Echoes of Wisdom Review – A Wink to the Past

“Why are the games called ‘The Legend of Zelda’ when you always play as Link?” is an inescapable question asked by pretty much everybody who encounters Nintendo’s beloved series, and yet, the company has never really provided a satisfactory answer beyond, “Uh, just because.” Well, this four-decade-long confusing state of affairs is being resolved (for now) as The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom finally gives the Princess herself a starring role. This also marks the first original 2D Zelda title since 2013’s A Link Between Worlds, so a lot of longstanding fan requests are being satisfied at once here.

Is The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom another properly-epic entry in the franchise? Or does the game take some unwise steps? Time to shine the spotlight on Zelda’s big debut…

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom begins on a familiar note, as Link, controlled by the player for a few brief minutes, battles Ganon in order to save Princess Zelda. Ah, but upon taking down the big pig, a mysterious rift opens open, drawing Link in. Just before our green-clad hero disappears into the depths, he manages to free Zelda from her crystalline prison with a well-placed arrow and she escapes with an ever-growing rift on her heels. From this point on, the player takes on the role of Zelda, and it becomes clear this version of Hyrule isn’t in great shape. The land is beset by numerous rifts, which have a habit of sucking in innocent citizens and producing evil copies in their place. This happens to Zelda’s dad the King, whose doppelganger promptly sends her to the dungeon.

Thankfully, Zelda’s adventure doesn’t end there, as she soon meets Tri, a little energy sprite eager to help with her quest, and gets her hands on the Tri Rod, a powerful wand that allows her to create “echoes” of various objects and enemies. It seems Tri’s spherical friends have long been tasked containing Hyrule’s rifts, which connect to a dark alternate dimension known as the Still World, but somebody or something has been trapping them, allowing the rifts to spread unchecked. Armed with the Tri Rod and Tri’s ability to enter the Still World at key locations, it’s up to Zelda to clean up the rifts, find Link and the King, and figure out what’s behind all this turmoil.

It’s certainly great to see Zelda step out of her usual supporting role in Echoes of Wisdom, but if you’re expecting a plot that feels markedly different from what this series has served up in the past, you may be disappointed. The game doesn’t really do much with Zelda as a character, nor does it do a lot to develop her relationship with Link. While Nintendo does throw out a bit of a mid-game twist, the overall plot is short of big shocks or emotional stakes and its big finale feels like a minor letdown from a storytelling standpoint. Of course, most Zelda stories are relatively simple, but the best ones still manage to deliver occasional affecting, memorable moments. Echoes of Wisdom’s story, by comparison, just kind of washes over you, leaving little behind.

All that said, while Echoes of Wisdom’s story doesn’t quite captivate, it’s version of Hyrule does. 2D Zelda worlds have often felt a bit lonely, but Echoes of Wisdom brings a Breath-of-the-Wild-like vibrancy to its Hyrule. This take on Hyrule includes around half a dozen towns, each bustling with unique and charming NPCs worth getting to know. The quirky side of Zelda is on full display here, as you can indulge in pastimes like dressing up like a cat to talk to Hyrule’s feline population, finding stamps for a distinctly Tingle-like collector, and more. This is all brought to life via the same charming toy-like presentation as the 2019 Link’s Awakening remake, albeit with a new level of detail and variety. Thankfully, while you’ll still encounter some stutters and stumbles, Echoes of Wisdom also runs better than the Link’s Awakening remake. So, even if EoW’s story didn’t always grab me, I was eager to get back to the game’s Hyrule and its many colorful residents even after rolling credits.

Echoes of Wisdom’s Hyrule is larger and more open than past 2D entries in the series (it’s at least twice as large as A Link to the Past’s map), but make no mistake, those looking for a bit more structure after back-to-back “open-air” Zeldas will be pleased. While there are certain points in Echoes of Wisdom where you can choose the order in which you tackle a handful of regions and their dungeons, the rifts covering Hyrule allow the game’s developers to lock off parts of the map and lead you through a fairly specific campaign. While I don’t deny that clever fans may eventually discover something, I don’t think there’s a way to jump directly to the end of the game or skip any key steps along the way. That may irk some, but, personally, I’ve increasingly begun to feel the “finish the game whenever you want” gimmick of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom hurt those games’ campaigns more than it helped.

Most of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom’s campaign follows a set formula – venture to a new region, meet the people that live there, then complete two or three smaller tasks in order to access the entry spot to that region’s large rift, which contains its dungeon. The most common of the lesser tasks you have to complete is clearing out small rifts, which almost feel like platformer stages (EoW gives you a full-on jump button). These small rifts task players with navigating floating debris in order to free several of Tri’s friends (usually four of five bunches of them) which does bring to mind the “collect X number of things” approach of BotW and TotK’s dungeons in a way that may illicit groans from a segment of the Zelda fanbase. That said, small rifts are generally brief (most don’t take more than 20 minutes) and don’t wear on you.

In addition to the small rifts, other challenges are mixed in – stealth sections, puzzle-filled caves, ect. Once you’ve completed your three-or-so lesser objectives, it’s time to enter the large rift, all of which contain a dungeon. And yes, for those concerned, these are real, full-on dungeons with small keys, a boss key, map, and the whole deal. In fact, these dungeons feel notably old-school, like a modernization of the labyrinths you may have once tromped through in A Link to the Past or Link’s Awakening. Needless to say, the “Bring back real dungeons!” lobby should be pleased by what Echoes of Wisdom serves up (a hearty seven full dungeons and some other dungeon-like experiences beyond that).

