The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom review – About bloody time

For the first time since the original game hit TV screens back in 1986, Princess Zelda finally takes the leading role in her own game. It’s a monumental moment that fans have eagerly awaited, but does Echoes of Wisdom let out a triumphant cry, or does it fail to find its voice?

Nintendo has done a great job in giving its leading ladies the spotlight in recent years, with games like Princess Peach: Showtime, Metroid Dread, and Bayonetta 3 all receiving critical acclaim. Now, after 38 years, Princess Zelda is also stepping onto the main stage. 

Since Skyward Sword’s release, Nintendo has made special efforts to make Zelda feel more like a living and breathing character and not just a helpless princess in need of saving. However, her absence as a playable character in Breath of the Wild proved to be controversial, and while Tears of the Kingdom did put greater emphasis on her, she still served as a glorified plot device that called Link to action.

Echoes of Wisdom aims to change this by making Zelda a true hero of Hyrule, but does she manage to fill the Link-sized boots that have been left behind, or does she forge her own path?  

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – Key details 

• Price: $59.99/£49.99
• Developer: Nintendo & Grezzo
• Release Date: 26 September 2024
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch

The Legend of Zelda (no, really)

Echoes of Wisdom takes place in a Hyrule without its iconic hero, Link. The sword-wielding Hylian has been swallowed by a rift following a heated battle with the Demon King, Ganon. 

It’s not just Link who has been spirited away, as the mysterious rifts have begun cropping up across Hyrule. These chasms have drastically altered the landscape and led to the mass disappearance of its population. 

With Link falling prey to the ongoing calamity, it’s up to Zelda and her magical companion, Tri, to uncover the mysteries behind the strange rifts that threaten civilization. While Echoes of Wisdom’s story may not be as strong as Tears of the Kingdom (another game that features mysterious chasms), its simplicity its main selling point – the gameplay. 

Breathing new life into old school Zelda

Echoes of Wisdom offers the biggest shake-up to the top-down Zelda formula since A Link Between Worlds. While the latter enabled Link to merge into walls to solve puzzles and travel between worlds, Zelda’s Tri Rod adds a layer of creativity and verticality never seen before in a 2D Zelda game.

With a flick of the magical Tri Rod, players can copy and summon objects, as well as non-boss monsters that have been defeated in battle. I quickly found myself searching across the land far and wide, like a crazed Hylian Pokemon trainer, looking for new creatures to add to my ever-growing collection.

It can’t be understated just how fun it is to collect and use iconic Zelda enemies, like Moblins, Tektites, and Darknuts, in combat. Walking around Hyrule Field while being flanked by a couple of Moblin bodyguards, and watching them obliterate a group of slimes never gets old.

It’s not just combat that Echoes drastically shakes up. Unlike past 2D Zelda games, you can summon objects to skip whole sections of the map. Within hours of play, I was constructing bridges made from wooden beds to cross rivers, placing boulders in front of fan traps, and haphazardly stacking jump pads together to launch myself onto treetops.

The latter allowed me to run along the green canopies of Faron Wetlands, exploring areas that would otherwise prove inaccessible. Not only did the added verticality shave off traversal time – something that will undoubtedly make Echoes of Wisdom a speedrunner’s delight – but it also made hunting down hidden heart containers, stamps, and might crystals extremely satisfying. 

My only real gripe with the game, aside from it being a bit linear, is that I found myself constantly scrolling through my Echoes tab. With a total of 127 objects and creatures available to summon, pausing combat while you search for the perfect monster or piece of furniture for a puzzle can take some time. 

While the Last Use and Most Recent features do speed things up, you’ll still need to spend time delving through your Amazon warehouse until you find what you’re looking for. 

Fortunately, players who miss Link’s traditional gameplay (trust me you won’t after experiencing how fun Echo gameplay is), can activate Sword Mode – an empowered state that enables Zelda to become a spectral version of the Hylian Hero. During Sword Mode, Zelda has access to Link’s sword, bow, bombs, and iconic Hylian Shield. 

This may seem like a cop-out for those hoping for a pure Zelda-only experience, however, Nintendo has locked the mode behind an energy gauge. This makes it more of a secondary mechanic, which serves to compliment Zelda’s Echoes rather than completely overshadowing them. Instead, you’ll need to carefully balance Sword mode alongside your Echoes, particularly during boss fights which will require both skill sets. 

