There’s no question that The Legend of Zelda franchise is one of the most beloved, with the vast majority of gamers playing at least one of the titles over the years.
However, while the usual task is to fight against dark forces and save Princess Zelda, in a series-first, the roles have been reversed, allowing Zelda to do the rescuing, in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.
Donning Switch’s Link’s Awakening art style, Echoes of Wisdom gives the Princess the power to push back Ganon’s lackeys, but not in the usual sword and shield fashion.
Instead, you’ll be utilizing an ‘echoes’ system, capturing the essence of various objects and enemies in the world using Zelda’s Tri Rod and utilizing them to your advantage.
This has a huge impact on the puzzles in the game, basically allowing you to craft the solution rather than using bombs, arrows, and simple traversal the usual top-down The Legend of Zelda games love.
The Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma stated that he hasn’t “counted” how many echoes there are in the game, suggesting that the new gameplay style isn’t just innovative, it’s also extremely varied.
Naturally, what this means is that every single playthrough of the game will be different depending on how Echoes are used – potentially making it the most diverse TLoZ game to date.
While this departure might not be what you were hoping or expecting for in the next The Legend of Zelda title, many have been asking for Zelda to be the protagonist for years, and if well-received, could open up further games of this ilk later down the line.
As for when you’ll be able to play as Zelda for the very first time, it’s far closer to release than you might think.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom will launch on September 26, 2024, approximately three months from time of writing.
And if you’re a fan of Nintendo games in general, Echoes of Wisdom wasn’t the only new self-published title. We saw the likes of Mario & Luigi Brothership and the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4 also revealed, further extending the already impressive first-party Switch line-up.
