The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - Review
There are some videogame series that have honestly reached legendary status, pun intended, and The Legend of Zelda is one such series, which is why it is surprising that its taken this long to get a good game starring Zelda. While many players want forget that CD-i release, is this new adventure one to help wash the other away, or is an echo of things we have endured before?
The game starts off at the end of an adventure, with Link facing off against Ganon, or at least that is the impression that the developers want you to get. After the foe is bested, a giant tear appears and Link is pulled into it, but before he is gone, he manages to get a lone arrow off, which is enough to crack the crystal that Zelda is trapped within. After escaping the place of her torment and the ever growing tear, Zelda returns to the castle, only to see her father the king and his aides pulled into another tear. Branded as the cause of the troubles plaguing the kingdom, Zelda is imprisoned and that is where she meets Tri. This glowing spectral being creates a rod for Zelda which lets her create echoes of objects and enemies and after making an escape from the castle, the adventure really begins. One of the big aspects about this game was that you would be able to do pretty much anything like you could like in Tears of the Kingdom, as such the story does give you some leeway in how it plays out but only insofar as you choose the order events take place in.
The main story requires you to visit certain locations in order to trigger certain events which is completely understandable, the order that you can do these in is entirely up to you but it doesn't actually matter. I never noticed anyone making a reference to the fact that one area was restored over another, or that somebody was happy their region had been repaired but another area was still exposed to the tear. Well, it's probably my fault that I went in expecting it to have a little more versatility in the stories presentation, the fact that there's no real impact on picking one option just feels a little cheap. Beyond the main story there are countless side quests that you can undertake, some folks have longed to see a type of monster or thought they saw something else and for a few people they just need help obtaining some items. The side quests aren't all that exciting, sometimes trying to work out what somebody's vague description actually means can be fun but the end result isn't something you'll want to play this game to experience.
What you want to play the game for is for the gameplay and here things are a mix of new and old but it's not a perfect blend it's a little more like oil and water. Of course, the major addition to the gameplay is the fact that Zelda can create echoes, facsimiles of items or enemies that she's encountered in the world, which she can then use to do whatever she needs to do. This mechanic from an explanation point of view sounds like it could be a lot of fun, it could open up events and locations in ways you'll never have experienced before, but it doesn't. Ok let me explain this first, because Zelda can climb up any cliff face or hop onto the top of trees and run across them, the overworld is free to explore via any means that you can imagine. The problem is the games dungeons lack that freedom, yes if there's a particularly large gap in front of you, you can use your bed or clouds or any other object that you can stack to make a bridge to get across, but that's like saying somebody can dig a hole with a shovel or hoe or a pickaxe, same outcome from a slightly different tool.
There is a lot of variety with the echoes that you can obtain, but apart from single use cases where it was something for a puzzle, I rarely strayed from the dozen or so that I used. The problem with giving people unlimited items and quote unquote unlimited freedom, in how they use those items is that it removes a sense of exploration because you got a new item. Traditional Zelda games spaced out item obtainment as a way of ensuring that players were familiar with all the ways you can use an item before another one was presented. This also benefited you outside of dungeons in that you could revisit areas you've been to before and use your newly obtained item. Here that doesn't exist, one of the very first things you'll ever obtain is a bed and we've seen in countless trailers, Zelda stacking that bed, even in my final moments of the game I was still using that bed as a platform. The problem with having an infinite array of items to use is that you're never going to use all the items. It would have been far more enjoyable if there was a sense of discovery to an echo and that once you found an item, it would give you a real sense that you have more options to choose from, rather than getting a 3rd bed or 4th pot.
This also highlights another problem with this system, when you bring open the menu, there are 5 default sorting ways you can view all the echoes you've got in your inventory. For me I went with most used as it just made sense for what I was used to, but the problem pops up when you get a new echo and you have to scroll all the way across to the other side past 50 or 60 different options. If you selected the wrong option you have to go back in and repeat and while there are other sorting options provided by the game, none of them really nailed down a great way of presenting all that you had access to. One option they could have implemented was literally being able to favorite the ones you preferred and yes upon obtaining a new one you'd have to go in and either favorite it or scroll through a giant menu, but it still would have made an item that you use but not frequently use more accessible.
