The
Legend
of
Zelda:
Echoes
of
Wisdom,
launching
September
26th,
is
Princess
Zelda’s
first
standalone
adventure.
Her
debut
solo
outing
does
an
excellent
job
of
establishing
Zelda
as
a
protagonist
that’s
unique
and
separate
from
that
green
guy.
But
the
game’s
sparse
environments,
formulaic
dungeons,
and
simplistic
platforming
and
puzzles
ultimately
swallow
her
up,
making
Zelda
feel
underutilized,
even
in
her
own
game.
In
Echoes
of
Wisdom,
giant
rifts
have
opened
up
all
over
Hyrule,
trapping
everything
and
everyone
in
a
void
of
stillness
while
spitting
out
evil
versions
of
the
people
the
rifts
have
consumed.
With
the
help
of
an
adorable
creature
named
Tri,
Zelda
must
use
the
copying
power
of
the
Tri
Rod
to
rescue
her
allies,
defeat
the
evil
clones,
and
stop
the
rifts
from
swallowing
Hyrule
whole.
Zelda
uses
her
Tri
Rod
to
summon
copies
of
objects
called
“echoes.”Image:
Nintendo
Before
Echoes
of
Wisdom,
every
opportunity
we’ve
had
to
play
as
Zelda
has
been
in
spinoffs,
with
gameplay
designed
to
fit
whatever
alternate
universe
she’s
in
rather
than
her
own
personality.
She’s
a
typical
sword
and
board
protagonist
in
her
two
Philips
CD-i
games.
She
busts
out
elegant
fencing
in
Hyrule
Warriors
and
uses
the
myriad
powers
of
the
Sheikah
Slate
to
fight
in
Age
of
Calamity.
And
of
course,
she’s
got
a
pair
of
lethal
hands
rated
E
for
Everyone
in
Super
Smash
Bros.
But
what
makes
the
most
sense
for
Zelda,
in
her
original
context
as
the
Princess
of
Hyrule,
when
Link’s
not
around
and
there
are
dungeons
to
delve
into
and
monsters
to
defeat?
In
Echoes
of
Wisdom,
Zelda
must
figure
out
how
to
use
echoes,
or
copies,
of
objects
from
throughout
Hyrule
to
save
the
day.
If
there’s
a
wide
gap
to
cross,
Zelda
can
use
the
Tri
Rod
to
build
a
bridge
out
of
beds.
When
a
pig-like
Moblin
is
in
her
way,
she
can
summon
a
bigger,
meaner
Moblin
echo
to
fight
it.
Echoes
of
Wisdom
is
smart
in
that
it
allows
Zelda
to
establish
her
own
identity
as
a
hero
that
feels
authentic
to
her
as
a
character.
She
doesn’t
need
brute
force
and
utility
belts
worth
of
specialized
tools,
just
her
brain
and
fire
zol
or
two.
She’s
distinct
from
Link
but
is
as
formidable
a
force
as
he
is
—
scarier
even.
After
all,
who
should
Ganon
worry
about
more?
The
guy
who
can
kill
him
with
a
sword
or
the
girl
who
can
kill
him
with
literally
anything?
In
the
game’s
first
handful
of
hours,
using
echoes
to
solve
puzzles
and
fight
monsters
was
seriously
fun,
reminding
me
of
the
first
hours
of
Breath
of
the
Wild
or
Tears
of
the
Kingdom.
The
vastness
of
Hyrule
lay
sprawled
out
before
me
filled
with
things
to
discover,
and
it
was
up
to
me
to
figure
out
how.
Puzzles
and
platforming
sequences
have
multiple
solutions
and
routes
depending
on
which
echoes
you’ve
learned.
Instead
of
stacking
beds
to
cross
a
gap,
I
can
use
a
flying
tile.
Or
I
could
use
Tri’s
“reverse
bind”
ability
to
tether
Zelda’s
movement
to
another
moving
object.
The
breadth
of
Hyrule
is
vast
but
feels
very
empty.Image:
Nintendo
But
neither
the
possibilities
nor
the
world
were
as
vast
as
I
initially
thought.
