It’s not even been a week and still, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has left a lasting impact.

In many ways, the game acts as a pad to fill out the Nintendo Switch’s release schedule while a successor is almost certainly on the way. And yet, Echoes of Wisdom seems to have exceeded the expectations of “filler game” and transcended to a new level.

In part, many are praising its meaning for the series’ 2D titles while others are lauding its return to more traditional Zelda gameplay.

While it’s true that Echoes of Wisdom is somewhat a return to form for the franchise, it still highlights an underlying theme that connects new games for over a decade: player freedom.

Breath of the Wild is what many will point as the Zelda title that blew the doors off any sense of linearity in the series. While BotW does have its place, this trend dates back to A Link Between Worlds.

ALBW allowed players the freedom to utilize items at their discretion thus allowing them to tackle the Lorule dungeons in whatever order they pleased. While A Link to the Past offered some of these freedoms, ALBW perfected it.

Fast forward to Echoes of Wisdom and you are seeing that same freedom in play. Players can use a host of echoes to solve their puzzles and do so in any manner they see fit. It’s almost like the developers encourage players to figure out new ways to “break the game.”

This is not just an idle observation. Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma seems to have liked how much freedom the game was giving players only to ask for more.

With most The Legend of Zelda games following, at least in part, this concept of player freedom, one can assume it is the norm moving forward.

What makes this fascinating is Echoes of Wisdom demonstrates there is no limit to how the franchise will implement this freedom. This leaves me wildly optimistic for the future because the developers have done it in both 3D and 2D.

This means whatever comes next will have this level of player freedom regardless of the format. That doesn’t only mean 2D-3D, that also means traditional and open-world.

The Legend of Zelda established itself on perfecting what it does best and that was the standard action-adventure slow burn linearity. The past 11 years have shown that the series has adapted a new way to establish itself and that’s with player freedom.

The jury is still out on if Echoes of Wisdom will be a one-off or a template. Regardless of what this game means to the future, it does show that Zelda producers see player freedom as their new foundation.

This should excite us all because it means nothing is off the table, much like the eponymous echoes Zelda wields.

What about you? Do you like the direction The Legend of Zelda is going with player freedom? Will the franchise ever go back completely to its traditional roots? What are your thoughts on Echoes of Wisdom? Let us know in the comments below or head over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.

Featured Image: Nintendo (via Wired)