The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

When I reviewed The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in spring last year, I found it extremely difficult to give the game a final rating. At certain moments, I was so impressed with the new mechanics, the scale of the world and some of the game's sequences that I thought: This has to be one of the best games ever, a clear 10 out of 10. But in other moments I couldn't help but feel disappointed. The more hours I put into the game, the clearer it became that the development of the new mechanics had come at the expense of other things, as both the sky and The Depths seemed half-baked. The surface of Hyrule itself hadn't changed in a radical enough way to avoid the tedium of mapping the same world, and at first glance, there were many new enemies, but in practice you ended up fighting many of the same ones. Hardly any new cities, and the same music in most of them added to this equation, as did another story told passively through flashbacks.

And then of course, there were the game's dungeons: Once again, only four, and in the same four corners of the world. When I completed them for my review, I was generally satisfied, as they were better integrated into the world, thematically different, had much cooler designs and better music and bosses. But over time I realised that, despite being a big improvement over BotW's, they are still among the weakest of the series. They are far too short and predictable (find four or five terminals), and they don't offer sufficiently satisfying puzzles, many of which can be broken or even bypassed entirely with Link's overly powerful toolkit. With six years of development (the longest ever for a 3D Zelda) and the reuse of BotW's world and assets, it seemed a given that TotK would be packed with large, intricate dungeons, especially when the lack of them was one of the most common criticisms of BotW. TotK's lack of large, intricate dungeons has, for me, cemented the game as a technical achievement rather than an unforgettable adventure.

So, when The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was announced earlier this year, and it became clear that the aim of the game has been to translate the great freedom of BotW and TotK into the 2D format, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment. I've come to accept that open worlds with unlimited freedom are the future of 3D Zelda (as the series' producer, Eiji Aonuma, has said), so I was hoping that the 2D games would retain the classic, more linear format with a focus on dungeons and more "hand-built" level design.

That's why I'm thrilled to announce that despite its obvious focus on freedom, Echoes of Wisdom feels like an old-school Zelda game. Dungeons are the meat and potatoes of the game, and not only are there eight of them, they are relatively long, varied and feature classic Zelda elements such as dungeon maps and small and big keys. They are also home to some really entertaining and fairly challenging bosses that can be tackled in a myriad of ways and are overall one of the highlights of the game.

But now that Princess Zelda can use her staff and the new echo mechanics to summon all sorts of objects and monsters, can't you just cheat your way through the dungeons? Of course, it depends on how creative and inventive you are as a player, but it feels like many puzzles are designed to be solved with only a handful of echoes, and it's rare to be unsure which ones to use. In the dungeon tutorials, you also learn echoes that seem to have a monopoly on certain puzzles that appear in their respective dungeons and thus can be said to serve the same purpose as the classic dungeon items. Of course, there are often multiple solutions to some of the more general puzzles - and thank goodness for that, otherwise it would be impossible to know if you've found the right echoes around the world. As in BotW and TotK, you have the freedom to tackle most dungeons in any order, but echoes are handed out gradually in a way that creates a natural progression.

But perhaps it's only fair to explain the mechanics behind the title and the game's fundamental gameplay loop. Just as Princess Peach finally got her own adventure earlier this year in the form of Princess Peach: Showtime, now it's finally time for the princess who gives her name to one of Nintendo's most iconic game series. Let's get this out of the way: Zelda is fantastic as a protagonist, as good as Link, and her gameplay differs enough from his to feel like her own without deviating too much from the 'core' of Zelda, which can best be described as a wonderful mix of exploration, combat and puzzle solving. If I have one criticism of Zelda as a protagonist, it's that Nintendo has chosen - as they always do with Link - to make her mute. This is a bit of a head-scratcher in my opinion, as she has spoken in every other game and the game in many ways tries to differentiate her from Link and the gaming experience he offers.

Well, I promised to explain the echo mechanics. However, in order to do that, I need to explain the premise of the game. At the beginning of the game, Link tries to save Zelda from Ganon, but inside Hyrule Castle he is swallowed by one of many rifts that ravage Hyrule by pulling its inhabitants into a strange, stagnant world called "The Still World" and spitting out monsters and malicious clones of the inhabitants. As Link is engulfed, he just manages to free Zelda, but she is quickly captured and ordered executed by the king's evil clone. In her prison cell, however, she is rescued by a small, magical creature called Tri, who gives her Trirod, a staff that allows her to make magical copies of all sorts of objects and enemies. Tri becomes Zelda's constant companion throughout the game (another classic Zelda element), but feels like a creature that would be more at home in the Mario universe. However, this doesn't create much dissonance, as Echoes of Wisdom has a considerably greater focus on platforming than previous Zelda games.

