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New mechanics mesh perfectly with old school Zelda exploration and combat; beautiful aesthetic; soundtrack is catchy and fun; feels like a Zelda game while establishing its own unique feel
Frame rate regularly stutters; UI lacks ability to customize which Echoes a player wants to use quickly; inventory feels needlessly bloated
Welcome to another Backlog Review, where we take a look at an older game that fans might have sitting waiting to be played or are still considering giving a purchase. This time we’re looking at The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.
The Legend of Zelda series began life from a top-down perspective, with players maneuvering hero Link around the world of Hyrule exploring its vast landscape and combing its perilous dungeons in 2D. The series has evolved quite a bit in the years since that first game, but while the intricacies and complexities of games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are enjoyable, to be sure, sometimes going back to basics can be every bit as welcome. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, developed by Grezzo, is somewhat a return to the old school style of the series, but it’s also a departure, evolving the signature gameplay fans know and love with new mechanics and a new protagonist. It’s rough in spots, but overall Echoes of Wisdom is a delightful adventure and something that I hope Nintendo comes back to in the future.
Echoes of Wisdom opens with Link fighting Ganon to rescue Zelda, who is floating overhead trapped inside of a crystal. It’s a nice bit of misdirection as it looks like standard Zelda fare is about to unfold, but things quickly take a turn when Ganon disappears into a Rift (a gap that leads to a separate realm called the Still World), swiftly followed by Link. As Link disappears into the darkness, he fires off a shot that cracks Zelda’s crystal, allowing her to escape. Zelda eventually winds up at home in Hyrule Castle to relay the details of what happened, but her father the king and his advisors are subsequently absorbed into another Rift and replaced with evil duplicates. The false king declares Zelda to be the source of the Rifts and has her imprisoned.
It’s in the depths of the dungeons of Hyrule Castle that Echoes of Wisdom begins in earnest. Trapped in her cell, Zelda is approached by a being named Tri, a golden, glowing orb with a trailing tail of triangles. Tri tells Zelda that he can get her out, but that she’ll need to utilize his power to do so. Enter the Tri Rod, a special staff that allows Zelda to clone objects and enemies from the environment around her into something called Echoes. It’s here that Echoes of Wisdom really separates itself from previous Zelda games. Rather than use sword and shield to defend herself, Zelda relies instead on Echoes to do the job.
Along with objects, Zelda can also create Echoes of fallen foes. In combat, Zelda can sick these recreated baddies at other enemies in order to attack them. With powerful Echoes like the Peahat, for instance, Zelda can unleash some truly devastating volleys against her opponents. While battling might sound more hands off as a result of this, the player actually has more direct control than is apparent. Foes can be directly targeted for Echoes to attack, and with some Echoes, like the Caromadillo, their barrage begins the second they’ve spawned, which creates a greater sense of immediacy during battle. Ultimately yes, the action can almost feel like a tower defense game when deploying Echoes, but it’s a lot more interactive and engaging than that.
In fact, I’m going to go so far as to say that the Echoes mechanic is so satisfying and useful that I was actually disappointed that Zelda is even given the option to adopt the Swordfighter Form, which lets her swing a blade around like Link. The form itself is already fairly limited, making it clear that the devs didn’t want it to be the default method of attack for Zelda to utilize, but the alternative means to combat are so versatile and enjoyable that I was especially disinclined to take on Swordfighter unless it was absolutely necessary. Which left me wondering if ultimately the devs got cold feet at the thought of making a Zelda game without the ability to sword fight. I hope not, but regardless, it was immensely fun replicating enemies and objects to tackle puzzles.
That said, as was the case with Tears of the Kingdom, the UI in Echoes of Wisdom does leave something to be desired. There are a lot of different Echoes that Zelda picks up throughout the course of the game, and it can be quite a chore scrolling through the long, meandering row of them in the submenu screen to find the one that’s needed at any given moment. Yes, the most recently used Echoes populate the front of the row, but as with Tears of the Kingdom, I found myself wondering why players can’t simply map a selection of their choice to quickly call upon. Surely, someone had to have asked the same thing at some point during playtesting, one would assume.
I also found that I was utilizing many of the same Echoes that I’d gotten very early in the adventure to solve puzzles late into the game. I doubt I’m alone in having used the basic bed to scale countless outcroppings throughout Hyrule, and the Peahat was a trusty go-to ally when taking on enemies, despite being an Echo that I had obtained prior to the first dungeon. There are certainly other Echoes that start to pop up and become mainstays of Zelda’s puzzle-solving toolbox, but overall I was able to accomplish objectives with a lot less than was in my inventory.
Aesthetically, I overall really love the look of Echoes of Wisdom. The toy-like visuals used in Grezzo’s remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening have carried over here. Characters are cute and expressive, and the world itself often gives the feeling of being like a maquette, something that you can almost reach out and play with as though it’s made of toys. Unfortunately, along with Link’s Awakening’s visual style, Echoes of Wisdom has also inherited that game’s stuttering frame rate. It’s not the worst and is more than tolerable, but it is undeniably noticeable and frequent (although mitigated somewhat when played in handheld mode). I also thought that it was odd to maintain the hazy, distorted edges around the playing field, as they made sense in Link’s Awakening’s (spoiler) dream world, but don’t in Echoes of Wisdom’s version of Hyrule.
Still, mild performance woes aside, Echoes of Wisdom is a welcome return to classic Zelda dungeons and exploration. Locked rooms, keys, and hoards of bad guys lying in wait are a staple of the series, and while Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild certainly gave players a taste of all that, the original, old school style has never worn out its welcome. However, when mixed with Zelda’s new abilities, these oldies are remixed into something fresh. It’s one thing to light a torch using a fire arrow, it’s another entirely to goad a flaming Ignizol to do the job, instead. It’s this creativity that cements Echoes of Wisdom as one of the better installments in the series’ history.
I think it’s also worth noting that the audio in Echoes of Wisdom is top notch. The soundtrack is very pleasant, with tunes that maintain that classic Zelda sound without being overly slavish to what came before. Though there aren’t any tracks that I’ll remember for the rest of my life like the ones from Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker, this is a solid soundtrack nonetheless. The sound effects are also very well implemented; I’m a sucker for all of the great tones used in Link’s Awakening and am more than happy to hear some of them return for Echoes of Wisdom.
If you’ve been hankering for a more classic Zelda experience, Echoes of Wisdom should do the trick. That said, with its unique Echoes mechanic in tow, this adventure feels like something new and old at the same time. Its gorgeous graphics and engaging soundtrack are a treat for the senses, brought down a peg only by some shaky performance woes. Still, the technical problems that Echoes of Wisdom has aren’t enough to dissuade me from recommending fans give this one a shot. Echoes of Wisdom is a wonderful, worthwhile addition to the Zelda library of games.
Nintendojo was provided a copy of this game for review by a third party, though that does not affect our recommendation. For every review, Nintendojo uses a standard criteria.