Imparting the wisdom 

Playing through Echoes of Wisdom, it’s hard not to see how influential Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have been to Zelda’s adventure. The most notable is Zelda’s Bind ability, which like Ultrahand, enables players to pick up objects and freely move them around. 

There’s also a heavier emphasis on side quest content, an area that was greatly emphasized in BotW. This makes Echoes of Wisdom’s Hyrule feel a lot more alive and lived in than its 2D predecessors. Quests range from generic fetch quests involving collecting Cucoos to uncovering a secret boss hidden in the depths of Zora’s Cove. 

These quests don’t just reward you with useless items either – in fact, some of the best outfits in the game are tied to side content. A version of BotW’s cooking system is also present, with food items and overworld monster materials being used to create Smoothies. Not only do these restore Zelda’s hearts and energy meter, but they can also reward you with buffs. 

Moblin camps also make a return, giving you opportunities to try out your latest Echoes and claim some much-needed materials. Zelda even has access to her very own horse, which can be summoned and used to travel across Hyrule. Then there’s the Echoes themselves, which add a layer of interactivity never seen before in a 2D Zelda game, giving players more agency when approaching combat and solving Dungeon puzzles. 

The return of traditional dungeons 

One of the biggest gripes from BotW and to a lesser extent in Tears of the Kingdom was the lack of traditional dungeons. Well, Echoes of the Kingdom proudly puts them front and center. 

Old school Zelda fans will undoubtedly know the ropes by now. Locate the dungeon’s map, find a compass, collect all the chests, grab the boss key, and defeat the big bad to receive a heart container for your troubles. 

While Echoes of Wisdom follows the usual dungeon trappings of all 2D games before it, Zelda’s gameplay makes this well-trodden ground feel fresh thanks to the Echo system. 

Essentially, what you use to solve each puzzle is up to you. For example, one particular section of the Lanayru Temple required me to hit two pressure pads at the same time. Now this may sound like your typical dungeon puzzle, but both switches were on opposite sides of the room, and using my usual autonomous statues wasn’t an option. 

While I won’t go into specifics on how I solved this problem, I did find great success using a couple of ice blocks and a flailing lanternfish. It’s just as absurd as it sounds, and I was left laughing at both the silliness of the situation and the sheer creativity behind the system that enabled me to cook up such a ludicrous scenario. 

Just like Link’s Awakening, each dungeon also features 2D segments. These often require Zelda to hit a switch or carefully navigate her way around enemies, which felt at odds with the more creative aspects of each temple. In fact, I found myself rushing through these archaic sections, to reach areas where I could truly harness the powers of my Echoes. 

One such area that made good use of the game’s Echo mechanics was the rifts. These disjointed environments are directly connected to the game’s dungeon experience, and require Zelda to use her Echoes to navigate fractured segments of Hyrule in search of Tri’s friends. Once each critter has been located, the rift will be fixed and the area will go back to normal.  

They’re a lot like BotW’s Shrines in that they’re dotted across Hyrule, and offer a condensed space where you can experiment with the game’s mechanics. I became incredibly fond of the verticality these parkour-style sections provided, and enjoyed using beds, clouds, and water blocks to navigate the shadowy realms of the Still World. 

Like all good Zelda games, the dungeons are only as good as the bosses that dwell within them. Without spoiling these fights, I am happy to report that every boss made good use of Zelda’s abilities and required me to think about the best strategies to take them down. 

While none of them were overly difficult to beat, veteran players can increase the difficulty by switching to Hero Mode. Be warned though, as you’ll take double damage and not receive any heart drops – making Echoes of Wisdom more of a brutal gauntlet than a casual adventure. 

The Verdict – 5/5

While Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom successfully brought exciting new concepts to Nintendo’s iconic series and helped revolutionize open-world games – Echoes of Wisdom feels like a big step forward for classic Zelda. 

The game is a punchy cocktail of old school Zelda, expertly blended with modern mechanics from the series’ two open-world giants. As a result, Nintendo has created something that feels both nostalgic and uniquely fresh. 

It may have taken 38 years for the series’s titular princess to finally get her own game, but boy was it worth waiting for. Echoes of Wisdom not only demonstrates that Nintendo is capable of wowing Zelda fans, but it can breathe new life into its legendary series. 

Echoes of Wisdom is a resounding success, a masterclass in creativity, and a worthy debut title for the series’ legendary princess.