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The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom preview – five points that caught my eye

4/9/2024

I played The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom before its launch on 26 September. I was thrilled – with the exception of two minor flaws.

After last year’s Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo is once again venturing into a 2D The Legend of Zelda, bringing a bird’s-eye view to Echoes of Wisdom. The special thing about this spin-off? For the first time in the history of the series, you control Princess Zelda, not Link.

I played the cute adventure for around an hour at a preview event and was delighted with the gameplay. These five points in particular caught my eye:

1. Princess Zelda has a sword after all, hooray

Unlike swordsman Link, Princess Zelda relies on a magic wand in her adventure. She can use it to copy certain objects and enemies and then clone them as Echoes. These can be used in battle or to solve puzzles.

As a long-time fan, I was sceptical. Does a Legend of Zelda adventure even work without a sword?

Zelda’s main weapon in the game: a magic rod.
Source: Nintendo

After trying the game, I can give the all-clear. Turns out the princess does find a magic sword relatively early on in the game. With it, she can activate Swordfighter Form. She controls like Link, swinging her blade.

The form only lasts a few seconds, then I have to recharge it with magic resources. According to Nintendo, I’ll be able to gradually extend the duration of Swordfighter Form as the adventure progresses. In any case, I’m really looking forward to taking down enemies with my sword from time to time in Echoes of Wisdom.

Zelda can fight with a magic sword – even if only for a short time.
Source: Nintendo

2. Using the Tri Rod leaves me in stitches

If I can’t attack enemies in Swordfighter Form, I have to get creative with my wand. If a monster attacks, for example, I conjure up a clone myself. The critters will then fight each other while I sit back and watch. Or I simply set fire to the surrounding grass with a flaming object to really heat up the combatants.

Cloned items can also be used defensively. If my health falls low in battle, I conjure up a bed and refill my heart bar with a power nap. This leads to wonderfully absurd situations – especially during an epic boss fight.

I distract this Moblin with a conjured piece of meat, then attack him with cloned stones and bats.
Source: Nintendo

The game lets my imagination run wild. The only resource I need to keep track of is the magic available to me. Every cloned item and every monster costs magic points. Once these have been used up, your oldest clone is deleted. I’ll also be able to upgrade my magic through the course of the adventure.

3. The world is huge, and there are «real» dungeons

During my play session, I catch a glimpse of the Echoes of Wisdom world map. It looks massive.

The map of Hyrule, zoomed in. In my hour of playtime, I only make little progress. The world feels huge.
Source: Nintendo

The trailers released so far confirm that the world is massive. Many exciting regions have already been teased – including a desert, a swamp and a volcano. According to Nintendo, there are fewer obstacles and guard rails when exploring the world compared to previous 2D Zelda titles. I’m curious to see if the game gives me similar freedom to Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom.

Some areas are explored side-on – like in Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link.
Source: Nintendo

Aside from the overworld, I get to explore a dungeon too. It’s located in one of the mysterious interdimensional rifts that have suddenly appeared in Hyrule. Fans of traditional Zelda dungeons can rejoice. This section of the game feels really old school.

I roam from room to room, solving exciting puzzles, defeating enemies and collecting keys. Glorious. Nintendo confirms that dungeons later in the game will be massive. In addition, the trailers so far suggest that later dungeons will once again have different thematic focuses, such as fire, water, ice, etc.

The sometimes generic, small and disappointing dungeons from the Breath of the Wild era seem to be history.

A master key leading to the final boss. This dungeon is reminiscent of old Zelda classics.
Source: Nintendo

4. Puzzles are reminiscent of Tears of the Kingdom

The dungeons feel old school, but the approach to puzzles is all the more modern. They’re more reminiscent of the open gameplay from Tears of the Kingdom.

There isn’t one correct solution to a puzzle, but several paths leading to the goal – whether in a dungeon or the overworld. If I have to climb a wall, I can use Zelda’s rod to conjure up and stack previously copied tables or chairs as Echoes. Alternatively, I could clone a spider hanging from the ceiling and use its thread as a climbing rope.

If I have to destroy thick wooden crates, I conjure up a fire monster and burn them. Or I clone a rock and let it crash onto the wood from a ledge.

To get to the treasure chest, I clone tables and a trampoline.
Source: Nintendo

I also like Zelda’s new Bind ability. The princess uses it to telekinetically move objects, monsters and Echoes. In the very first dungeon, the game forces me to make creative use of the new ability. I push statues back and forth behind bars to operate inaccessible switches.

With Bind, I can easily move even massive rocks.
Source: Nintendo

The extremely fast pace at which I copy new items and unlock them as an Echo gives me a bit of whiplash. I often lost track of which items I have in my repertoire during the play session. This is also due to the somewhat cumbersome selection menu, which presents unlocked items in a horizontal line. I hope I’ll be able to find my way around the mass of cloneable items and monsters in the finished game.

The confusing clone menu is reminiscent of the Fuse function in Tears of the Kingdom.
Source: Nintendo

5. The game looks great… and jerky

Echoes of Wisdom looks very similar to the 2019 Switch remake of Link’s Awakening. The style is beautiful, and I immediately fell in love with the cute characters and detailed miniature world with its tilt-shift effect.

I’m not as fond of the technical implementation of the game world. Even in Link’s Awakening, I was constantly accompanied by stutters. I get more of the same in the demo for Echoes of Wisdom. And quite often.

You can find out whether any technical flaws are ironed out in the finished game in my detailed review coming soon. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom will be released on 26 September for the Switch.