Hookshot in prior titles, which also saw constant use. There are many scenarios in which spamming the Bed will not see you to victory. Clever use of Echoes is an expected and an encouraged part of play, not an exploit. 

Aside from “object” Echoes, we also have “creature” Echoes which are primarily (though far from exclusively ) used for combat. 

Once summoned, the creatures will fight for you against any nearby hostiles, using the exact same attacks they used against you. A ReDead will scream and freeze the enemies, for example, and the elemental Wizzrobes will launch spells at their opponents. It is an immense pleasure to harness the abilities of some of the more iconic enemies across the series. I never thought the day would come where I’d use a ReDead’s scream against my enemies, but boy am I ever glad to experience it.

Creating an Octorok firing squad never gets old, neither does watching the ball-and-chain soldier smash his ball into an enemy for a change. I had some expectation that the ability to summon enemies would result in monster behavior being simplified, but my suspicion was entirely unfounded. It is tremendously fun to experiment with different monster behaviors and see what you find entertaining. 

The glaring weak point is that the monster A.I. is, to be quite honest, horrid. It isn’t something you really notice when they exist solely to attack you, but it is painfully evident when they are under your command. I love the Wolfos Echo; having a dog following you around is always a good edition, and he is a strong fighter to boot. But holy moly, it makes me cringe to watch him lunge after where the enemy was standing four seconds ago, and then wildly circle directly into a wall.

Or how about the comically useless spear-throwing Moblin, who will take three-to-five business days to aim his spear, and then start throwing it after the enemy has already left? Melee-oriented Echoes fare better, but even then, they often have to be shockingly close to even realize there is an enemy to fight, and running headlong into a nearby wall is entirely common. This feels like pathfinding from the Warcraft II days. 

Fights can turn into slog fests when the A.I. on both sides becomes too deficient, and I’ve experienced battles where my Echo and the monster I’m trying to kill are both utterly unable to hit one another because of hilarious path choices. Thankfully these fights are a minority. They happen too often to be considered a rarity, but the system works as intended more often than not. Even when the A.I. is going wrong, it is more amusing than aggravating, since the solution is simply to go into Swordfighter form or pick a different Echo.

The bigger drawback as it is currently designed is that combat difficulty is essentially nonexistent. The only times anything resembling difficulty appeared were in scenarios with a large number of ranged enemies. Otherwise, every single combat scenario was simplified to summoning an Echo and then finding a place to hide while they fight it out. There is no punishment for your Echo dying, because you can instantaneously re-summon them back into the fray. Easiness isn’t an inherent flaw for everyone, but for myself, I tend to look forward to the additional challenge that is generally present in the top-down Zelda titles, so a lack of it is sorely felt. 

The biggest problem with the Echo system has nothing to do with the Echoes themselves, and everything to do with the U.I. used to select them.

Nintendo has entirely deprived us of a convenient way to pick our Echoes, which is a problem when there are well over a hundred of them. The simplest method is also the most time-consuming. Pausing the game, navigating to the Echoes tab, then manually selecting the Echo from there. The second option is to hold the quick-select button, which then lists all Echoes in a scroll-able bar with a couple different sorting options, such as last used, most used, last learned, and first learned. These options are woefully insufficient, especially with so many puzzles that call for a specific Echo that isn’t likely to be your first or last of any category. 

Anecdotally, it seems as though the majority of people forego the quick options for manually selecting Echoes, and that is a testament to how poorly the quick menu is designed. If you encounter an Echo in the mid-to-late game that you like and plan on frequently using, it will be a long time before it takes a high enough spot in your “most used” category to be convenient, simply due to the sheer amount of times you’ve used other Echoes up to that point. It will only be easily selectable via “last learned” until you learn a handful more echoes. Meaning your options are either to scavenger hunt for it in the quick menu, manually select it from the pause menu, or spend ten minutes spam-summoning it to artificially inflate its ranking in the “most used” quick menu tab. Pick your poison. 

There are a number of unused inputs on the controller, so I have no idea why there isn’t a manually-assignable hot-bar or favorites system, but I wondered the same thing in regards to Zonai parts in Tears of the Kingdom. If this creative direction truly is the future of the franchise, Nintendo needs to conquer its fear of hot-bars. 

