With “Echoes of Wisdom” Zelda finally becomes a star

One of the peculiarities of The Legend of Zelda series is that the protagonist’s name is not included in the title. Princess Zelda is the damsel in distress, the person who needs saving, but over the course of several iterations, Nintendo has fleshed out her character and she has gone through several changes over the years.

Meanwhile, Link has remained mostly the same. He is the mostly silent hero, venturing through dungeons and overcoming adversity with courage and determination. In The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom the roles are finally reversed. Zelda has evolved from the person in distress to the hero who comes to the rescue.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb4__RzOVNsA fresh take on “Zelda”Luckily, Nintendo didn’t do a pixel swap and call it a day. The team at Nintendo and Grezzo created a more thoughtful version of an adventure starring Zelda. It begins with a familiar prologue in which players control Link, who faces a pig monster resembling the original Ganon. It’s an easy victory, but what looks like the end is actually the beginning.

The creature’s defeat creates a rift that captivates Link, and in his last desperate act, he fires an arrow that frees Zelda. She escapes with a being named Tri and discovers more rifts breaking through Hyrule. Together they must close these gaps and find a way to stop them.

NARRATIVE AND GAMEPLAY COMPLEXITYOn the surface, “Echoes of Wisdom” seems to be a typical top-down “Zelda.” The graphics feel like an extension of Grezzo’s other work on the franchise, a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, but the gameplay and storytelling of this Zelda-focused title are far more complex. The cracks create corrupt clones of humans and monsters. They invade and cause misunderstandings and chaos in the regions where they arise. It’s Zelda’s job to fill in the gaps.

The structure is largely open, giving players free rein to move through Hyrule. You’ll encounter side quests and mini-games, but Echoes of Wisdom never feels cluttered, with campaign markers keeping players on the main path. The formula is somewhat familiar and each region has a dungeon and rifts to close, but the storylines make each scenario different. If this were a TV series, each new biome would feel like an episode leading to a satisfying finale.

INVENTIVE WAYS TO PLAYThe other half of Echoes of Wisdom’s fantastic formula is the gameplay. Zelda doesn’t use a sword, but rather a Tri Rod that copies certain items so she can use them later. For example, she can clone a bed and use it as a platform to build a bridge over a chasm. She can also create echoes from enemies, but must defeat them first. These monsters fight for her and allow her to defeat enemies. It’s reminiscent of how a Pokémon trainer uses a pocket monster, but it’s set in a Zelda-like setting.

The major downside to using Echoes is that they come from Tri’s power and the entity only has a limited number. As players seal rifts, Tri becomes more powerful, allowing Zelda to cast more Echoes and stronger versions of them, but the limits of the power force players to use it more creatively.

As the campaign progresses, players acquire the ability to attach themselves to an item, have Zelda move it, or have the hero move it if it is a moving platform or a box floating on the surface. She also acquires automatons that function like Echos but have more powerful abilities.

Although players rely primarily on these three powers, she still has one final trick up her sleeve. Zelda can transform into an Echo of Link if she needs to deal direct damage.

CREATIVE SOLUTIONSIt’s a diverse toolbox, but the magic is that it allows players to find multiple ways to solve a problem. Players will encounter 127 echoes that can be used depending on the situation. Ignizole, a burning slime, is effective against plant enemies. Spear Moblins are perfect against nimble flying opponents.