The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Review

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Fast Facts

Fresh but Familiar

I have been playing Zelda for as long as I can remember. I still have fond memories of working my way to the conclusion of Link to the Past on the Super Nintendo. Working with friends to complete the game in the days long before the internet. Fond memories indeed! I have played and finished every Zelda since and this iteration may be most different of them all. Is it good though? Let’s find out.

In Echoes of Wisdom, you play as Zelda, I know right? A Zelda game where you actually play as Zelda. Who would have thought? Makes sense I suppose. Anyway, you start as Link, with a full two rows of hearts, bombs, a bow and in a boss battle. We all know where this is going. Things happen, Link goes off somewhere and you get blamed for all the bad happenings and end up imprisoned in your own castle. What a day!

Massive rifts are opening all around Hyrule, sucking in residents and leaving corrupted echoes in their place. Luckily, a little creature by the name of Tri is here to help. With the help of your trusty staff and Tri, you can create echoes of objects found around Hyrule. Not only does this make this, in my opinion, the most different of the Zelda titles but it widens the creativity of puzzles, bosses and combat encounters. It’s a tad like Tears of the Kingdom in that regard.

Facsmilie-Based Fun!

There is so much fun to be had here when finding a new object you can copy. Beds, rocks and all the enemies in the game are yours to use in weird and wonderful ways. I felt shades of Pokemon from running around Hyrule trying to copy all the various enemies in the game. Gotta catch ‘em all you know! Working out how to use each item, solve puzzles and what enemies to spawn to kill monsters was a constant joy. It feels so different to previous entries and I am all for it.

You would think that every time you were able to copy a more powerful enemy, then that would be the one you used all the time but that was certainly not the case. Speed, elemental damage and positioning are all key. Water enemies against fire, lots of smaller faster enemies to kill hulking slower ones and all that jazz. As you progress through the game you can upgrade Tri too, making things cheaper to spawn and even increasing the amount you can spawn at once. This system is certainly the ‘hook’ of the game and kept things fresh until the game’s conclusion.

There’s another little system which allows you to temporarily turn into Link and use his abilities which unlock over time too. While this system was good in certain situations, I just found it detracted from what I was enjoying in this game, being creative and playing as Zelda. Summoning boomerang Boarblins to overwhelm enemies or building bridges using loads of beds bolted together.

The Zelda I Remember

Aside from that stuff, there is still a lot of familiarity around Hyrule. Similar enemies, locations and groups of characters you recognize will pop up from time to time to guide you on your way. Secrets, dungeons, side quests and the normal Zeldary shenanigans will litter your adventure and I think in tandem with the newer, more uncanny systems in the game give Echoes a fresh but familiar feel that I found delightful.

Being old-school, I prefer the 2D old-style Zelda games over the recent 3D counterparts. I loved both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom but there is just something I enjoy more about these older style games, with their traditional dungeons and 2D art style. The chibi-style artwork in this game is very similar to the recent Links Awakening remake, it’s colourful, bold and has character in spades.

The same is to be said about the sound design too. Familiar music and sound effects are woven through the soundtrack and bring back all those sounds we love. That well-worn, beautiful Zelda sound when you open a chest or find a secret is still there and even though I have been hearing it for many a year, it still pleases me greatly. The presentation from both a sound a visual perspective is everything you expect from Zelda and Nintendo. Cosy, beautiful and a joy to see and hear.

Zelda is a Worthy Heroine, WIth Tricks all of Her Own.

As you can probably tell, Echoes of Wisdom was a hit in our house. It has a beautiful balance of new and old to create something quite special. Using copies of enemies and items to solve puzzles and fight bosses never got old. There was always something new to try, something new to copy and I am sure there were multiple ways to achieve your goals, which is always a plus. In true Nintendo fashion, it also ran very well too, even on my old, battered launch day Switch.

If you are a fan of Zelda games or old-school RPGs you will love Echoes of Wisdom. It’s one of my favourite games of the year and just shows that even if you change the core mechanics of a fan-favourite franchise, as long as it’s done with love and care, it can be a great success. Echoes is a perfect blend of old-school Zelda with sprinklings of open-ended puzzle-solving seen in more recent entries in the series. Right, I am off to see how many snakes it takes to kill a Darknut. Laters gamers.

Rapid Reviews Rating

4.5 out of 5

4.5

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