All told though, while it has some serious flaws in presentation and some latent A.I. issues, the Echo system is a marvel. It is genuine, raw fun to experiment with different Echo types. It brings about the exact same joy experienced by the early game of Breath of the Wild, the joy of discovery. Combat is easy and has some issues, but this is overridden by the delight of summoning the perfect monster for the perfect scenario, and feeling like a genius strategist. The Echo system is a significant success, it is the sort of mechanic that I dearly wish will be further developed upon, either by Nintendo in a sequel or by an indie developer inspired by the system, because Nintendo developed something seriously special here.

Overworld Exploration

The Echo system completely turns exploration in Echoes of Wisdom on its head. It embraces the freedom-oriented philosophy of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom in the sense that no part of the overworld is off limits. Zelda can reach just about any part of the map at any point of time, with clever use of navigational Echoes. Where there is a will, there is a way. Certain portions of the map are seemingly gated off with especially high trees and cliffs, but an entrepreneurial player will be able to bypass these restrictions with what they have on hand, possibly by using off-the-grid thinking. 

The structure of Echoes of Wisdom is reasonably linear; some dungeons will be done before others. Echoes of Wisdom maintains this structure in the face of total freedom of exploration by simply not caring if you make it to certain areas before you are meant to. If the player makes it to the jungle area and retrieves the powerful Mothula, the fact they have a disproportionately strong Echo is a reward for out-of-the-box thinking. If you are the type of player who is bothered by early access to powerful abilities, you can just stick to the proper dungeon order and not enter areas until you are meant to. It offers a lot of freedom, and makes it seriously enjoyable to explore, for the sake of discovering new Echoes. 

The world is also built with this navigation in mind, and there are a lot of environmental puzzles to be solved with your navigational echoes. In most cases this is for the sake of an eventual increased life bar via Heart Piece rewards. There are also enemy camps, another carryover from Breath of the Wild. As is the case in that game, the enemies are guarding a treasure chest that will only unlock when all enemies are defeated. Between discovering new Echoes, reaching out of the way Heart Pieces, and defeating enemy camps, there is a lot of incentive to explore Echoes of Wisdom’s beautiful Hyrule. 

Speaking of Echoes of Wisdom’s Hyrule, did you know this is our third time trapezing through the overworld of A Link to the Past? It certainly doesn’t feel like it, though. Truthfully the fact Echoes of Wisdom is reusing the overworld of A Link to the Past was a point of stinging disappointment for me when it was first shown in the launch trailer. The last two Zelda releases in Tears of the Kingdom and Link’s Awakening (2019) both reused or remade a map from a previous game, and we haven’t gotten a truly new Hyrule since 2017, which is seven years ago by the time of writing this article. I am itching for a new iteration of Hyrule, and the fact we were reusing a map for a third time was a big sore point for me.

I am happy to say that this functionally is a new Hyrule. I forgot it was an expansion of the Hyrule in A Link to the Past almost immediately. It heavily expands on the original, and moves things around to a degree that even the “remade” parts feel like they are remixed. Not to mention that the art style associated with A Link to the Past tends a bit towards dark fantasy, manifested most notably in the sequel A Link Between Worlds, and Echoes of Wisdom takes that world into a bright and cheery toy-box aesthetic, rendering it even more unrecognizable.

The result is that while Echoes of Wisdom’s Hyrule doesn’t entirely scratch that itch I’ve had for a brand new Hyrule, it comes close and is is a thorough joy to explore even if you are a bit tired of seeing the same sights we’ve been seeing since 1991.

Delving the Dungeons

Traditional dungeons are back in all their glory, and while they aren’t quite better than ever, they are very competent and often quite clever. By “traditional dungeons,” I am of course referring to the lock-and-key style linear dungeons the series had mastered, as opposed to the open-ended, terminal-based dungeons introduced in Breath of the Wild and carried into Tears of the Kingdom.

Dungeons are an oft-cited weak point of both games; and many fans were worried that with the self-evident focus on freedom displayed during the trailers for Echoes of Wisdom, dungeon design inspired by Breath of the Wild would make the jump to the 2D realm. I am relieved to report that this is definitively not the case.