If this was my only gripe with the gameplay I probably wouldn't be so down on the game but there's a second and probably more annoying issue with the game and that's that it takes away the sword, but also requires that you use a sword. Playing through this game it did remind me of Deus Ex Mankind Divided, that game would let you be a super stealthy person or an action person, really however you wanted to play the game it would let you do it, but all the boss fights were not for those who played stealthy or hacky. What that meant is that if you got into a fight and you didn't have 100 guns with you, you're probably going to die and while that doesn't happen to the same extent here the game really emphasizes the fact that you have a temporary hero mode where you have a sword. What this means is that you can use an echo in combat, in the overworld or small dungeon room it's not really an issue, but in a boss fight if you're using an echo it's going to take a long time. But as the game constantly provides you with energy to refresh your hero meter, it's a not so subtle nudge to remind you that you have a sword and if you do bust it out you can deal a heck of a lot more damage all at once. The other issue in using an echo in a big boss fight, is that you have no control over that echo, so you can't attack whenever you want or push the echo back into the fray you're literally just standing back and letting them do whatever they would normally do as an enemy you might encounter.
I know it sounds like I'm being harsh on the game here and to some extent that is true because the game as I said it's a mix of oil and water. There are some parts that are just phenomenal, the world and dungeon designs are great and I'd love to see a good classic Zelda dungeon, but when you couple in the echo gameplay and the not so subtle you have a sword meter, it stands against what it's promising you can do. I don't think there's a way they could have done anything different based on what they've presented to the public, but as an option being able to control directly Level 3 echoes would make some encounters more enjoyable because you were in control rather than just watching the show.
Thankfully watching the show does mean you get to enjoy the stunning art style that is again in use here. Nintendo and developer Grezzo came up with an incredible art style for the links awakening remake and seeing that style again here highlights just how versatile it can be. While none of the characters have incredible range in their movements they still have heaps of emotion on their faces. General Wright is a particular example of this because the character is always surprised at something and when it is you'll see it on his face. As for the Princess I wish there was something I could say that was positive about her look, but there's not, in fact she spends most of the opening moments of the game hiding who she is. You can change outfits later on and it does give you a little sense of ownership of the character, I myself ended up beating the game with Zelda dressed as a cat person, but there's nothing that says this is Princess Zelda when you're looking at the character outside of maybe having a Princess looking dress on.
One area that I honestly don't like is Tri and the still world, starting with the latter it just didn't click as a place that felt dangerous. The game does try to explain what it is later on and I won't say here to avoid a spoiler but having come from Tears of the Kingdom and the Depths, having another shadowy place, it really needed to do something more. As cute as Tri can be, with the naïve view of the world, I had a realization about two hours in on the character and once I saw it I couldn't unsee it. Tri is a combination of a Luma from Mario Galaxy and a Metroid and that's emphasized by the design of the final boss there's a lot of Metroid in this game. Now I adore Metroid it's a series that holds a special place in my heart but once I saw Tri as a chibi Metroid the character kind of lost all impact. Probably one of the biggest stars of the game is the overworld, it's just so vibrant and colourful yes there are sometimes where things don't look quite as nice, but it still shines. A lot of the locations do repeat from other Zelda games, however combining them with this new art style, does make them feel entirely new and I just had so much fun exploring them.
The game sadly isn't without its issues it does chug quite a bit, now I'm not someone who normally cares about lag in games, every game has some lag to some degree. The problem is when your game has a pretty consistent case of it, it becomes noticeable and therefore becomes a problem. It doesn't impact the overall experience the game still is fun, but when you see it start to struggle to display a screen devoid of enemies and just mostly trees you kind of wonder what else it might struggle with later on.
When it comes to the games audio there's really not much to say about it, a lot of the games themes are variations on music you've already heard if you're a Zelda fan. There's nothing wrong with them some of them are very delightful to hear but there's nothing overly new and exciting to really point out and go this new track is amazing you have to hear it. Tri’s weird chime noise is cute at first, but then quickly becomes more like a doorbell noise, each time I heard it I groaned.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a nice game, it has a charming world, delightful characters and a unique story. Sadly, its main hook, being able to recreate items and enemies at will is just to bloated with options, that many will go unused and that is assuming you can find them in the menu. Most boss fights really need you to use the sword and if you decide not to, you will be there for quite a while. Under all that there is a solid game here, it just sadly won’t become a legend on its own.
The Score
8.0
Review code provided by Nintendo
The Pros
The world is quite charming and while it uses some familiar locations, it still feels fresh
The Echoes that you can obtain give you a lot of freedom to explore the world…
The Cons
…but the number of them and the less than ideal management, makes it hard to use them all
The game keeps forcing you to use a sword and if you don’t, boss fights take forever
