The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

Verdict

I think that The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has the potential to become 2024’s best game for the Switch.

Introduction

For the first time in the franchise’s history, Zelda steps up to the plate in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

After Breath of the Wild and then Tears of the Kingdom, The Legend of Zelda has had an absolute whirlwind of a time on Nintendo Switch.

With the shift to open-world design and a gameplay loop that prioritises exploration, the series has never been better. But Echoes of Wisdom is here to show that there’s still plenty of life in the classic top-down format.

With that said, even though the game’s design borrows heavily from the 2019 remake of Link’s Awakening, Echoes of Wisdom feels far more like Breath of the Wild in its attempt to tread new ground. After playing a snippet of the game ahead of release, I’m pleased to report that this end-of-life-cycle exclusive could end up being one of the best Switch games.

Gameplay and Story

• Zelda can’t attack enemies the way Link can
• You need to create objects and allies to pave a way forward
• Classic dungeon crawling remains

Until now, almost every Zelda game has revolved around one basic quest line: find Zelda and save Hyrule. It’s a tried and tested format that’s worked perfectly well until now, but to save the series from stagnation, Echoes of Wisdom puts Zelda at the forefront of its story.

This time around it’s Link who has been carried away by an ominous rift that threatens to engulf Hyrule. Zelda manages to escape the same fate in the nick of time, but with no swordsman to save the day, she must team up with Tri – a fairy-like figure that lives inside the rift – and become the new hero of Hyrule.

Because Zelda isn’t a trained fighter however, she needs to rely on a different form of offence to stave off enemies, which is exactly where the Tri Rod comes into play. This powerful staff allows Zelda to clone objects and subjects throughout the land and use them strategically to her advantage.

For instance, these clones (also known as Echoes) can be a table that allows you to reach a certain height, or an enemy Moblin that, when summoned, can fight your battles for you. That might sound simple enough on paper, but I was surprised by the amount of depth at play.

During my playthrough, I noticed that some of the journalists around me had tackled certain puzzles in a completely different manner from how I had approached them. In this way, the game subtly implores you to experiment with the Echoes you have available and to find the most streamlined way forward.

Without giving anything away, I also noticed a bit of strategy at hand in deciding which characters to summon during a battle. Some Echoes are more effective against specific enemies than others, so it’s up to you to play around and figure out what works best.

There’s an additional element to combat in the ‘Swordfighter Form’ too. When Zelda unlocks this ability, she can use the power of a mysterious sword to become as skilled as Link and dish out damage in the classic way that fans are used to. The ability is limited to a replenishable energy gauge though, so you have to pick and choose when to use it.

The Tri Rod also gives Zelda the ability to bind herself to an object, allowing both herself and the object to move in sync. There’s even a ’reverse bond’ mode that inverts this concept, tying Zelda to the movement of another character. It’s an interesting mechanic that allows for some fairly impressive puzzles, but I will say that the control scheme becomes somewhat convoluted once this ability is introduced.

Far too often I found myself accidentally summoning an Echo when I wanted to bind, or binding when I needed to set up a reverse bond. I’m sure that more time with the game will fix this issue, but I can imagine players having a similar experience during the title’s initial stages.

Graphics and Performance

• A returning art style that’s still gorgeous
• Characters carry plenty of emotion
• Similar performance issues return

Even though Echoes of Wisdom isn’t a direct sequel to Link’s Awakening, the game still carries the latter’s art style with its toy-box style aesthetic. Characters are cutesy yet expressive, and the enemies, while fierce, could easily be part of a child’s playset.

It’s a wonderful design choice that makes everything a joy to look at, and even though I played the game in docked mode, I could sense that it would look even better on the Nintendo Switch OLED’s colourful screen.

Going into the preview, I was more curious to see how the game would hold up from a technical perspective. Although Breath of the Wild ran like a dream, Link’s Awakening was plagued with slowdown which hampered the experience, and eventually led me to stop playing.

I had hoped that Echoes of Wisdom would fix these issues, and it has to a degree, but I still noticed moments of slowdown during my playtime. No moment was quite as egregious as what I had seen from Link’s Awakening, but I still don’t quite understand why a top-down Zelda should be incurring these issues at all, particularly when the Switch had no issues rendering the massive backdrops from Tears of the Kingdom.

It’s a shame too because at this point in time, I see the technical limitations of Echoes of Wisdom being the only major thing holding the game back, and so I hope that it’s not too late to fix them, or at least render them infrequent.

Early Verdict

Even though my hands-on time with the game was relatively short, I think that The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has the potential to become 2024’s best game for the Switch.

The gameplay feels fresh and engaging, making me feel more excited about a top-down Zelda game than I have in years, and similar to titles like Breath of the Wild and 2018’s God of War, Echoes of Wisdom could be another example of how to reinvent a classic series for a new era. I only hope that technical issues don’t hamper the final product.