At least they Tri’d.
While the legacy of Link has been told through games titled “The Legend of Zelda” we've only been able to control the titular Princess Zelda in games like Hyrule Warriors, Smash Bros, or that god-awful CDI game. So, when the team behind the Link's Awakening remake revealed this new adventure, one starring Zelda in the lead role, I wasn't immediately thrilled at what I saw. Don't get me wrong, I am all for Zelda getting her due, but after wrapping credits on this little adventure, I'm not sure this was the best debut.
Echoes of Wisdom immediately starts off as you'll take control of Link, a scenario that occurs the moment you boot up the game. Soon enough, you'll encounter Ganon, who has trapped Zelda in a crystal. When you'll defeat him, a mysterious rift then swallows Link, pulling him into its sinister depths. However, in Link’s final moment, he fires off an arrow and cracks the crystal and Zelda has to escape the growing rift that means to ravage this world.
After a series of events, Zelda will encounter Tri, a being that is tasked with stopping the rifts. They will grant you the Tri-rod, and its power then allows you to mimic objects and organic life as “echoes”, allowing you to use them to traverse gaps, send units into battle, or anything your Imagination desires; at least to a point. Initially, you'll be limited in what you can summon, how much you can summon, and so on. Despite having a wand, Zelda herself cannot fight, no matter how much you want to.
To aid in that limitation, you'll eventually track down the Master Sword, and it will allow you to temporarily transform into a spiritual version of Link, using his abilities and also allowing you to improve them, as well as increasing the time you can remain in this form. This is by collecting mysterious crystals as you progress and then choosing what elements of this ability you wish to enhance. While Zelda is the star of the show, it is unfortunate that (a spiritual version of) Link essentially comes to Zelda’s rescue during the bulk of the game in at least some way. It's almost as if they were not confident in Zelda being in the driver's seat or able to actually fight back.
Zelda’s power to summon “Echoes” of whatever she encounters will range from tables, beds, plants, and jars, to any number of beasties you'll encounter. In fact, there are almost too many enemy types to sort through with the bulk of them being absolutely worthless in battle due to some awful AI. At first, your power is limited, meaning you can only summon a single large enemy but two to three smaller types. Eventually, you'll upgrade your power to lessen the cost of the monsters you can summon, allowing you to flex your creative muscle a bit further. That said, while you'll have dozens of choices, in reality, you'll only end up summoning the three or four that really work for you.
While this system can be enjoyable as you see your Moblins, Crawltula’s, or Wolfos duking it out, you constantly have to maneuver Zelda out of harm's way, given you have no offensive or defensive skills to use apart from resummoning an ally next to where you are, hoping they take the hit. While you can swap to Link’s spirit to slash away at what is near you, it's not terribly intuitive as you need to swap to Link first, which has an animation, and then attack, something that takes a tad longer than what the immediate threat may entail.
However, when it comes to traversing the world via these echoes, there are various ways to manipulate the core systems in ways similar to Tears of the Kingdom, but on a much smaller scale. Still, when it came to what worked for me, the bed was beyond OP and the item I used the most. Not only can you sleep in it to earn back health, albeit very slowly, it is one of the best tools to use. I would often summon a few smaller enemies to distract the boss and then get a few seconds of rest in the corner. While other echoes can serve their purpose better to get around, stacking four or five beds to get where I was going almost always worked. And if it ain't broke…
While having access to all these echoes can make for some clever experimentation, the menu for them is simply awful. While you can sort them from those that are most used to the order in which you found them, having to scroll for ages to find something felt like bad design. Sure, I could open the monster/item screen and find what I wanted there, but I wish I could have made a loadout and kept my most used there, sorted by type. I ended up skipping out on retrieving the echoes of several fallen monsters that I knew would be useless so I didn't have to add another few seconds to scrolling to find what I wanted. As it stands, it is just a badly implemented system. I would go as far as saying it is indeed terrible.
Zelda will also be able to move objects telepathically via the Tri-rod. This allows her to match the movements of the object to manipulate it to serve the needs of the puzzle. This works fairly well, as does tethering yourself to things like birds to fly into the air. Players have even found ways to essentially fly across the map using this method or speedrun the game in under half an hour. This also allows you to summon Echoes at a distance, allowing for more creative ways to perform whatever it is you're aiming to do. Still, while all that sounds exciting, this sort of ability is pretty locked to the puzzle at hand and has limits on what will likely work.
That said, there is a good deal of experimental design here, especially as you'll find treasure off the beaten path. However, most chests simply contain ingredients for your smoothies, gold, or the odd item you may need. Smoothies replace cooking as Zelda will find a Smoothie Merchant that can craft concoctions based on various ingredients you find. Smoothies can refill your hearts, grant resistance to heat and cold, as well as being able to breathe underwater a fair bit longer. Honestly, I ended up just making smoothies that refilled my health as I never found reasons for anything else. My only gripe with the smoothie system is that you can only craft one at a time. I often would put on a YouTube video when I want to make enough to fill my inventory.
Zelda's adventure to stop the rifts will take her across the Hyrule Kingdom, albeit under a pretty flimsy disguise. Eventually, you'll reveal your identity and will visit all manners of typical Legend of Zelda foundations such as Goron City, Kakariko Village, Gerudo Desert, and the Zora Domain. Each region will have its own little narrative as you attempt to close the rifts there and save many of Tri’s friends in the process. These stories are pretty basic and are not too involving and their characters disappear from the story after you've left that zone.
What generally hurts these bite-size arcs is the writing. Whether it is a localization issue or just poor writing, the dialogue and moments are lacking and simply feel juvenile in their efforts. The bulk of these stories have a single theme and never look to add depth to anything presented here. I couldn't tell you a single character name from this entire adventure, whereas I can still recall characters from Windwaker or Twilight Princess.
Each region will have a series of smaller dungeons where you merely jump in, find Tri’s friends and purge the area of its darkness. The larger rifts contain a dungeon, but even these are lacking and overly simplistic. The Legend of Zelda series has often remained kid-friendly, but this is easily the most kid-centric title as nearly anything you encounter is far too simple and singular in its focus. You’ll find the odd clever puzzle, but eventually you’ll find yourself tackling the game basic ideas across this roughly 20-hour adventure.
The Link’s Awakening remake was known for its performance issues and unfortunately, Echoes of Wisdom fares no better and in fact, due to the increased size of its world, it can often be a worse experience. While the game can sometimes run silky smooth, you can often see the framerate drop from 60 to 30 just walking around. This is due to the game constantly loading in level data. You’ll also notice framerate dips when entering dungeons; however, this is no way near as bad as the overworld. The resolution also takes a dive from 1080p to 720p when you explore the main overworld, largely due to its increased size from Link’s Awakening.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is an extremely lacking Nintendo debut for the titular Princess Zelda. While the experimentation is often engaging, the menu system to explore that creativity is an utter annoyance. That said, you’ll often use the same tools over and over again to get the results you want due to them working well enough that newly discovered items will either cost more to summon or lack the flow you already have working for you. Monster AI is awful when it comes to using them in battle, and Zelda’s inability to even fight or defend herself with the Tri-rod is disappointing, especially since she has to rely on a spiritual version of Link to really engage in combat. Echoes of Wisdom can be charming and look the part, but it’s evidently clear that Miyamoto wasn’t evolved as it lacks that typical Zelda magic.
Developer - Grezzo, Nintendo Entertainment and Development.
Publisher - Nintendo. Released - September 26th, 2024. Available On - Nintendo Switch. Rated - (E 10+) - Fantasy Violence. Platform Reviewed - Nintendo Switch OLED (Portable). Review Access - The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was borrowed for review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.