With it’s toy-world aesthetic, puzzle solving magical abilities, and an incredible soundtrack, Echoes of Wisdom pulls off a refreshing, albeit brief series experimentation. But is it worth picking up?
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00:00At its best, The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom lets players go off-script to create
00:04aha moments that Zelda games genuinely haven't seen before. Slotting a magician into the shoes
00:10of a long-time sword and shield hero is mostly amazing in action. Convert long-time Hyrulean
00:16monsters to do our bidding, then manipulate the world to redefine where, when and how we can go.
00:22At its worst, Echoes of Wisdom runs out of good ideas too quickly. What could have been a classic
00:2812-hour game instead slightly drags at the 18-20 hour mark? The result feels like a higher budget
00:35take on the portable first Zelda games of old, think Link's Awakening or Minish Cap. If you're
00:41looking forward to Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom, expect a modest helping of Nintendo-calibre
00:46adventure inside an interesting, albeit imperfect, balance between the familiar and new.
00:52We start with a Link fakeout. Don the usual green tunic, destroy monsters and defeat the Zelda
01:01kidnapping big bad, Ganon. This intro loudly assumes we know classic Legend of Zelda archetypes in order
01:08to break them apart, much like how Zelda smashes her way out of a Ganon trap after, surprise surprise,
01:14Link has been sealed away in the game's first few minutes. The focus immediately shifts to Zelda,
01:21at which point we learn that Link's fate isn't isolated. Rifts have opened across Hyrule,
01:26and in some cases the people trapped inside their time-frozen realm have been spat back into the
01:32real world as sneaky doppelgangers. The Royal Guard, including Zelda's father, is now in its evil era,
01:38demanding Zelda's imprisonment. As Link's traditional gear have also disappeared,
01:45Zelda's only hope to free her subjects and save Hyrule is the Tri-Rod.
01:50A gift from a Na'vi-like spirit named Tri. This tool activates the game's two core abilities,
01:56conjuring new monsters and materials, and binding or grabbing existing ones.
02:01The former are known as Echoes, and Zelda can add these to her spellbook whenever she first
02:06encounters any non-living material that Nintendo deems Echo-worthy. Yes to things like pots and blocks
02:13of ice? No, to rupees, bridges or larger boulders. Zelda can learn how to make Echo versions of nearly
02:19every enemy who battle on your behalf, with larger, boss-sized monsters being an exception.
02:25You can spin up unlimited Echoes, so long as you stay within whatever maximum number of points Tri
02:30can muster. This number goes up as Tri gains power. This is the primary limiting factor throughout Echoes of
02:37Wisdom. In Traversal, you can only build so many parts to a makeshift bridge or ladder,
02:42make it too big, and the very first Echo vanishes to restore your Tri-Points,
02:47thus collapsing your creation. In battle, one armor-clad, sword-wielding Moblin is the same as
02:54four wimpy flying homing attack keese. Each option is effective and fun for different reasons.
03:00The bind function offers two ways for the Tri-Rod to grab Echoes and other objects in the wild.
03:06The first is a basic grab, with the object or Echo following Zelda's movements. Need to lift
03:12and move something heavy, particularly if it could solve a puzzle or it's otherwise out of reach?
03:17Want to use an Echo as a shield? Bind to it, even at a reasonable distance so long as you have a line
03:23of sight and you can move it. The second type of bind is best described as a follow, as it lets Zelda
03:29tag along to an Echo's default movement. If you want to follow a crawling spider up a wall,
03:34or a moving platform across a gap, use the follow bind. That's a substantial combination of tools
03:40to play with on Echoes of Wisdom's canvas, and I could reliably expect satisfying results and
03:45feedback whenever I pushed the game to its magical casting limits. Treasure lines the map's furthest
03:51reaches, tallest cliffs and most hidden paths, always confirming that, yes, we were supposed to build
03:58a rickety bridge ladder thing over there. And the act of dropping ideal enemies in a frenetic battle
04:04comes with satisfying visual and audio feedback. Conjure an upgraded Lizalfos, then watch an insta
04:10strike with a long spear, followed by a swift leap dodge while staring your foe down before attacking
04:16again. In its first few hours Echoes of Wisdom teaches the Tri-Rod's power through a neatly choreographed
04:24range of linear and open world quests. New Echoes appear at a satisfying cadence, each opening up
04:30new reasons to flip through Zelda's collection and experiment, while dungeons focus Zelda's attention
04:36on puzzles where only a few Echoes and or a clever use of the bind function will lead to a solution.
04:43Figuring out what to conjure, bind to, move and battle is a frequent Echoes of Wisdom delight,
04:49and knowing I could sometimes deal with a puzzle or battle in dozens of ways accentuated the choices
04:55I made. But once my deck exceeded 60, I slammed into Echo fatigue. This is due in large part to
05:02Nintendo's excruciating lack of Echo sorting options. Players can't tap like on a favourite to quickly
05:10access it. They can't create smaller radial wheels of 8-10 grouped Echoes, i.e. combat, traversal,
05:17stealth, fire, or ice for easier reference. A few sorting options like most used, last learned,
05:24and type help a bit, but they just order the full Echo roster in a left to right menu.