The echo mechanics explode a pond of opportunities to explore, solve puzzles and battle, and at the start of the game it feels Pokémon-like to 'catch' as many monsters as possible and set them to battle each other. Does this mean that in battle you just stand back and watch passively? In principle you can, because some echoes are so powerful that they can easily decimate others, but it's far more effective to participate in battle by using the 'bind' mechanics, which grab and pull enemies and objects in the same way as Ultrahand in TotK, to manipulate enemies. For example, as shown in the trailers, enemies can be dragged into bottomless mole holes or off ledges, pushed into spikes, or their mobility restricted by putting boxes around them, using wind cannons to blow them over edges, and so on. The possibilities are many, without feeling endless in the same way as in Tears of the Kingdom.

However, you also have the option to participate more actively in combat via the so-called "Swordfighter Form" - a temporary mode that transforms Zelda and emulates Link's classic gameplay with sword, shield, bow and bombs. Swordfighter Form is the most reliable way to deal damage and is crucial against bosses, but I can't help but be a little annoyed by the whole concept. It feels like Nintendo is afraid to let go of Link completely (Zelda looks a lot like Link in this form), and I think it would have been much cooler to let Zelda fight in her own unique way - with magic, for example.

The freedom of echoes also extends to exploration and puzzle solving. Trampolines to jump higher, water columns to swim through over ledges, boulders to create platforms in lava, jars to throw to distract patrolling guards, bats to use in the same way as Link's trusty paraglider - you name it. But as the list of echoes grows, you realise that some are significantly more useful than others. For example, the spider, which allows you to climb any wall without sharp edges, took a permanent place on the list of my most used echoes, as did the basic bed that allows you to bridge ledges. But while some echoes are more reliable than others, nothing here is as game breaking as the famous hoverbike in TotK. At least not anything I've had the imagination to come up with.

No, the biggest problem with echoes isn't whether they can trivialise the game - it's the UI used to choose between them, taken directly from BotW and TotK. Say hello to endless scrolling in another Zelda game. Sure, you can sort echoes by most used, most recently acquired, type, etc. but without being a UI designer myself, I dare say that there MUST be a more manageable and time-saving solution. As you acquire more echoes (of which there are well over 100 in the game), more and more time is wasted in the form of scrolling. Sooner or later it reaches an almost comical level that unfortunately forces me to downgrade the game a full grade for that reason alone. I don't understand why Nintendo doesn't offer a better solution when people have complained about the same UI through two games prior.

Furthermore, the game is held back by being set in yet another version of Hyrule. No matter how creatively the developers recreate the familiar locations and how many fun references to previous games they squeeze in, exploring Gerudo Desert, Death Mountain, Zora's Domain, Hyrule Castle and other locations I've seen countless times before just no longer excites me. It doesn't help that it's done through the same boring art style that the remake of Link's Awakening utilised, which once again suffers from serious framerate issues. While I'm sick of Hyrule and the Gerudo, Zora and Goron races, I'll give Nintendo major plus points for bringing back the evocative Deku scrubs from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask - they've been seriously missed!

With Echoes of Wisdom, Nintendo takes another decisive step towards unifying the old and the new while finally giving the princess her own unique game in the series that bears her name. Fans of the new school of Zelda will delight in the many opportunities to explore the world, solve puzzles and fight enemies, while nostalgic fans will appreciate the more intricate dungeons and hand-built level design. So, is Nintendo up to the task? Is Echoes of Wisdom the perfect blend of old and new? Not quite, because despite the great freedom, some echoes are simply more reliable than others, which makes you wonder if the great freedom is really necessary? Nevertheless, the Princess' debut game is the best example yet of a Zelda game where two very different design philosophies are allowed to compliment and not trump each other, which is why it can be recommended to all fans, new and old. Also, kudos to Nintendo for releasing a Zelda game that is in many ways fresh and bold not much more than a year after the massive Tears of the Kingdom.