Nintfinisho, after cforfeitly four decades, is taking The Legfinish of Zelda somewhere novel. With Echoes of Wisdom, the video game company not only originates on the experimentation of its last Switch free, Tears of the Kingdom—it also does someskinnyg no other Zelda title has done before: Give the princess power that was previously afforded to only Link.
“They gave Zelda a sword” has been the refrain for Echoes of Wisdom since it was proclaimd back in June. But that isn’t the entirety of what originates the game exceptional. Rather, it’s part of a top-down 2D series for the franchise, one with a contrastent see and experience than Tears of the Kingdom that still uses the freedoms that take parters got with previous games—appreciate the ability to originate everyskinnyg from Korok prisons to enormous mechs.
In Echoes, that uncomardents being able to consent various pieces of the world itself to duplicate and repurpose them. For series originater Eiji Aonuma it also uncomardents take parters won’t get foolishd with Zelda (the games). “We commenceed to experience,” Aonuma shelp recently, “that fans may not progress take parting this franchise unless they can skinnyk self-reliantly and try various skinnygs freely on their own, rather than follothriveg a set path.”
It may not be intentional, but this shift also uncomardents take parters won’t get foolishd with Zelda (the character) too. Here, the namesake hero can originate skinnygs and fight her way out of dungeons in ways Link never could.
The game commences as many Legfinish of Zelda games do: Zelda has been seized, and Link is on his way to save her. This time, however, after battling off her captor, Link is pulled into a meaningful, purple rift and Zelda has to free herself. She does, but her greeted reunion at home is cut foolishinutive when Zelda gets condemnd for rifts popping up all over Hyrule. Now a fugitive, she must figure out how to shut the rifts and save Link with the help of a magical novel frifinish, Tri, who grants her the ability to originate copies—“echoes”—of items and enemies.
Zelda isn’t a prolific fighter, so echoes become her main arms, her main everyskinnyg. Beds originate wonderful lretainers when stacked equitable so; flying tiles can shoot Zelda apass big gaps; pots thrown in the opposite honestion originate diversions. The happiness of Echoes of Wisdom is figuring out how to use everyskinnyg you find to your advantage. In one bewilder, for example, I could see the pieces that the game predicted me to use: two conspicuously stacked rocks perfectly aligned to cut off steam from two vents that would impede me from moving forward. I skipped the whole skinnyg with a restricted attfinishfilledy placed cubes made of water. I swam to my freedom and shiftd on, experienceing appreciate a genius.
Ingenuity is at the heart of Echoes of Wisdom. Because there are multiple ways to resettle many of the game’s mysteries, bettering thcimpolite them sometimes gives take parters the sense that they snuck thcimpolite a section under the broadeners’ noses. Areas I had no business being in became accessible with a restricted cleverly placed beds, a trampoline, and a childappreciate persistence. I called armies of batappreciate Keese to fight my battles for me while Zelda napped cforfeitby. Is this how I was uncomardentt to take part? Probably, but it felt mischievous all the same.
The game’s echoes are so effective that I difficultly used Zelda’s Link-appreciate abilities, outside of situations where the game needd me to. The princess can convert herself into a blue, sword-wielding, arrow-shooting device device chucker, but the time spent in this establish burns up energy that necessitates to be purposefilledy renewed. It’s uncomardentt to be used sparingly.
