Finally, close to 40 years after the first game we are getting a mainline The Legend of Zelda game that features Zelda as the protagonist. After having a little over an hour with the game, anyone who has loved the simple mechanics that have given players so much amazing creative freedom, like in Tears of the Kingdom, should be scrambling to get their hands on Echoes of Wisdom.
Rifts opened up over a Hyrule with people, buildings, monsters, and more falling into the abyss. Started by some magical event Zelda is implicated in, she is blamed and sent to jail. That’s where we see the game begin.
While in her cell, a new magical friend named Tri shows up to lend Zelda a hand. Tri has a mutual need to see the rifts closed and people rescued as their friends are trapped because of them as well.
Tri offers Zelda their power, which comes in the form of the Tri Rod. This gives Zelda some really amazing abilities that are both simple to understand yet endless in their possibilities.
Echoes Are Simple Yet Powerful
The main use of the Tri-Rod is the collection and use of Echoes. Echoes are when Zelda absorbs or learns the essence of an object or enemy to then be able to make a copy of them herself later.
For example, the first thing you’ll get access to is a short table. At a touch of a button it is added to your catalogue and Zelda can start producing tables wherever there is space for one.
The objects get more elaborate, from the classic pots we all love to smash in a Legend of Zelda game, to trees, and a whole lot more. Each has their own properties, like being made of wood or stone for example, and uses.
That table, for example, is just one unit high and Zelda can jump on it. A crate is two high, meaning you need the table to jump on. Quickly put it together and you’ve got stairs.
Beyond objects, Zelda can use echoes of defeated enemies, which is useful as she has no offensive abilities of her own. Take down a keese (the bat) and you can then get a flock (cloud when its bats apparently) to send after enemies.
The one caveat is that it’s not endless. Tri does not have limitless power, though it can be leveled up. To start, Tri just has three triangles of power that can be used to produce echoes, each of which cost a certain number of triangles.
Echoes Encourage Creativity and Curiosity
Not all enemy echoes are for simply combat, either. One very useful enemy is a spider that you can then use to make a quick rope of webs to climb up and get around places.
You can pick up smaller echoes as well, holding onto them, and they work logically like you would think. Holding onto a keese? Well, jump from a great height and glide to safety thanks to their handy wings.
Echoes keep their properties as well, not just the shape. Wood still catches fire, a trampoline will bounce, and the bed you make can be rested in to restore hearts.
In a way, this use of Echoes is an expansion on Cappy’s mechanics from Super Mario Odyssey. While not directly taking control of enemies or objects here, you’re still interacting with them in a similar way and they are full of surprising effects that will have you say, “I can’t believe they thought of that.”
Just like when Tears of the Kingdom showed off its gameplay briefly before release, Echoes of Wisdom delighted me in the wonderful conduits of our imagination we’ll all have at our fingertips soon.
There is a playfulness, an encouragement to try new things and mix them together see how things work with one another for just the hell of it in Echoes of the Wisdom that feels the exact same as Tears of the Kingdom.
That same feeling of wanting to attach every item you find to an arrow to see what it did in Tears of the Kingdom is here in Echoes of Wisdom. How will the various Echoes interact with one another? What other creative ways can I get through this puzzle?
I can see the social media posts of the crazy solves of dungeon puzzles just as we have seen with the shrines in both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
Making quick logical leaps in Echoes to drop some pots on the head of an enemy as I stood on a ledge above was just as satisfying as being able to pick up a spear goblin and use it as a mobile turret as it kept hurling spears at enemies.
There is no loss, no penalty for experimentation, making it all the easier to just try whatever springs to mind. The best part is, Echoes usually has a reward down any path your willing to go down.
Moreover, what my first logical leap to solve a puzzle is likely very different from someone else but both can be the right answer. There were a few moments in my preview that the Nintendo representative with me said they hadn't though of, even though they were able to complete it as well.
Ultrahand is in Echoes of Wisdom
With all that in mind, Echoes of Wisdom isn’t done with the simple yet deep mechanics. The Tri Rod also gives Zelda the ability to grab objects and enemies from afar, similar to the Ultrahand ability in Tears of the Kingdom.
In Echoes, the objects or enemies will stay the same distance from you as they were when you grabbed them. You can’t manipulate or spin them around like Ultrahand, though that doesn’t harm its usefulness.
Obviously, this ability features greatly in puzzles, whether that is moving a distant object onto a button to open a door or to put it in place to complete a walkway to let you progress.
Of course, grabbing Echoes and other objects is extremely useful in combat and elsewhere in the world as well. Maybe a quick shield is useful, so grabbing a crate to take a hit or two and carrying it close can be useful.
A likely future go-to is taking a sea urchin and using it as a shield and weapon. Hold it close to run its spikes into enemies for damage and let it take the hit for you.
There’s also plenty of things in the environment and potential hazards you can set up to use on enemies. Maybe there’s a pit nearby you can grab enemies and toss them down or a sea urchin or two you can ram them into. Enemy with a shield? Grab and take it away.
Echoes of Wisdom isn’t done there, as that grabbing ability has a secondary affect as well. You can grab an object, or enemy, and link yourself together then essentially attach Zelda to its movements.
A platform above moving left and right can then be used to cross a gap that was otherwise unreachable. Maybe a flying creature has a path that takes it over a ledge with no other obvious route to it. Floating in air below, Zelda can attach herself to that creature and hitch a ride.
Once its mechanics became more natural, Echoes of Wisdom just makes sense and changes your approach to gameplay. The logic of the game is intuitive, meaning the only real limitation is realizing just how much you have at your disposal in any given moment.
To compare it to Tears of the Kingdom again, Echoes of Wisdom has similar “a-ha” moments in what you can do. Delights at your creations are around every corner.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Preview | Final Thoughts
This era of Nintendo is defined by having mechanics you can explain in a sentence but would need hours or days to show all that they can do. The Echoes in Echoes of Wisdom are simple brilliance just as Cappy in Odyssey and Fuse in Tears of the Kingdom.
More than anything, the most exciting element of Echoes of Wisdom is how much it encouraged player creativity, how much it wants you to just try things out. It's simple brilliance done wonderfully.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom releases for Nintendo Switch on September 26th.
TechRaptor previewed The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom at Pax West 2024.
