Echoes of Wisdom’ Isn’t The Game Zelda Deserves

It’s kind of crazy that, despite having her name in the title, Princess Zelda has never actually been the star of her own Legend of Zelda game. Routinely relegated to the damsel in distress, even when she plays a pivotal role in the narrative, Zelda herself has only been playable a handful of times throughout the series’ 38-year history, and always in spin-offs.

It’s something of a joke in Nintendo fandom, where people intentionally misidentify the male protagonist, Link, as Zelda given that he’s actually the face of the brand. You’d think a princess would get the royal treatment, but alas.

That said, it should be a huge deal that the newest game in the franchise, Echoes of Wisdom (out Sept. 26) finally puts Zelda front and center as the hero. Yet, despite having some unique twists on the series’ formula paired with more classical elements, the result is a mixed bag. What should be Zelda’s big moment feels more like consolation prize than a breakthrough.

Take last year’s Tears of the Kingdom. A rare direct sequel in a franchise whose stories are mostly achronological anthology entries, this 2023 outing was the biggest Zelda game ever, following the massive open world format of 2017’s ambitious Breath of the Wild. Both games, in design and scope, shattered conceptions of what a Zelda game could be, with sprawling worlds to explore for hundreds of hours and unique mechanics that encouraged experimentation.

Comparatively, Echoes of Wisdom feels very small. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, nor is it unexpected. Historically, Zelda releases have a certain ebb and flow. Every few years a game comes out, like 1998’s Ocarina of Time or 2002’s Wind Waker, that totally reinvent the franchise to become touchstones; they’re a big deal. In between those releases, there are smaller drops — usually on handhelds like the 3DS — that do a little bit of experimentation and have some fun ideas, but ultimately remain footnotes in the bigger picture. Games like 2004’s The Minish Cap or 2013’s A Link Between Worlds may be fondly remembered, but don’t hold the same weight as the seminal ones.

Unfortunately for Zelda, Echoes of Wisdom is very much one of those footnotes.

In an obvious flip of the script, the game centers on Princess Zelda who, upon being rescued by Link in its opening moments, is thrust into her own hero’s journey as Link is sucked into a mysterious rift. It’s unclear where on the timeline this story fits, but as they often do, these versions of the characters don’t appear to know each other, so it’s up to Zelda to figure out not just who her lost savior is but what is causing the deadly rifts to emerge across her kingdom of Hyrule.

There’s a cheeky playfulness to the proceedings, with Zelda acting as a fugitive from the crown, hiding in plain sight with only a hood to cloak her identity from the denizens of Hyrule she encounters. Without the support of the king or the royal guard, she’s left to build herself up as a hero, much the same as Link does time and again.

Mechanically, the game looks and controls like a classic Zelda game with a top-down isometric view, and the whole engine looks to be lifted from 2019’s remake of Link’s Awakening. Visually, it looks near identical to that game, which gave the characters and its world a cutesy chibi aesthetic that feels lifted straight from a toybox. But there’s some improvements made to its systems and, of course, a special hook that the gameplay hinges on. To differentiate Zelda from Link, the princess is paired with an orb-like companion named Tri, who affords her the power to create “echoes,” replications of items and enemies from the world around her conjured at a whim. Rather than slice her way through enemies with a sword and shield, Zelda instead plays like summoner or druid, able to call on creatures to fight for her or objects to climb and solve puzzles.

Zelda is limited by how many echoes she can conjure at any given time, and certain creatures are more and/or less effective against others, so there’s a sense of Pokémon-like strategy to making sure to know which will be most impactful. Puzzle solving mostly amounts to figuring out which combination of furniture and plants can be laid out to climb or trigger a switch. The sheer number of echoes to conjure quickly becomes overwhelming, with dozens of selections laid out in an ever-growing menu that must be run through constantly every time an action needs to be taken. Eventually, selecting becomes muscle memory, but the persistent busywork required to manage even the simplest situation becomes a slog, pushing players to fall back on the most reliable methods to get the job done quickly rather than try anything new.

But, despite the somewhat innovative new gimmick, players can still swap to the trusty sword and shield for a limited amount of time for more direct attacks. Paired with the creature echoes, swapping to this mode makes for a lethal combo, but it’s a finite resource with its own meter that requires filling over time through pick-ups. Ironically, Zelda takes on Link’s iconic green tunic and cap when she pivots to swordfighter mode, which should be a cute flourish but feels more letting players get a taste of the game the developers assume they actually want. Rather than lean fully into the wizardry, boss fights usually require at least a bit of swordplay regardless. So, what’s the point?

Although it looks like a traditional Zelda, the manipulation of the game’s world evokes the ethos of the more recent sandbox titles like Tears of the Kingdom. The world map is vastly smaller, but still larger than the likes of Link’s Awakening and feels unrestricted by the A to B progression and gatekeeping employed by older entries in the series. Why follow the dirt roads when you can conjure a trampoline to ascend to the treetops and explore the region from up high? Games like Tears of the Kingdom were less an action-adventure and more of a physics playground, and the ability to game the system in Echoes of Wisdom, going places that feel like you shouldn’t be able to, makes this entry feel like a genuine effort to blend the old with the new. Although, it’s more of a diorama shoebox than a sandbox.

Earlier this year, Nintendo gave another princess her own starring role after years on the sideline with Princess Peach Showtime! In that game, Peach was able to take on a bunch of different abilities and play styles that felt different from the standard Mario formula. It also had its own bespoke character design and aesthetic that made it feel special — it was like Peach had actually gotten her own game. Conversely, Echoes of Wisdom looks and feel like Zelda, except this time with… Zelda.

Despite having some interesting new concepts that let the character have a little bit of a departure from the norm, Echoes of Wisdom routinely falls back into its safe zone. It can only go so far before bumping up against the guardrails of familiarity.

It’s a shame because, again, you’d think the person whose name is on the mantle would get treated better. Recycling visuals from a five-year-old game and the basic formula of dozens more, Echoes of Wisdom is wholly unambitious and sadly forgettable. Its minute scope and simple execution makes it seem like Nintendo was afraid to fully commit to giving Zelda a real moment, instead opting to nonchalantly dip their toe in the pool. In another generation, this would be a Game Boy game, made without risk of offending any fan-boy base (emphasis on the “boy”), while still checking off the box of having made a female-centric effort. With the Nintendo Switch, mainline console games and handheld fare are all one in the same.

In the end, Echoes of Wisdom is fine — good, even — but it’s not the game that Zelda deserves. It’s unlikely that we’ll ever see the princess ever get a game with the level of ambition and care that defines the best of the series that bears her name.