Zelda may be new to this adventuring thing, but she has no shortage of tools for exploring Hyrule, the Still World, and its dangerous dungeons. Of course, Echoes of Wisdom’s spotlight tool is the Tri Rod, which allows Zelda to summon echoes of mundane objects tables and beds, more fantastical things like floating cubes of water and flying floor tiles, and basically ever non-boss enemy you encounter in the game. Your summoned monsters can be siced on other baddies or, in some cases, used for other purposes (you can glide while clutching a Keese and spiders create climbable threads, for example). Tri can also “bind” to things you create, and a few other objects, allowing you to move them around at a distance much like Ultrahand Grab function from TotK, adding another layer to EoW’s puzzle-solving toolbox.

While I haven’t carefully counted them all, I’ve probably collected nearly 100 echoes, and while it’s cool to have so many options at your disposal, sifting through them all can be a minor annoyance. The game does give you limited options for sorting your echoes — by last one used, most used, the last acquired, and so on — but there are going to be times where you’re stuck just scrolling through your increasingly-long list for the thing you need. That said, the game does pause when you’re navigating your list and in most areas and dungeons you can get by with a half-dozen-or-so key echoes of your choice.

Nintendo has heavily hyped the freedom the echo system give players, but in my experience, Echoes of Wisdom’s puzzles are a bit less open-ended than something like Tears of the Kingdom. Typically, there is a set solution to a puzzle — move a rock that’s behind a gate onto a switch, for instance — with the player having some freedom about what specific combination of objects and enemies they want to use to proceed. It’s rare that you’re able to fully short-circuit or skip a puzzle as you can in BotW or TotK, or at least I wasn’t able to. Again, I don’t discount that particularly clever fans will figure out things I didn’t, but generally speaking, EOW feels like it provides a healthy measure of freedom within the confines of a more traditional Zelda structure, which actually felt like a nice balance to me. I realize some may miss the giddy “do whatever, all the time” ethos of the open-air Zeldas, but the series’ classic approach to puzzle and world design is something many fans, myself included, find satisfying in its own right. There’s room for both approaches here in 2024.

While I enjoyed The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom’s approach to puzzle and dungeon design, I wasn’t always captivated by its combat. As mentioned, players can summon any number of different monsters and direct them to attack other enemies using a basic targeting system. This works, but only just, as your AI allies are pretty stupid, attacking slowly and often getting stuck on or behind objects. They’ll eventually get the job done, and you can pitch in by tossing rocks and other objects at baddies, but the process feels too drawn out, particularly early on when you only have low-level monsters at your command.

But Echoes of Wisdom doesn’t force you to rely entirely on monster echoes to do your fighting. Relatively early on, you’ll gain the ability to transform into Swordfighter Form, which allows you to tackle enemies head-on with a sword, and later, a bow and bombs. Unfortunately, you can only get to wield a sword for a fairly limited time, with an energy bar quickly dwindling while you’re in the form. Limiting the use of Swordfighter Form is a somewhat questionable decision to begin with, but it can be downright frustrating at times given the limited amount of energy the game gives you. Floating bits of energy are found in the Still World and are dropped by some enemies, but it’s surprisingly hard to come by, even at times when a lot of energy is required like during boss battles.

You can keep your energy bar topped up by consuming various “smoothies,” which you can create via a simple crafting system. This is a cute idea, but you can’t mix up a smoothie just anywhere, as they’re only produced by a handful of vendors scattered around Hyrule. This resulted in me frequently having to back out of dungeons just before the final boss so I could go back to a town and craft additional smoothies for the energy I’d need. A fairly generous checkpoint system makes this not too much of a trial, but this whole system feels like it could have been smoothed out a bit.

Now, before you get too worried, I’m not saying combat in Echoes of Wisdom is bad. You will likely get the hang of it eventually, Swordfighter Form can be leveled up to give you a longer energy bar and stronger weapons, and you can even find gear that makes energy easier to come by. By the end of the game, I was quite comfortable with combat, but I can’t help but feel like the developers overthought things slightly. Simply giving Zelda the ability to use traditional weapons and summon echoes all the time might have been better. As is, Echoes of Wisdom is a 2D Zelda, which have typically thrived on their simplicity and playability, that can feel a bit fussy at times.

Ultimately though, any fussiness doesn’t obscure what Echoes of Wisdom is at its core — a really good, modern take on the traditional Zelda format, with excellent old-school dungeons and an enticing world. And really, it’s some of the game’s less-flashy new features I enjoyed the most. The more responsive-feeling controls and platforming, the addition of a wide array of engaging sidequests, the ability to ride a dang horse in a 2D Zelda! This is the old-school Zelda you love, polished up to meet modern expectations.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdoms brings a lot of different things to the table, and in large quantities. The game is easily the franchise’s biggest 2D entry to date, offering up a story that took me 25 hours to complete and enough side content to keep you playing a dozen or more hours beyond that. Zelda’s first adventure as a headliner is no mere morsel, it’s royal banquette that ought to leave most fans feeling satisfied for some time.

This review was based on a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom provided by publisher Nintendo.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom brings some new ideas to the table, but in the end, the game is more about modernizing the classic 2D Zelda experience. The attention-grabbing echo copying mechanic has its pros and cons, but where Echoes of Wisdom consistently hits is in the tried-and-true design of its world and dungeons, which are as good as any the franchise has delivered in the past. This may be Zelda’s first starring adventure, but past Legends still echo strongly here.