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0 Here at Thumb Culture, we covered the news of the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom last month. Since then I’ve been taking my time with the game to make sure I give it a fair review. Why? Well, because I am not a Legend of Zelda fan. Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Link’s Awakening back in 1993 on my Gameboy, but I haven’t really touched a Zelda game since. No time like the present I guess!
Here Come The Girls
You can buy a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom right now on the Nintendo Store. Simple, you don’t even need Navi to guide you!
Gameplay
As mentioned above, I’ve never been a massive Legend of Zelda fan, I’ve always dipped my toe in and tried the games just in case my feelings changed. Well, I can honestly say that after playing Echoes of Wisdom, I might have to go back and play some of the others. Throughout my time playing through the game, and trying to experience everything it has to offer, I started becoming more entranced by its everlasting appeal. I started to feel more connected to the character as we travelled to all corners of the map.
Now before I get too far ahead of myself, let’s take a look at what this iteration of the franchise is all about. Essentially the people of Hyrule are going missing, taken by strange rifts. Even a certain green hat wearing swordsman has fallen into these rifts. It then falls on Princess Zelda to come to the rescue of the Kingdom.
Don’t worry, Zelda isn’t on her own through this journey, you team up early on with a fairy called Tri. Tri very quickly becomes a big part of the journey, even gifting Zelda a Tri Rod.
Echo Echo Echo
There is technically no way for you to attack enemies as Zelda. What you can do however is create echoes of things found around the environment. This ranges from items such as tables, beds, and pots, and and even enemies you encounter. The number of echoes that you can create depends on a couple of factors such as how many triangle sections follow behind Tri. These can be gained as you level up by closing rifts eventually getting new abilities. Each different echo takes a different number of these sections, for example, the basic echoes only take one triangle, but stronger enemy echoes can take up more. Meaning that you need to be a bit tactical with what you decide to conjure up.
Ok so remember up there? When I told you there was technically no way for you to attack? Well, I was a bit dishonest, but only a bit. On your journey to discover a mysterious sword lying around, this allows you to transform. You can transform into a powerful swordfighter for a short period of time and battle enemies directly. This comes in handy with some of the bosses in the rifts, knocking them into a dizzy state before unleashing your full power.
Another couple of abilities of your Tri-Rod is that you can Bind and Reverse Bond. The Bind skill allows Tri to go and attach to an object to allow you to move them out of your way, or into the way of something else. With the Reverse Bond ability allows you to connect to moving platforms or monsters to help get you to otherwise unreachable areas.
Time for a nap
Throughout your time playing Echoes Of Wisdom you will no doubt get your favourite echoes. Mine ended up being the bed. Not even the fancy one, just the basic run-of-the-mill bed. It came in handy in so many situations, from reaching high ledges to open chests. To bridge gaps that maybe would have been impassable.
The bed also comes in handy if you are low on energy, just create an echo and have a nap. Instantly gaining back some of those lost hearts. I always knew that being in bed was the best place to be, but I didn’t quite realise how good it was.
Closing Time
Back to those pesky rifts. They seem to be spreading throughout Hyrule and anyone who gets caught in one immediately has an evil clone spat out. This creates problems when the rift takes in some pretty high-up individuals who are able to influence other members of the Kingdom. Fear not though as once you close up a rift they are spat out not knowing what happened. Essentially you need to be careful about who you trust on your journey. I mean you don’t really as the story is pretty linear and only ever guides you in the direction of travel. Forward. But at least you know not to trust everyone, even if Zelda doesn’t!
When you journey into these rifts, you are tasked with solving puzzles, taking out enemies and even taking on a boss. Inside these bosses are more of whatever Tri is, just held captive and when released they all work together to close the rift itself. Be careful though as the rifts are dangerous places with enemies everywhere.
Graphics & Audio
The graphics in Zelda Echoes of Wisdom are cute, they are the cute chibi-style graphics that are popular everywhere at the moment. With colourful and vibrant environments to discover and journey through. Each enemy is both cute and terrifying in this graphic style as well. It definitely is nice to see a Zelda game back in more of the classic styling as opposed to the more recent games in the series.
On the audio side, it’s pretty standard. There is a decent amount of music in there to let you know when something is about to happen, or even when there are cut scenes for you to watch. The usual swoosh and wiff of attacks are there, even the spinning through the grass gives a nostalgic sound. Although it was nice to hear the little jingle when you find a secret door.
Longevity
The main story of the game is around 20 hours giving you plenty of game to get stuck into. If you are like me and don’t like to rush through games you will have a great time playing through Zelda Echoes of Wisdom. I’m not a 100% kind of gamer, instead, I like to enjoy the storylines and then see where I’m at. If I was, however, this game would take you upwards of 30 hours to get everything completed.
Final Thoughts
Playing The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has reignited my desire to play through some of the other older Zelda games. It has been an absolute joy to play through and honestly I really hope that we get to play as Zelda more often because that Princess can slay! Sorry, couldn’t resist. Yass Queen (Princess)
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom gets the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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