The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom adds some Breath of the Wild to the series formula

For nearly four decades, traditional Legend of Zelda titles have had a typical formula. They often involve the heroic swordfighter Link saving the kingdom, saving a different kingdom, saving the entire world, saving himself, and you get the idea. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom takes the tried-and-true series formula and flips the typical equation on its head. Link now needs saving and his rescuer (and playable main character) will be Princess Zelda. However, this isn't the only way that Echoes of Wisdom will look to enhance the traditional Zelda adventure.

In Echoes of Wisdom, Hyrule is under threat by a mysterious realm known as the Still World. Rifts have begun appearing across the kingdom, sucking in anyone unfortunate enough to be close. That includes both Link and Zelda's father, the King of Hyrule. Anything that is swallowed by the Still World will eventually fade away completely, so there isn't much time to waste.

On top of that threat, there appears to be something sinister guiding the Still World. Zelda watched her father get swallowed by the Still World rifts, but a copy of him is still ruling from the throne. On top of that, this imposter has convinced the land that Zelda is to blame for the rifts, resulting in her imprisonment in the Hyrule Castle dungeon. Zelda knows that the answers to whatever's happening lie in Hyrule and the Still World itself. To help her in her quest is a mysterious ally named Tri and it's through Tri's powers that Echoes of Wisdom takes the traditional Legend of Zelda formula and mixes it together with a pseudo-strategy game.

Tri can work through Zelda's staff to create copies of objects and monsters in the world. The extent of this power is unknown, but there are limits to it. At least at the start of the game, Tri can only use up to four triangles' worth of power at a time with each object assigned a different triangle cost. Creating echoes of beds, rocks, pots, and small enemies will only cost one triangle each, for example. Making echoes of more advanced enemies, like Spear Moblins, will cost two.

Many of Echoes of Wisdom's puzzles and platforming sections will require the use of echoes. Old beds are useful for more than resting for a quick half-heart. They can be stacked together and allow Zelda to jump (yes, there's a Jump button, thank you, Breath of the Wild) on each one to reach a high place. Some switches are pressure-sensitive, which will call for an old pot, which can be pushed on top of it. Zelda can't fight enemies toe-to-toe, at least not at the beginning of the adventure. Therefore, enemies must be defeated by sending allied echoes of foes at them or by throwing blunt objects at them. The latter can prove especially effective, as I'll get to momentarily.

What's ingenious about the echo system is that it's just one aspect of the open-ended Breath of the Wild formula at play. Players are welcome to approach enemies, platforming sections, and puzzles however they want. All that matters is that the job gets done.

Speaking to that, there's a later section in the game where Zelda crosses a rift and enters the Still World. It's in the Still World where the game's dungeons are housed, including Suthorn Ruins. Dungeon layouts feels like traditional Zelda fare with labyrinthine design, enemies in every room, and puzzles blocking the way forward. One of the mini-bosses that I faced in my closed-door demo was Link, or at least a reasonable facsimile of him. With no weapons on my person and Link cutting through enemy echoes easily, I did what any intrepid warrior would do in this situation.

I threw a rock at him!

With Link able to block objects tossed his way with his shield, I instead snuck behind him, created rock echoes, and chucked rocks at him over and over. Eventually, this Link copy was defeated, but I couldn't help that both the Nintendo rep and our own Greg Burke were looking almost disgustedly at me. As it turns out, this was not the intended solution to this sequence. While I did not prevail in the way anybody intended, my big takeaway afterwards was that combat and puzzle scenarios all have multiple solutions, similar to Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

There are other elements of these Switch titles at work in Echoes of Wisdom. Zelda will often find ingredients across the world, either from broken pots, mowed grass, or fallen enemies. These ingredients can be blended into more effective smoothies, bringing a taste of Breath of the Wild's cooking system into the game. Also, while Zelda can focus solely on saving the kingdom, she can choose to take part in side missions, something familiar to Breath of the Wild players, but relatively new to more traditional 2D Zelda titles. Plus, there's that aforementioned jump button, which is something older Zelda purists may still be wrapping their heads around.

The last thing to note is that by defeating the Link copy, Zelda unlocks Swordfighter Form. This allows her to fight just like Link and slash away at any foes in her way. The catch is that this runs on a meter and once that meter runs out, only energy found within the Still World can fill it back up. Managing the Swordfighter Form meter and knowing when to turn it on and off will be critical, especially when it comes to boss fights.

Indeed, I did come across a boss battle at the end of my time with the game. It was a giant rock golem called the Seismic Talus. It had a key weak point that would often move across its upper body. This is where more of that open-ended Breath of the Wild formula came in, as there were multiple ways to approach this fight. Expect to see numerous encounters in this game where your approach to defeating your adversary differs from the methods of others.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom shows a lot of promise as an ideal intersection of classic 2D series titles and newer school Breath of the Wild-style adventures. The creative ways to approach the game's puzzles and fights are the kind of thing that the Zelda series, as wonderful as it has been, needs to keep it feeling exciting. It won't be much longer before Princess Zelda sets out to save her kingdom. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom will come to Nintendo Switch on Thursday, September 26.

This preview is based on a private Nintendo Switch build from PAX West 2024 containing the public show floor demo and a separate section featured later in the game that was not seen on the convention floor. The final product is subject to change.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?