So, after the game was taken by someone on the prize counter, someone else saw that I was working my way to get it. So, one day I opened my door and I had seen that somone on @channel3 had sent me a copy of the game. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I was crying.
This game is smart. And not sudoku smart, its tactical smart. They finally saw the formula. The puzzles don't matter, what matters is the solution. How creative can the solution to a puzzle be? Thats what this game asks. Yes, you can kill a bad guy with an echo, but how many ways can you do it? How can you reach a seemingly unreachable place? BY BEDS!, or a trampoline. It asks the player how smart you can be

No, you are not Link
Most puzzles solved by tables
Make water, drown mobs

My review is a little biased because of the joy I'm getting playing through it with my son! It's been a blast so far! It's a huge switch on fighting in Zelda games, so that's taking time to get used to, but we have had fun trying different combos of echoes to fight different monsters. My main issue with the game (and I knew this would be an issue before I started the game) is sorting through all those dang echoes!!! I obviously use the same main ones, so recently used takes care of that. But dang, when I have to find a less used one, it takes a minute.... Other than that, we are having a blast with this game!

Well, it finally happened. Zelda got her own game.

And it's... fine? I guess? Look, most of you just skip to the star rating or started with that, I don't know, you're not reading the rest of this anyway. (I have the engagement numbers. It's not pretty. More engagement with throwaway memes than well-written reviews.)

Alright, let's dig in, I'll keep this a bit shorter, also no media because getting media off a switch is still incredibly annoying in 2024.

Basic premise of the game is you are Zelda, and Link is ... missing? Wandering off on his own? Not present. You have a magic wand which can create "echoes" of objects you see around you and enemies you've defeated. At first your ability to create echoes is severely limited, but you'll get more energy for this over time as you complete the main dungeons.

What's that? Dungeons? In a Zelda game? I know, right? You'll (probably?) be glad to know traditional 2D dungeons are back, and they're ... fine. You'll have to collect keys to open doors, and solve puzzles. I found the puzzles mainly fell into 3 categories: simple and obvious (use the echo you just learned in the previous room), needlessly complex (rare, but a couple in the hot/cold dungeon were more involved than I needed), and "this might be difficult but I can just spam Water Block and get around it."

Combat revolves around using your (initially very limited) energy meter to pretend you're link, using his sword and shield to defeat bad guys, or summon monsters and hope that the AI is not as stupid as we expect. Yes, you can target an enemy and hope your summon actually pays attention and goes after it, but this is the perfect example of "Hope is not a strategy."

The User Interface in this game gets an amazing ZERO out of 5. Trying to target a specific enemy for your summons to ignore anyway but it would make you feel better? Good luck, targeting is chaotic and unpredictable. Want to find the specific echo that you need to solve a puzzle? Have fun scrolling a single horizontal list of echoes, all while you hold a button. Accidentally let go on the wrong one? Start over from the beginning. Custom sort? No. You can sort by "most used" which is what you're going to do, and forget variety, you'll quickly settle into the half-dozen or so echoes that get you through the entire game. (Water Block, Bed, Keese, some big melee like Sword Moblin or Darknut, and a fire source.)

Ok but surely there are great side quests and mini games like the Zelda titles we all know and love? Ehhhhhhhhh. There are side quests, but they just aren't interesting. Timmy fell into a rift, go to the rift, locate 3-5 macguffins, get a little bit of energy towards upgrading your Link impression and increasing your summon capacity. Probably get a smoothie ingredient, a pittance of rupees, or on very rare occassions, a piece of heart. It's _fine._

Look I could keep going like this but I'd just be... echoing ... myself. Even the final fight was uninteresting. Summon a couple monsters (you can't attack directly for Reasons :tm:) and pray that they're slightly less dumb than usual. Because you have no armor to speak of, everything does 2-5 hearts of damage, so good thing you can carry 20 potions and trivially make ones that restore 15-20 hearts. Just chug one of those every few minutes.

If it sounds like I didn't like this game... well. I don't know. Parts of it were fun. A lot felt repetitive. I would much rather play a Link to the Past or a Link Between Worlds again than replay this.

Edit: I am reminded that I didn't mention the performance. Short answer: middling like everything else here. Serious frame rate dips throughout the entire game. Not to the point of unplayable, but noticeable.

And, if I have to hear Zelda's high pitch scream as she falls into a pit again because there is no camera rotation and they're trying to do 2.5D, I will snap.

Still going through it. Really enjoying it overall. Sneaky hard at times but a great way to play.

Loved this game. Echoes were great addition. Hours played on switch says 40 or more

Nintendo:
"How do we make a Link game that combines classic gameplay with the new crafting elements from Tiers of the Kingdom?"

Also Nintendo:
"We don't."

The game Zelda deserves.

I haven't beaten it yet, but this is easily a 5 start game. I'll actually review it when I do beat it.

Welp, that's that! Overall I really enjoyed Echos of Wisdom. There were a few parts that I didn't enjoy such as the fetch quest nature of some of the main story. The dungeons also feel far too linear given one exception. The game really leans into the classic feel of the series while still keeping a fresh spin on it all. It's a blast to explore a classic styled Zelda world while not being bound by any real restrictions other than competing the current major story dungeon set. The music in Echos is nothing to be slept on either. The soundtrack does an amazing job at tying everything together while staying reminiscent of the classic games. All in all, it's a great Zelda game. Normal mode is a little on the easy side, but that makes it very accessible for all audiences. The story is nothing to write home about but is still enjoyable. Is this game the greatest thing since BOTW? No. Is it still a great Zelda game? Absolutely. If you're a big fan of the classic Zelda games, you'll love this one. If you're a fan of the newer Zelda games like BOTW, Echos does a good job not straying too far from the modern formula, so you'll feel right at home.