At long last, after nearly four decades, Princess Zelda has her time in the spotlight. Link, it seems, is the one in need of rescue, for he – along with the good people of Hyrule – has been suckered into a mysterious gaping void. There’s been considerable intrigue surrounding The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom since its surprise announcement back in June; questions abound over Zelda’s skillset, the origin of this void and the fate of those swallowed up in its sickly purple abyss, and where exactly Echoes of Wisdom sits in the nebulousness of Zelda games’ timeline.
The game’s release trailer gave us glimpses of Zelda’s primary tool, a magic wand dubbed Tri Rod, and with handy explanation courtesy of that trailer’s voiceover we’ve got a good handle on its ability to copy and paste any object Zelda encounters – both inanimate and alive. The question really was, is this it? Conjuring imitations of beds to fashion makeshift bridges, creating rocks to throw at enemies, spawning allies to fight alongside, these capabilities mimic the emergent possibilities established in Switch forebearers Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, but they never quite felt enough to flesh out an entire game. Princess Zelda is surely capable of more, and the concerns surrounding Zelda’s capability were spread far and wide.
Well, enter Echoes of Wisdom’s second trailer, in which when taking a deep dive inside the innards of the mysterious abyss we get a close look at Zelda transformed into sword fighter form, and ahh, that’s more like it. Channelling her inner Link, once Zelda finds a surreptitiously dropped sword, she learns to wield the blade to clear obstacles and swipe at enemies. Together with the shield she delivers a one-two block-swing punch. With Zelda still conjuring items via the Tri Rod, the sword and shield combo becomes the missing piece of the puzzle – lobbing Tri Rod crafted food to distract ravenous enemies before unceremoniously scything them from behind is just one example from a raft of combined manoeuvres Zelda can opt for. Whereas before, when equipped with the Tri Rod only, there was suspicion the possibilities were limited, or that spamming rocks would become the go-to way to defeat monsters, now it seems the options for creativity are stretched to breaking point much like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
The only caveat here is Zelda’s transformation into a Link stand-in is only short-lived. It’s a temporary power which needs to be replenished via collectible arrows floating around the subterranean abyss. This game design decision might irk some who’d rather Zelda wields her sword full-time but rationing her time with it will encourage strategic creativity, forcing players to utilise all the tools Zelda has at her disposal, which after all appears to be the game’s overall aim. Throw in the Automatons crafted at the hands of returning gizmo extraordinaire Dampe, then the scope for unlocking numerous solutions to the same problems could be staggering.
It is strange though isn’t it, the fact Zelda seems to transform into Link during these moments, green tunic included. The appetite behind rampant fan theories isn’t satisfyingly fed by things like this. Does she actually turn into Link in these moments? Is Link in the sword somehow? She’s using her left hand like Link (canonically, she’s right-handed), and unleashing his signature roundhouse move set, so if she is transforming into Link, then how?
As we see in the second trailer, inside the overworld rifts is a fractured, subterranean miasma labelled the Still World. Here, chunks of Hyrule and its inhabitants – Link and King Hyrule included – float in suspended animation, preserved like stone-carved statues. Along with her guide Tri, Zelda must negotiate this enticing underworld to save her kingdom above ground. Intriguingly, not everything is frozen in the Still World; dungeons are aplenty, occupied by numerous skittering critters. It’s not the first time Zelda games have toyed with parallel worlds; all the way back in 1992’s A Link to the Past Link had access to two converse light and dark game worlds.
In fact, the familiarity of an alternate dimension isn’t the only element of nostalgia Echoes of Wisdom is borrowing from past titles. A whole heap of references to games’ past are whetting the appetite of prospective players before the game’s release on September 26th. Already mentioned is the puzzle solving cross-section Echoes of Wisdom shares with Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom thanks to the Tri Rod. Not mentioned so far however are some extra powers the Tri Rod wields. Bind, whereby Zelda can make objects move in tandem with herself, is essentially Tears of the Kingdom’s Ultrahand. Another is the Zora conflict appearing as ongoing in Echoes of Wisdom, and it is happening here too. Echoes of Wisdom’s map design correlates with A Link to the Past to an uncanny degree. Some enemies Zelda will encounter are pulled out of Majora’s Mask and Twilight Princess.
There is, of course, a rational explanation here. Given the titular princess is in the driving seat for the first time in the series’ history, perhaps Nintendo want to go overboard on familiarity so as not to alienate veteran players. Despite ongoing requests for Zelda to appear as a playable character at some point, there are perhaps many who never expected her to get her own game. Recurring characters and themes are commonplace amongst Zelda titles, but they seem to be more widespread here than in previous entries.
The less rational explanation is that all these elements pulled from other games, when taken together, is hinting at Echoes of Wisdom’s placement amongst Zelda’s narrative chronology. Is this a sequel to A Link to the Past? Despite Nintendo stating on record that they only consider Zelda’s timelines to an extent, it’s not stopping fans from theorising and thus adding to the game’s pre-release hype in the process. The shared top-down art style between Echoes of Wisdom and Link’s Awakening’s Switch remake probably means nothing in this context; we’re looking more at the trident Ganon possesses in Echoes of Wisdom’s reveal trailer, or the colour of Link’s hat brim as clues as to where the place Echoes of Wisdom. There’s a mystery here that fans are eager to unpack once Echoes of Wisdom sees the light of day. It’s doubtful we’ll get anything official before then.
One thing is for sure, despite the wholesale changes to story delivery (real time, this time, instead of an overreliance on flashbacks), magic wand combat and environmental puzzle solving, and a new protagonist at the helm, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a sure-fire success in the making. New Zelda games are always big events, but the intrigue surrounding this one means it’ll be too tough to ignore for long-time fans and players new to the franchise.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
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