Echoes of Wisdom

 

I had no idea Nintendo was making this game, and thus was surprised when it was announced. When I first saw it I thought the concept of playing as Zelda instead of Link was neat, and I placed it on my gaming radar but honestly it wasn't a game I was placing too high on my gaming pedestal. However, once the game was released and I read reviews, and more importantly saw all of the creative ways other players were progressing through the game, I became much more interested in playing Echoes and bought it shortly after it was released. Having finished the game and many of the side quests, I thoroughly enjoyed Echoes and I think it is an important game in the Zelda series for a number of reasons. 

Both Breath of the Wild (BOTW) and Tears of the Kingdom (TOTK) were masterclass games, not only for the Switch and the Legend of Zelda series, but in all of gaming. They deviated from the game design that dominated the Zelda series starting with Ocarina of Time by making the games entirely open ended. Link was placed in a large world and could theoretically go any place that he wanted to go. Special items were gone, and so were dungeons, though they made a bit of a comeback in TOTK (thankfully). Previous Zelda games limited where you could go based on the items that you had, which you acquired by beating dungeons. Switching this tried and true gameplay for BOTW and TOTK was truly gutsy and paid off big time, as both games are incredible and I'd include them in the conversation of best games I've ever played. However, the old formula is also very good and I think periodically having games that use the old formula is a great idea. As I was playing Echoes I was reminded of how fun it was to play through dungeons and acquire new items. 

Echoes was not just a return to previous gameplay, however. It really was a hybrid of previous gameplay tactics combined with one of the best features of TOTK - building and using items to accomplish tasks. TOTK allowed the player to build and fuse various items to create bridges, cars, ladders, etc. to get places. This gave players creativity in how they decided to get places and progress through the game. This created fantastic videos online of players building all types of wild items as they progressed through the game. Echoes mimicked this activity by allowing you to place items you've previously came across. These items were called Echoes, hence the name of the game. Placing Echoes is how you solved various puzzles and even how you defeated enemies. This also made for fantastic online videos of players placing all kinds of items in wonky places as they figured out how to solve puzzles. Oftentimes there were many ways to solve them based on the Echoes you had, and thus you had to be creative to figure out which Echo would work the best. The most famous Echo is the bed, one that you learn early in the game and is quite useful as a way to build a bridge or get some rest to replenish hearts.

At first glance the game looks very similar to 2019's remake of Link's Awakening. Both games use the same art style and are made by the same developer Grezzo. The gameplay in Echoes is different, however, since Zelda is the main protagonist for the first time in Echoes. I applaud featuring Zelda as the protagonist. Fighting with Echoes, however, was a bit awkward, especially at the beginning of the game when you haven't learned too many Echoes. It gets better as you progress through the game and learn more Echoes, but there were definitely times where I wish I could just slash an enemy with a sword like Link instead of pecking them to death with multiple birds. The game does allow you to channel your inner Link and turn into a version of him temporarily, but the main way to fight is to spawn an Echo and stand back and let them do the work. Additionally, there are a lot of Echoes in this game (127 to be exact), and the menu to select which Echo you want to use quickly becomes large and cumbersome. I think some time could've been spent developing an organization system for this list. Despite having a large number of Echoes to choose from, I really only routinely used 10-20 of them. Those are my only complaints about the game, and in the grand scheme of things are really quite minor. Going back to the similarities in art style between Echoes and Link's Awakening, I'm all for Nintendo continuing to periodically make games in this style. How about a remake of A Link to the Past?

All of this was a long winded way of saying I really enjoyed this game. I initially was only mildly interested in playing it, but once I saw the unique gameplay and creativity needed to progress through the game, my interest piqued. It is truly a Zelda game, complete with Gorons and Zora and all of the familiar locations of Hyrule and comes with gameplay that mixes traditional Zelda games with the creativity of TOTK. As the Switch reaches the end of its lifecycle, and rumors of its successor run rampant, this game will likely be the last game I completely play through on the system. What a fantastic way to finish one of my all-time favorite gaming systems.