After
a
while,
I
realized
there
wasn’t
much
to
do
outside
of
the
main
quest.
There
were
smaller
rifts
to
clean
up,
which
were
minor
dungeons
all
with
the
same
objective:
find
three
to
five
of
Tri’s
friends
hidden
behind
monsters
or
complete
simple
platforming
puzzles.
Or
there
were
a
handful
of
side
quests
to
complete,
which
were
usually
one-and-done
objectives
that
involved
either
finding
a
thing
or
killing
a
thing.
So
many
parts
of
Hyrule
were
just
empty,
populated
only
by
the
occasional
monster
or
treasure
chest.
Eventually,
I
didn’t
bother
trying
to
explore
anymore,
choosing
instead
to
fast-travel
from
place
to
place.
In
Echoes
of
Wisdom
there
are
basically
only
two
kinds
of
challenges:
something’s
too
high
or
something’s
too
far
Though
Echoes
of
Wisdom
isn’t
as
large
or
as
long
as
Breath
of
the
Wild
or
Tears
of
the
Kingdom,
all
three
games
operate
on
the
basic
premise
of,
“Here’s
an
open
world
and
a
bunch
of
abilities,
figure
it
out.”
What
made
Breath
of
the
Wild
and
Tears
of
the
Kingdom
so
fun
was
that
both
games
presented
so
many
different
kinds
of
puzzle
and
platforming
challenges
that
required
out-of-the-box
thinking
to
solve.
Whereas
in
Echoes
of
Wisdom
there
are
basically
only
two
kinds
of
challenges:
something’s
too
high
or
something’s
too
far.
And
in
nearly
every
instance,
those
challenges
can
be
solved
with
the
same
handful
of
echoes.
I
had
so
many
of
them,
like
a
gnarly
rolling
log
of
spikes,
that
I
never
got
the
chance
to
use.
The
game
never
gave
me
a
reason
to.
You
solve
90
percent
of
the
game’s
platforming
challenges
with
beds
and
trampolines.
Combat
was
far
better
at
incentivizing
creativity
than
platforming.
Each
enemy
has
different
movement
and
attack
patterns,
requiring
the
careful
selection
of
the
right
monster
or
item
to
counter
it.
The
snake-like
rope
monsters
are
fast,
low
to
the
ground,
and
hard
to
see
when
camouflaged
in
their
grassy
habitat,
making
them
impossible
to
hit
with
melee
attacking
monsters.
After
I
wasted
too
much
time
hoping
my
bird
echo
would
pluck
it
off
the
ground,
I
discovered
a
much
simpler
solution:
light
everything
on
fire
with
a
torch.
And
when
I
couldn’t
find
the
right
monster
for
the
job,
Zelda
can
use
Link’s
sword,
arrows,
or
bombs
for
a
limited
amount
of
time.
I
think
that
the
singular
ability
to
use
Link’s
sword
gets
at
the
heart
of
what’s
ultimately
disappointing
about
Echoes
of
Wisdom:
all
of
Zelda’s
wits
don’t
really
amount
to
much.
Sure
I
had
dozens
of
echoes
at
my
disposal,
but
halfway
through
the
game,
they
only
got
in
my
way
as
I
scrolled
past
them
to
get
to
the
same
five
echoes
I
knew
would
get
the
job
done.
Combat
was
better,
but
whenever
I
wanted,
I
could
thwart
a
difficult
foe
by
simply
stabbing
it
to
death.
That’s
not
to
say
Echoes
of
Wisdom
wasn’t
fun.
I
wouldn’t
have
taken
the
time
to
clear
every
optional
dungeon
or
most
of
the
side
quests
if
I
hadn’t
been
enjoying
myself.
But
after
35
years
of
lending
her
name
to
the
iconic
franchise,
I
wanted
Zelda’s
first
game
to
be
a
little
bit
more
worthy
of
her
intelligence
and
strength.
The
Legend
of
Zelda:
Echoes
of
Wisdom
launches
on
Nintendo
Switch
on
September
26th.
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