The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom contains many great life lessons that we should all consider: getting other people to do things for you; talking to cats is worth it; making friends with spiders is a good thing; horses can smell carrots from hundreds of miles away. Oh, and beds solve all problems.
Okay, seriously, this is the first all-new top-down Zelda game since 2015. Tri Force HeroEchoes of Wisdom is a near-perfect blend of old and new. Like many of Nintendo’s best titles, this adventure fully embraces the magic of gaming, the magic of curiosity. This time, however, that essence has been distilled into a small, top-down experience, complete with gorgeous minfigure visuals from Grezzo. Link’s Awakening remake and the developer is back to once again create magic with this series.
For the first time in a mainline entry, Zelda is unabashedly heroic, with no caveats whatsoever. But this is still a Legend of Zelda game, which means that structurally it will be very familiar to anyone who’s played 2D Zelda before – come here, solve a local problem, go to a dungeon, fight a boss, etc. It’s really fun to explore Hyrule in this art style, and seeing the glossy trees of Hyrule Field and the clear waters of Jabul Waters and Faron Wetlands is a delight. The flute rendition of the Hyrule Field theme, complete with a new twist on Zelda’s Lullaby, also gets our hearts pumping.
While Echoes of Wisdom is certainly a ‘classic’ Zelda, it takes that old formula and turns it into something new thanks to the protagonist himself. You can’t just rush in with the Master Sword and Hookshot; you actually have to reprogram your brain on how you deal with every situation thanks to the Tri Rod, a stick given to the princess by her new adorable companion, Tri. It can be used to create copies of various items and enemies across Hyrule.
As you progress, you’ll accumulate a huge catalogue of Echoes to summon for all your needs, and you can also summon multiple Echoes at once as you level up your flying yellow friend. It’s never not satisfying to send a mob of Moblins to take out a group of enemies while you’re mowing the lawn or scavenging for hidden ladders or items. Every boss and enemy encounter is a little puzzle to solve, whether it’s using the right monster Echo or using elements via Water Blocks or Braziers.
In a pinch, Zelda Maybe Use a sword by switching to Swordfighter Form. Eventually, you’ll get to use a bow and some bombs, which gives you a brief glimpse into Link’s gameplay, but it’s not a help: despite being incredibly powerful, Zelda can only maintain this form for a few seconds—a bit longer when fully upgraded—so if you want to use it, you’ll need to make it count.
Using Echoes, Zelda fully embraces the plastic aesthetic and Hyrule feels like a giant toy box filled with puzzles, where everything from retrieving Heart Pieces to fighting enemies requires careful consideration. Where large trees Link’s Awakening or A link to the past acting as obstacles separating areas, Zelda can simply use beds, rocks, or even clouds to climb and walk on. It gives a level of freedom we’ve never seen in a top-down Zelda game before. With Echoes, compared to both Breath of the Wild And Tears of the Kingdom is more appropriate – just on a smaller scale and more tightly controlled.
Like the Switch era’s open-world 3D adventures, Echoes of Wisdom gives you more to do than just explore and use Echoes. Side quests are fun little diversions that lead you to hidden dungeons, optional bosses, and the occasional gadget to help Zelda. You can run around and collect stamps for Hyrule’s weird little guy, Stamp Guy. Eventually, you also get Automatons, cool little robotic creatures that seem a little useless, especially when you assemble an army of enemy Echoes throughout the game that can do everything these metal guys can do.
Going back to more traditional Zelda qualities, similar to the Dark World, there’s a strange alternate world for Zelda to explore: the Still World. As Zelda enters creepy purple cracks throughout the game, you’ll discover cracked pockets of Hyrule that you need to restore. Trees have been ripped from the ground and are floating; bodies of water now hang in mid-air; and the people of Hyrule are in a state of motionless, dripping black. Navigating these little segments is incredibly fun: many are optional and reward you with upgrades for your Tri, but most are home to a true Zelda staple – dungeons.
Echoes of Wisdom applies its entire philosophy to the series’ classic top-down dungeons, and it works. None of the dungeons are particularly difficult, but they’re classic Zelda, complete with puzzles, keys, locked rooms full of monsters, and so on. There are also side sections, both inside and outside of the dungeon, that require you to use Echoes more intelligently. Even the stealth sections are fun, especially if you accidentally trap soldiers together so that only one can see you but they’re blocked by the others. We’re glad we were able to make more stupid decisions like this in a top-down environment. Plus, if you want a more challenging experience, you can switch to Hero Mode at any time—it’s worth it, because it’s sure to keep you entertained.
Another ability you need to master is Bind. Using Tri, Zelda can ‘bind’ herself to enemies and objects and teleport them to her own movements or follow their move. Or, like us, you can use it to drop enemies into a bottomless pit. It takes a while to get used to, especially after countless hours of using Magnesis or Ultrahand, but it can be incredibly useful.
When you’re in crowded rooms filled with crates, boulders, and enemies, you may need to be more specific about what you want to bind. Unfortunately, this involves tapping the ‘Target’ button over and over again until you land on the thing you’re aiming for – whether it’s in combat or just solving a puzzle. You don’t demand to lock onto a target if the item is right in front of you, but when the item is high up or the enemy is in the air, aiming becomes necessary and the constant moving makes things more difficult than necessary.
There’s another persistent issue, one that’s been present in the Link’s Awakening remake: performance drops. Like the 2019 game, Echoes of Wisdom’s framerate, while aiming for a steady 60fps, is inconsistent. If you enjoy spinning around the overworld and mowing grass, you’ll notice framerate drops quite often. Hebra Mountain and Gerudo Desert also have issues, where sandstorms and snow make everything feel bumpy. Inside buildings and in dungeons, the game is silky smooth, making the overworld’s occasional stutters (docked and handheld) all the more noticeable.
Otherwise, this 15-20 hour adventure is a Zelda fan’s dream. With classic ‘2D’ gameplay and 3D experimentation combined, the uniqueness of Echoes of Wisdom reminds us that there’s room for both Zeldas in this world, not just remakes and sequels. That alone makes us happy to wield the Tri Rod and cause some chaos to the monsters of Hyrule.
