For many fans, a Zelda game where you actually play as Zelda is enough reason to be excited for the latest instalment, but The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom truly shines by showing what we can expect from the series in a post-Tears of the Kingdom world.
Solving puzzles has always been at the heart of this iconic Nintendo franchise since it began in 1986, but as the series evolved, so too did the puzzles Link was tasked with finding solutions to. We first saw this major change in Breath of the Wild with tests and shrines dotted across the map for pit stop–speed challenges. Its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, evolved this into new building mechanics like Ultrahand and Fuse, transforming Hyrule into a sandbox, with a world intuitively designed in its verticality and obstacles to require all kinds of creative contraptions. This synergy between a versatile range of abilities and a cohesive open world design carries on into the future of traditional top down Zelda with Echoes of Wisdom.
Set in the familiar land of Hyrule, our expected hero, Link, has been lost and it is up to Zelda to traverse the world, defeat monsters, and overcome challenging dungeons using the “echoes” she learns on her adventures. This new summoning power is granted by Tri, the helpful companion of our journey, and the staff bestowed to our heroine called the Tri Rod. Echoes range from inanimate objects you may find by snooping in the homes of villagers, such as beds and pots and tables, to the many fearsome foes you face on your travels, like Keese and Moblins. Every echo has a cost, which depending on Tri's power level, means you're limited by how many echoes you can have active at once. Beds can be slept in to recover health, pots can be hidden in for stealth missions, and rocks can be hurled at foes in a pinch. When defeated for the first time, foes can be learned as echoes, and when summoned, are loyal to you, but they will retain their animalistic instincts and desires so may not always act as you wish. For example, devouring the meat you laid down to distract a marauding Moblin – you can eat your fill after the giant, spear chucking pig is vanquished, thank you. Each new echo we acquired during our time with the game left us wondering what new one would surprise us further down the line, especially given the vast variety already at our disposal.
These quirks and behaviours unique to each echo keep them interesting and bring the world to life as you discover new methods and combinations for achieving your goals. Just as in Tears of the Kingdom you could scale a mountain by building a great structure out of trees, or a rocket fuelled launch pad, Echoes of Wisdom lets you create stairs out of assorted furniture, trampolines on top of trampolines, or a helpful Strandtula to shoot you a rope of web. Combat is less about overwhelming the enemy with brute force and instead deciphering the best natural predator of the target in front of you. Snake-like Ropes can slither between airborne assaults whereas the sharp spines of a Sea Urchin can pierce a Darknut’s armour. Or just brute force it and pelt them with rocks. The possibilities feel endless, and with echoes constantly replenishing their uses you can experiment with all kinds of bizarre setups. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a new wave of nefarious set ups on social media, as Zelda is seen setting her kingdom of furnishings ablaze and gliding to safety on the wings of a Keese.
Whilst echoes are the bread and butter of the game, much like Ultrahand and Fusing were for Tears of the Kingdom, Zelda has a few more abilities in her already expanded arsenal. Bind grants control over the objects you cannot echo, like giant boulders, moving platforms, or unique features of a puzzle. When an object is bound to Zelda, it moves with her, meaning clever positioning when the ability is activated is essential to success. So far we’ve seen it used to remove obstacles, place objects on switches, and to create barriers from unwanted attacks. Given that these objects do not expire like echoes do, combining the powers may help you build higher than before and achieve more creative setups. You can also bind echoes, which is helpful for moving things you don’t want to touch, like flaming shrubs, around. Reverse Bond is, as the name suggests, the opposite of Bind in that it allows objects to move Zelda. Things with their own momentum, such as a moving platform or even a crawling critter, can be reverse bonded to and will travel Zelda with it.
For those already missing our fabled swordsman, do not fret, as Zelda can also tap into the power of Link’s blade when she needs to by transforming into Swordfighter Form. After fighting an imposter to reclaim Link’s sword, Zelda can enter a glowing blue state and use new powers for a limited time, laying waste to enemies with slashes and spin attacks. This is not a core ability like echoes or bind, and from what we’ve seen is not necessary for solving puzzles or besting bosses, but a nice addition when you need a power boost against a ferocious horde or just want a dramatic climax to a battle. The energy required to enter Swordfighter Form can be found in the still world or by defeating rift enemies but charging the metre is still a slow task, so you’ll want to use it wisely. Similar to how Tears of the Kingdom allowed you to use powerful weapons and devices to creatively circumvent challenges, if you took the time to locate them, Echoes of Wisdom has a few extras and power ups that let you rain destruction should that be your approach. Drinkable smoothies and deployable automatons shown off in trailers are going to grant Zelda healing and buffs or can be unleashed in battle for dramatic effects, respectively. Automatons, robotic replicas of foes with a few added upgrades, can be broken in combat and then need to be repaired, similar to how the durability of weapons and battery-life on builds in Tears of the Kingdom require a little resource management.
With all of these abilities, a vast catalogue of echoes, and an army of creatures at her command, adventuring and overcoming threats in the world of Hyrule feels fresh and exciting. Traditional locales you’d expect, such as the Gerudo Desert and Eldin Volcano, return but have been made with Zelda’s new powers in mind. There are more vertical elements, terrain hazards, and weather conditions than previous top down titles, instead resembling recent games. The overworld feels more like that Tears of the Kingdom hybrid between a giant puzzle and a sandbox, allowing player creativity and experimentation to shine. Dungeons retain that more focused puzzle solving objective, alongside the new Still World–a dimension that bends the laws of physics with floating islands and areas shifted onto their side. These sections allow for creative platforming which both challenges players and teaches them new tricks to take back into Hyrule.
Given the leaps in creativity and mechanics the series has made in recent titles, it’s exciting to see the return to the top down style of Zelda embrace this as well as having a playable princess. Echoes of Wisdom takes elements of Tears of the Kingdom and develops them into something fresh which stands on its own two feet. If Tears of the Kingdom is a physics test utilising forces and the laws of gravity and aerodynamics, Echoes of Wisdom is a chemical experiment pushing players to toy with different combinations in a more contained environment. It marries the classic puzzle solving that long time fans of the series adore with the outside-the-box thinking and unexpected chaos of recent games. The result is uniquely Zelda and has us eager to discover all of the echoes and challenges the game has to offer. Whether you opt for the pillow fort you dreamed of as a child, a genius domino effect of destruction, or the humble fish attack, there’s an adventure waiting just for you.