05:31Since Echoes of Wisdom revolves so heavily around this menu system, especially during combat,
05:37these extra seconds add up and get in the way, even so that I eventually picked a few good enough
05:43Echoes and spammed them for most of my adventure. Not helping matters is the iffy AI attached to the
05:48Echo monsters Zelda generates, which makes many of the available Echo monsters either redundant or
05:54unappealing. In particular, targeting enemies with an Echo often doesn't work. Echoes will home their
06:01targets by rushing in a straight line, but if they take too long to attack or bump into an immovable
06:07object like a wall or stone, they'll meander away in confusion. Zelda eventually unlocks a timer
06:13limited way to transform into sword fighter mode, with Link's sword, shield, and a few boosted abilities,
06:20and in moments of Echo frustration, it's easier to just turn into Link. I didn't love that conclusion
06:27as an occasional Echoes of Wisdom takeaway, as instead of feeling rewarded for leaning into Zelda's
06:32exciting new series identity, I took the easy Link way out. The Hyrule in Echoes of Wisdom is largely
06:38defined by smaller stakes stories spread across its landscape. Zelda and Triad tasked with healing the
06:44biggest rifts breaking the land apart, and each has some kind of plot attached, usually defined by
06:50interpersonal conflict. These stories range from amusing and memorable, particularly a Zora village feud
06:57over musical instruments, too floaty and generic, and they might have landed better if Zelda and Triad's
07:03own journey had weight. I found myself surprised and crestfallen by how little redemption Zelda enjoys
07:10on her first ever rise to magic wielding Hyrule saving superhero. Spoilers aside, the ending left a bad
07:17taste in my mouth. Perhaps because a lot of missions saw Zelda merely running from point A to point B.
07:24No clever puzzles or Echoes needed in order to read pages of unskippable dialogue. We learn much more
07:31about an abominable snowman named Conde and a cotton candy obsessed village of Deku's than we do about
07:37Zelda's realised potential. The 3D engine that powered 2019's Link's Awakening remake has apparently been
07:46reused to build Echoes of Wisdom, and it doesn't add much new to that game's pleasing toy world aesthetic.
07:53Traditional Zelda series biomes are reused with little in the way of exciting new visual trickery,
08:01while the game's framerate fluctuates often enough to be at best distracting and at worst
08:07debilitating in the middle of frantic action. The biggest positive exception is the still world,
08:12a satisfying hallucinogenic space where Zelda and Tri must traverse and puzzle solve to reach each of the
08:19game's dungeons. Nintendo should honestly consider making an entire game in the still world,
08:25which slaps random terrain onto floating outer space levels like something out of a Super Mario
08:30Galaxy fever dream. If you like the Zelda series for music, Echoes of Wisdom may be worth buying
08:36just for its soundtrack. Its songs are careful to draw inspiration from classic Zelda leitmotifs,
08:42whilst charting entirely new, surprisingly pleasant melodies in every single biome, and the full live
08:49orchestration is top notch. Its the game's biggest surprise by far. Do not play this game on mute.
08:58But nitpicking Echoes of Wisdom is easy, and I have others like arguably unsatisfying bosses who can be
09:05spammed with simple tactics instead of requiring clever Echo use. Celebrating the game's most clever moments
09:11is trickier, whether because I want to avoid spoilers, or because the possibilities inside Echoes of Wisdom's
09:17best puzzles, dungeons, and open world sequences are truly so vast. The end result is as good of a compromise
09:25as I could imagine between the tight confines of a classic top-down Zelda game, and the wild, massive potential
09:31of something like Breath of the Wild. After beating Echoes of Wisdom, I began dreaming of a sequel,
09:37one where monster and traversal Echoes feel more differentiated, where Echo menus work better,
09:43and where new limits on certain Echoes might force more creativity. To the game's credit, those thoughts
09:50came after many of my major Zelda series dreams had already been fulfilled. I got the top-down series
09:56remix I'd been dying for since 2013's Links Between Worlds had only hinted at such ambitions.
10:02All in all, Nintendo and Grezzo have pulled off a surprisingly refreshing retooling of the Link's
10:07Awakening engine. All hail Princess Zelda. The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom is a refreshing,
10:13albeit brief, series experimentation that blends modern and classic series elements. Using brand new magic
10:19to battle and solve puzzles fits neatly into the top-down Zelda formula, despite some missteps.
10:26Will you be playing Echoes of Wisdom? If so, what are you most looking forward to about it?
10:31Let us know in the comments, and stick with GamesRadar for the latest news, reviews and more!