4/5 ★ – WrathofBen's review of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

Finally, a game where you ACTUALLY play as Zelda! (We don’t talk about the CDI games…) This game was such a fun romp in Hyrule, with plenty of new additions to the standard 2D Zelda formula, while also adding in features from Tears of the Kingdom (some of which I could’ve done without). The game starts with you playing as Link on your way to save Zelda from Ganon, only to be captured by some dark void last second. You let out a single arrow to penetrate the crystal that Zelda is being trapped in. Link is gone, and Zelda is set free. You now play as Zelda, initially put to blame for these voids/rifts appearing. It’s up to you and a newfound companion, Tri, to clear you name, save Hyrule, and save Link. I don’t want to say any more because I don’t want to spoil the game. It honestly has a really great story, inside and out. If you’ve played Link’s Awakening, you’ll be familiar with this gameplay style. It’s a 2D Zelda game, after all. However, you don’t have any direct combat abilities to start off with. With your staff, you learn “echoes”, which allow you to replicate objects and enemies to help you navigate, as well as defend yourself. I found a pretty OP enemy early on, and it made combat a breeze! Also, who knew he’d would make so such great platforms??? Later on, you get a sword to use, but only temporarily. The more night crystals you find, the further you can upgrade this. Really, however good Zelda gets is entirely up to you. The open world is beautiful and large in scale, filled to the brim with things to do. Side missions in the style of Tears of the Kingdom make a return here, and are honestly a bit TOO easy. Usually it’s someone just wanting to see a certain monster that you can produce with an echo. Most side-missions took me literal seconds to complete, which was kinda sad. BUT, you can collect Might Crystals, Heart Pieces, Stamps, and other valuable items in the world to help you on your quest. However, like many other Zelda games, don’t feel the need to find EVERYTHING in the game. For once, I actually decided to 100% this game, and the rewards aren’t entirely worth it. In face, it made the final boss a bit too easy, and the endgame kind of a breeze. It’s weird for me to say, but don’t 100% this game until after if you just REALLY want to. The dungeons are really well done, with only a few mechanics I didn’t like: synchronized button pushing. I didn’t know that’s what these buttons wanted for so long, and it is not clear in the slightest. It took me until the final dungeon to finally put it all together. Every other instance, I passed with luck. Water currents are also annoying, and don’t feel quite right. Like, they want you to find a way up through a current in a cave, but aren’t clear in how you can do that. It’s really weird… One more thing was the lack of good loot. Most chests were just full of fruit and rupees. The “item” you’d get in a dungeon to help you beat said dungeon was either a swordsman upgrade, a Tri upgrade, or an echo. Otherwise, chests felt completely optional and of little reward. Yes, fruit are good for making smoothies to give you effects and health, but you can get those and rupees ANYWHERE! Just kinda took some wind out of an overall great variety of dungeons. Visually, this game is beautiful. I LOVED this art style for Link’s Awakening, so I was happy to see it return for Echoes of Wisdom! The music is also beautifully crafted, giving a more adventurous take on Zelda’s Lullaby. I found myself humming her new theme so much since I got this game. The game controls MOSTLY great, aside from trying to aim your wand to send out echoes or binds (another learned ability that lets you move items from a distance). I think my main criticism for this game was that it felt like there was almost TOO much going on. There are so many side missions that provide little to no story relevance or good rewards. I’d forgive them if they were fun or offered a fun side story, but most of the time it was weirdly irrelevant. The game wants to be a blend of Link’s Awakening and Tears of the Kingdom SO BAD, but I think I really just wanted it to be more like the former and less like the latter. Not that the TOTK features are bad, just weird. All that to be said, I still LOVED this game. Seeing a Zelda game from this perspective is so interesting and fun. I really hope this isn’t Zelda’s final game as the lead star, because this game proves she is more than worthy of being a main character. (Ya know, cuz her name is LITERALLY on ALL of the games?!?) Despite some gripes, I really enjoyed this game. It’s not my favorite, but that’s a pretty high bar to pass. I’d easily pick this game up again in the future, and I think that says a lot. There’s never ONE right way to solve a puzzle in this game, and that’s reason enough to want to go at it again. So, I give this game a solid 8/10. I’m so excited for the future of Zelda games, seeing as we’re able to get incredible and unique 2D and 3D releases. Now if they could just get to those Wind Waker and Twilight Princess ports to Switch… (Also, I should note that I got two copies of this game to deliver to a friend, and he Venmo’d me back with the caption “$$ for Wand of Gamalon II”. That got me real good, haha!)