Spoiler Warning:
The rest of this article may contain spoilers for Echoes of Wisdom about the story, gameplay mechanics, and other details that you might not wish to see. Continue reading at your own risk.
When one thinks of the Legend of Zelda franchise, we all first think of Zelda, clad in green, fighting daring monsters – no, wait, that’s Link. Across all the installments of the franchise, Princess Zelda has played a variety of roles. From the damsel in distress of titles like A Link Between Worlds, to the guiding hand of Shiek in Ocarina of Time; or from a swashbuckler with no knowledge of her divinity in The Wind Waker, to a spirit crucial to Link’s success in Spirit Tracks, Princess Zelda has filled roles that define the story. Echoes of Wisdom has proven to be an installment that I have enjoyed alongside my partner. They enjoy the new approach to an old formula, while I am ecstatic about the new mechanics and how they are fitting of Zelda within the deeper lore of the franchise.
While I sit here writing this, I’ve admittedly not completed the game. In fact, I doubt I’m near halfway done. Some of that is a matter of life getting in the way, but much of it is because my partner and I both are exploring every non-linear corner of the world in the most confusing ways possible. I am truly enamored with how easy it is to traverse the world from the outset of the game. I, like many long-time fans, know the map by heart as the Hyrule of A Link to the Past, but the inclusion of Echoes and how they can be used to traverse changes how the map feels entirely. I refuse to call how I go about my playthrough “cheesing”, but it certainly feels that way. Something feels wrong about using Flying Tiles to target eye triggers meant for Link’s arrows, or trampolining onto the canopy of Hyrule Field for a better way onto the mountains surrounding the desert.
My partner, on the other hand, enjoys finding all the little “buddies” they can. They want to meet, befriend, and master every Echo Summon. So much so that, when they discovered that I had investigated a corner of early Suthorn Woods that they had not, discovering the Peahat, they backtracked on their own save to find the botanical Beyblade. I have found that they prefer to be surrounded by a flock of Keese or Caromadillo, rather than not.
That very same difference in playstyles is one of my favorite aspects of this game. There is not one way to overcome the puzzles in Echoes of Wisdom. I gave an example earlier, of using projectile Echoes to trigger switches clearly intended for Hero Form’s arrows. Echo Summons are similarly bound by a hierarchy of strength – if two enemies clash in the map and attack at the same time, the strongest survives. A keen Echo Summoner may know that quantity, properly placed and timed, is perfectly capable of overcoming a much stronger foe.
All the while, a player knows that these methods to break linearity and overcome challenges perhaps far beyond their supposed capabilities feel so close to exploiting a game system – and yet the developers could have easily made strong enemies immune to weaker attacks, or made hit triggers only toggle from the Sword and Bow. They didn’t, they instead chose to allow the players to be faced with problems and try to find ways to solve them. Or the players recognize that they lack a tool that may exist in a way very different from metroidvanias or other recursive games.
Creative problem-solving is the game. Zelda is not a warrior princess, at least this Zelda didn’t start out as such. She has historically been the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom, her strengths lie in strategy and observation, and the mechanics of the game agree with this. Zelda does not succeed because of the awesome powers she receives from the Sword of Might, though it is a valuable tool. She succeeds because she has the practical wisdom to find a path forward with the tools at hand, no matter how vexing.
