Link in the closet, does the princess do as much without her hero?

Does The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom have the shoulders to succeed monuments like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom? Nintendo’s latest was intriguing, based on an episode with a classic formula (Link’s Awakening) but adding surprisingly rich and complex gameplay mechanics. Above all, he allows himself to take up a historic challenge for the series: finally embody Princess Zelda. Are these many bets winning?

In 2019, Nintendo published, to everyone’s surprise, a remake of Link’s Awakening, an opus released on Game Boy and almost unanimously engraved in the hearts of fans of the license. This rewriting of the 1993 work was carried out mainly through an artistic direction which had caused debate. Some considered it ideally suited to the very particular universe of the island of Cocolint, others found it “cheap” and very little adhered to the bias. However, Nintendo chose to reuse these same engines and chara design for the benefit of a new episode… without Link: Echoes of Wisdom. The particularity of this episode, it’s that we play Zelda. A hooded princess that the player must embody, in order to save Link: yes, for the first time in almost forty years, The Legend of Zelda series would finally put in the spotlight, and as a playable heroine, the one who gave him his name!

In this 100% new episode, a huge bet is launched: finally make Zelda a playable protagonist, and not a more or less damsel in distress confined to playing – at best – support NPCs during epic final battles. The challenge is daring, and Nintendo knew it very well, players were not going to be satisfied with the satisfaction of finally playing the second most famous of its princesses, especially 6 months after a Princess Peach Showtime that was sometimes half-baked. . Zelda had to have her own gameplay, which distinguished her as much as possible from Link, and for the ideas put in place to hit the mark to make her the equal of the mute elf in the green hat. To do this, and in order to stick to the lore established for decades, there was no question of transforming Zelda into a warrior.

Mage class

Incarnation of wisdom in the mythology centered around the Triforce imagined by Nintendo, the princess of the kingdom of Hyrule has in fact always been presented as a magician, endowed with many fantastic powers. In Echoes of Wisdom, Nintendo decided to stay true to this status, and to grant him a somewhat special specter as his main weapon, which constitutes the basis of all his gameplay. Assisted by a mysterious creature called Tri who gives her the powers of her scepter, she thus has the power to summon “Echoes”. This consists of memorizing objects (massive or not, from a simple stone to a lava rock, including beds or potted trees) but also almost the entire bestiary encountered during the adventure, in order to make them appear at will. in any circumstance. The objective? Reach seemingly inaccessible places, solve puzzles, and send monsters who have become allies into battle for the duration of a summon, since Zelda cannot fight on her own.

Because yes, the princess does not really take part in the fighting, due to lack of a real weapon at her disposal. If you’re used to opting for a mage-type class in an RPG, or (to stay in the Nintendo universe) if you like to send your pocket monsters to hell, you won’t be disoriented. However, the scenario quickly makes you cross paths with a “corrupted” version of Link who has fallen into the strange flaw in the introduction; once you triumph over it, it becomes possible to play an avatar with no other name than “the swordsman” (a clever way of not naming him and saying that we never play Link in this game). This transformation, limited in time because it is based on an energy gauge which empties much faster than it fills, therefore allows you to fight, all the same, with the sword…and not only that. You will see this while playing, because there are many surprises in Echoes of Wisdom, whose gameplay is extremely rich.

A Link to the future

The universe of this new Zelda is based on a map already known to some fans of the license. It takes up that of the legendary A Link to the Past, released on Super Nintendo in 1992, and which was taken up in its sequel A Link Between Worlds in 2013 on 3DS, whose freedom of exploration was praised in its time. However, many liberties are taken to reimagine this map of legend, which is also surrounded by new biomes never before explored in the traditional “top view” (or 2D, even if it is a misnomer) episodes of the saga. For the first time, the Gerudo and Mojo countries are explored in a “Zelda 2D”, and entire zones are grafted around an already known base which we do not go around so quickly. Very quickly, we come to forget that the artistic direction of the title was supposed to stick to the very specific universe of Link’s Awakening, and its ultimately very small island.

Echoes of Wisdom is a much more massive game, and above all much richer graphically, constantly relying on a most appreciable creative diversity. However, this creativity and this ambition come at a price: the title suffers from the same ills, in terms of frameratethan the remake whose engine it uses, making us hope even more for a more powerful “Switch 2” which is much too desired. Nintendo persists in wanting to run its game at 60fps where the machine is not capable of doing so, a technical pitfall that we could have done without, which fortunately does little harm to the overall quality of a title extremely well constructed, through a surprising open world.

Because yes, we didn’t really see it coming, but the real strength of this “new Hyrule” lies in the way of progressing. After having accomplished a real revolution in the open world in two stages with its two majestic 3D episodes, the Nintendo Switch is preparing to (finally?) bow out by also overturning the codes established on its classic 2D / top view formula . If the overall proposal is less extreme and hard-line than that of Breath of the Wild, it is nonetheless surprising to see the extent to which Zelda is free to explore practically the entire map at will, thanks to of course to the unsuspected power of the Echoes that it invokes. The quest still remains more linear and directive than that of the latest 3D opuses, offering a better compromise than the latter: it constitutes in a way an interesting alternative to the latter for those who would have shunned them.

Also read – This strategy game aims to dethrone the legendary Civilization. We played Ara History Untold and it was a real favorite

An addictive heroine

Since we’re talking about quests, a quick word on the scenario, which is a little lacking in depth. If its base is as excellent as hoped for years, its treatment, which is a little too naive and childish, sometimes struggles to make us appreciate the dramatic issues. Fortunately, a few unexpected upheavals raise the interest of an adventure whose gameplay (and its emergent aspect) and its artistic direction as adorable as it is mastered are infinitely more appreciated. The way in which Nintendo used such a particular visual touch is admirable, and contributes to the player’s overall empathy towards all the NPCs and above all, its heroine who has suddenly become mute but terribly endearing.

After so many years of dreaming of directing Zelda, we can only bow to the overall performance of what is its true “first game” in a way: pleasant to handle, with incredibly varied gameplay, the princess of Hyrule is a great character to play as. We can only complain about the approximation of the locking of objects and the placement of Echoes, and ESPECIALLY, about their selection system, which becomes much too quickly painful to use once you have assimilated a few dozen of them. This is undoubtedly the biggest downside of Nintendo’s title, which risks leading the least patient players to settle for a gameplay loop based on a very specific group of Echoes so as not to have to dig into an endless and poorly designed selection. A good number of them risk missing out on its incredibly rich proposition. This unnecessarily weighs down the gameplay of a game that would have benefited from having a better interface to be more fluid.

Fortunately, this in no way spoils an exotic and refreshing adventure, with a very honest lifespan (around 15 hours to finish it, double that for 100%), and which also shines brightly in our ears through an original soundtrack extremely inspired. The compositions are halfway between an assumed heritage of almost four decades and pure audacity, particularly in dungeons where certain wild cello melodies still remain in our memories. Besides, since we’re talking about it: yes, the “traditional” dungeons are really back this time, but they take a while to really become as good as they were before Breath of the Wild. Fortunately, the more we progress in Echoes of Wisdom, the more his ambition comes to light, and without it suffocating him. The mark of a great, certainly, for an adventure infinitely less small than we imagined.