For the most part,The Legend of Zeldahas been slow to innovate, choosing instead to stick to its guns with a fresh narrative and reimagined world in each installment. However,Zelda: Breath of the Wildand its sequel,Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomchanged all of that. These two installments flippedThe Legend of Zeldaon its head, offering something entirely different from what fans were used to with a massive open world, a revamped weapon and tool system, and survival mechanics to boot. Now,The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomis preserving that legacy with a continued emphasis on bold innovation and forward progress.
Simply watching the announcement trailer forThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomis enough for anyone to recognize the lengths Nintendo is continuing to go to take its beloved franchise to greater heights with each installment. There are plenty of innovations to speak of inZelda: Echoes of Wisdomthat are noticeable even months ahead of its release. While some have argued thatThe Legend of Zeldashould go back to its roots, the franchise must continue to move forward, as reverting to its traditional format afterZelda: Breath of the WildandZelda: Tears of the Kingdommight have felt like too big of a leap backward.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Preserves BotW and TotK’s Innovative Legacy
Zelda: BotW and Zelda: TotK Took Bold Leaps Toward Innovation
Going from the traditional linear and story-driven structure ofThe Legend of Zeldato the more open-ended and freedom-oriented style ofZelda: BotWandZelda: TotKwas more than a few steps forward — it was a massive, bold, and risky leap into the future of the franchise.Link’s iconic weapons and toolswere exchanged for a controversial weapon system inZelda: Breath of the Wildand its sequel that emphasized player freedom over structure.
The smaller-scaleversions of Hyrulethe series had come to deliver were replaced by a massive open world that quickly became the industry standard. Finally, the difficulty was increased with stamina-based survival mechanics and tougher enemies than ever before. It was largely a bold step in the right direction and one that didn’t need to be so effortlessly shoved aside in the name of tradition.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Continues to Innovate the Franchise
Rather than takingThe Legend of Zeldaback to its roots as many thought the nextZeldagame would,Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomsimply reins things in a bit while still experimenting with unconventional ideas. By the looks of it,Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom’s world is more comparable in size to classicZeldagames, but it is already far from a traditionalZeldaexperience. Firstly,Link is not the primary playable character inZelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Zelda, instead, has taken on that role for the first time in a series that is now approaching forty years old.
Secondly,Zelda’s Tri Rodis her primary weapon inZelda: Echoes of Wisdom, which functions similarly to Link’s Ultrahand ability inZelda: Tears of the Kingdom, in that it allows players creative liberty in choosing the route to their next objective. Rather than simply doing away with this unprecedented level of freedom introduced by Ultrahand in its predecessor,Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomexpounds on the idea by introducing a brand-new tool that may carry onZelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s legacy in that way as well.
It’s refreshing to see that Nintendo has decided to continue moving forward withThe Legend of Zeldarather than backward.Zelda: Breath of the Wildand its immediate successor have clearly changedtheLegend ofZeldafranchiseforever, asThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomhas answered the call to continue seeing the series through to higher heights via risky yet innovative design choices.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
WHERE TO PLAY
Save Hyrule—this time with the wisdom of Princess Zelda!The people of Hyrule are being stolen away by strange rifts—and with a certain swordsman among the missing, it’s up to Princess Zelda to save her kingdom in the latest adventure in The Legend of Zelda™ series!Team up with the ethereal creature Tri and use the Tri Rod to create “echoes,” which are imitations of things you find in the environment—then recreate those echoes whenever you like to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. Use echoes like water blocks to reach new heights, make bridges out of old beds, throw rocks at foes, or find your own combination of echoes to do things your way. You can even make echoes of monsters to fight at your side in combat!