While there is a certain looseness in the design of these dungeons compared to those in a title like Link’s Awakening, these are strictly linear affairs with locked doors that can only be opened with keys that are found by solving puzzles. The idea of a dungeon item is even somewhat simulated to an extent, as in many cases there are specific Echo abilities the dungeons are designed around.

Much like the overworld, this linear dungeon design does not clash with the freedom promoted by the Echo system, rather they complement one another. It is no doubt easier keeping the player restricted in a 2D plane rather than a 3D one, and they did a good job of it here. There are no restrictions on the types of Echoes used to solve puzzles, and yet it rarely felt like the puzzles were trivial. 

I think the dungeons are by and large wonderful; they have no serious flaws, my only real complaint is simply that the difficulty is not very high, even within the final few dungeons. This is not because of Echoes trivializing the puzzles as one might expect, rather just that the dungeons are not very complicated and the puzzles are not very hard.

In addition to combat being universally easy, there just isn’t much challenge to Echoes of Wisdom at all, even from the dungeons. Even the hardest dungeon (which is Lanayru Temple by my estimation) didn’t come remotely close to stumping me in a way similar to Eagle’s Tower in Link’s Awakening or Jabu-Jabu’s Belly in Oracle of Ages. It was a bit of a letdown.

Not to say this is a damning flaw, the dungeons remain delightful. They are all thoughtfully themed and many of them have some very clever concepts, such as Lanayru Temple rotating between hot and cold elements to freeze or melt ice, or Faron Temple having the player weave in and out of multiple entrances identical to Skull Woods in A Link to the Past. 

I also appreciate that many of them are worked into the world. In many instances, temples and dungeons in The Legend of Zelda inexplicably exist in the world, simply sitting there with no obvious use, their true purpose left for theorists to deduce. Why are there murder sewers underneath the cheery Kakariko Village in Ocarina of Time? The game never explicitly states why.

The dungeons in Echoes of Wisdom are mostly built with purpose that is reflected by the characters who live around them. I appreciate this detail, just as I appreciate the Echoes of Wisdom dungeons in general. They are very enjoyable. I just wish there was an additional level of difficulty that was striven for with at least one of the dungeons.

Final Score

You’ll notice a running theme in my thoughts on Echoes of Wisdom. With the exception of the U.I. which is categorically awful, and some other nitpicks, everything else is great! I just wish they had reached a bit farther in just about every category.  

Getting the chance to play as Princess Zelda is wonderful, and the developers did a great job making her experience unique; but I wish they would have explored what it means to play as a princess a bit more. The story is charming and some exciting new lore is introduced, but I wish there was an extra layer of emotion or intrigue to put it on the same level as Link’s Awakening or A Link Between Worlds.

The gameplay is fun, Echoes are a total revelation, but I wish the game wasn’t so easy, from combat to dungeons. The music is great and there isn’t a bad track in the bunch, but it comes just short of the same magic that so many Zelda soundtracks have. I just wish everything was a little bit more.

I don’t say this to be overly critical, rather to emphasize how close Echoes of Wisdom came to being one of my favorite top-down Zelda games of all time. It is spectacular in so many ways, from the majesty of the toy-box aesthetic to the singing success of the Echo system. This is a truly excellent game, make no bones about it. I will be singing its praises for years to come.

The successes simply make the areas it missed stand out more, because of how close it was. If the story was just a bit more in-depth, if the music resonated with me just a bit more, if the game was just a bit harder, this would contend as one of my favorite top-down Zelda games of all time. But I can’t quite rank it past titles like Link’s Awakening as it stands.

It comfortably sits in the company of the elite, however, alongside titles like A Link Between Worlds, Minish Cap, and Capcom’s Oracle games. I would even daringly assert that this is my favorite Zelda title released for the Nintendo Switch. The visuals are so splendid, and the Echo system is an absolute marvel. When it comes to things like dungeons and combat, I am complaining that these systems are merely “great” as opposed to “perfect,” because the only area of true weakness in Echoes of Wisdom is the woeful U.I. Even the areas I can see room for improvement, are still areas of strength.

Echoes of Wisdom is a monument of success, and both Grezzo and Nintendo should feel proud for having designed such a splendid game. Top-down Zelda is back, indeed. 

Boss Rush Network is proud to award The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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Featured Image: Nintendo

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