Brief Reflections on The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
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As successful and acclaimed as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have been it is impossible to deny that they have been somewhat divisive within the Zelda fandom with some fans celebrating the new innovations that those games introduced and others lamenting the absence of more traditional franchise elements. If the recently released The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is anything to go by the series is perfectly capable of continuing to innovate with fresh ideas while simultaneously satisfying the needs of old-school fans without either group feeling left out. Echoes of Wisdom is a much smaller budget title than Breath of the Wild, having been clearly built on the bones of 2019’s Link’s Awakening remake. The game evokes classic 2D Zelda in everything from its visuals, world design, and dungeon structure. Mixed in with these old-school sensibilities are the more open structure, emergent gameplay solutions, and UI elements that are indicative of later entries which combine to create a game that feels both comfortably familiar and fresh at the same time. While this game combines many of the best aspects of old and new Zelda, I also feel that in some ways it also combines some of its worst aspects as well. The game lacks much in the way of memorable characters and side quests, and many exploration rewards feel unsatasfying. I suspect that this might be a result of the more intimate and focused feel of the older games clashing with the larger and more spread-out world design of newer entries. Nonetheless, I am having a great time with Zelda Echoes of Wisdom and the game makes me hopeful for the future of the Zelda series.