By Zhya Colon

The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom starts with our trusty swordsman, Link, running into battle to save the princess. But wait! He’s pulled into a rift and sucked down and away. Zelda, now the main protagonist, rushes out of a collapsing building in the cloak of Link – almost as if he’s still part of us. Once free, she returns to Hyrule Castle and the game begins. 

The princess and her new little, round companion Tri take on this adventure together. They try to stop rifts in each region of the world. As I played, I met familiar faces such as the Gerudo and Gorons, who need Zelda’s help. New creatures included a yeti – and a tribe of coconuts!

As the game progresses and you continue to defeat the rifts, you also begin to mend the rifts in conflict between each region. Take the Zoras, lithe, amphibian-like creatures, who have a war between the river and the ocean side. To continue mending the rifts you have to fix their relationship which then ends with a gorgeous song and positive outcome. 

The story is absolutely gorgeous. Most Zelda games offer satisfaction and thrills when progressing, and that’s so true with the latest installment. Echoes of Wisdom does a beautiful job at tying everything together and making sure that every bit of dialogue connects.

There are small similarities between this game and past Zelda games story wise, one similarity being bringing Zelda back to her silent princess ways. In Tears of The Kingdom or Breath of the Wild, Zelda talked but Echoes offers a Zelda with no dialogue. Somehow, that adds more into the story. Not knowing Zelda’s thoughts or feelings makes me feel as I’m more easily slipping into that role. Having Link stay silent in most Zelda games also adds this feeling of connection between the player and the character. 

The art style is similar to games such as Link’s Awakening (Switch Version) and Windwaker. They bear that simplistic chibi style, always cute and wonderfully simple. If this game was in the same, more realistic style as newer releases, then the feelings would be completely different.

I loved the simple look throughout because it gave me a sense of calm. The cute art style makes it almost childlike, which fits the sweet story and gives the player a feeling of what they should expect. This is not to say that the art style isn’t gorgeous – the beginning cutscene of Hyrule is stunning. Inspired by opening of Breath of the Wild, Zelda stands on that ledge looking out onto the Hyrule castle and beyond. It feels like a vast environment to me.

Unlike past games there isn’t a scary giant boss; I mean at one point you fight a mind-controlled fish and yeti. But the scariest it gets is a giant dragon.

The gameplay is unique and fascinating. With Zelda’s small, yellow and green companion Tri and a magic wand (the Tri Rod) that Zelda receives, she’s able to copy certain objects and enemies that she discovers. These are the Echoes. At the start of the game she’s trapped in a prison so I was told to copy a bed in order to escape! As the game continues, Zelda discovers more and more Echoes that can be used to help with getting around the map within or with boss fights. During boss fights Zelda is able to then summon different monsters to fight alongside her! 

What’s even better is that these Echoes can be used to solve puzzles; it’s always fun to figure out different ways to solve them. For example, when having to hit levers on other sides of walls, you can summon a skeleton Echo for and attach it to a lever which then signals for the actual Skeleton to shoot it!

Each player can interact with each object differently. That’s what makes the gameplay so cool. I have used spiders to latch onto to get up walls or the water Echo to get across ledges. Each player can use these Echoes differently when defeating each boss and going through each rift.

The music can be as beautiful as in other Zelda games. There are moments where you have to pause and appreciate the score, specifically the ending for the main Zora quest. When fixing the rifts in between the riverside and sea Zora tribes, it mirrors the start of the quest where the two are playing their instruments, The river side has more brass instruments with the main tribe leader, Drad, playing an almost horn-like thing. Then, the Seaside has a lighter, more ethereal, tone. The leader, Kusha plays a harp with an alluring melody. The end of the quest mixes the two songs of each region together to show the harmony between the two areas. It’s an excellent song, and when hearing the two regions finally work together, it makes the ending of the quest all the more worth it.

Unlike the open world Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, Echoes didn’t take long to complete at all. But it holds the compelling exploration aspect throughout the world, including small side quests and unlockable outfits. If you enjoy other Legend of Zelda games, especially ones such as Wind Waker and Link’s Awakening (as well as having a game that you can play through in a couple of days), then Echoes of Wisdom will fit perfectly in your library. I recommended it highly.

This fall, Zhya Colon, who participated our 12-week Playing With Purpose class, will be a senior at the Bronx’s Lab School of Finance and Technology. She will also be the newspaper’s editor.

---