About 15 hours into “The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom,” I came across a character expressing concern for Princess Zelda: “Is she trying too hard for the good of the kingdom?”
I got angry.
“Echoes of Wisdom” is the first mainline “Zelda” game in which the titular royal is a fully playable character. She is often in hiding, usually in need of saving, and her savior, the green-clad swordsman, Link. A hero, an ace swordsman, and an expert marksman, no one wonders if Link is too delicate to save the magical kingdom of Hyrule.
Different characters, of course, have different rules, and Nintendo is rewriting many of them for “Echoes of Wisdom.” My concern—that Princess Zelda was, perhaps, being treated with kid gloves, and that even her own game should express surprise at her achievements—would prove unwarranted. And revealing. If Link is a cipher, an increasingly androgynous hero destined to be a surrogate for gamers around the world, Princess Zelda in “Echoes of Wisdom” is more attracted.
Princess Zelda is accompanied on her journey by a mysterious ball of energy called Tri.
(Nintendo of America)
And no one needs to worry about this childless cat lady going too far. By reframing the Link franchise to Zelda, Nintendo has reinvented the game, often for the better.
If Link is a puzzle-solving muscle, Zelda is a wizard, a solution-based thinker whose approach to the monsters, dungeons, and rifts that turn the world into fragments is equal parts patience, humor, and, yes, action. Zelda is just as likely to attack an enemy as she is to take a nap, summoning her own army of creatures and a bed. This Zelda knows how to choose her battles.
And that often means winning the hearts and minds of the easily corruptible around her. Even his own father briefly succumbs to the disease infecting the land and places a writ on his head. (Don't worry, he wasn't of sound mind.) This is a game of “echoes,” meaning that Zelda, through a magic wand, has the ability to concoct visions of almost anything she comes into contact with. . But, apparently, so does the enemy. At the same time, not everyone is always who they seem to be.
Like last year's fantastic “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” “Echoes of Wisdom” is a playground dedicated to player curiosity. By limiting the swordplay to its most intense moments (Zelda must use a limited-time magical energy if she intends to dazzle with a sword), “Echoes of Wisdom” not only gives us more character development, but also maintains that the mid-game is still a cheerfully low mid-game. -explored canvas.
A screenshot of Princess Zelda in her castle chambers with her cat.
(Nintendo of America)
Returning to the top-down view of yesteryear, unlike the freer, third-person 3D world feel of “Tears of the Kingdom,” “Echoes of Wisdom” has a slightly old-fashioned sheen, but the tone is anything but. . but. As Zelda is able to create echoes of many of the objects and enemies she encounters, the game becomes one of experimentation for the player. If you come across a cliff, for example, it's probably not a dead end. Just turn half a dozen beds into ladders and climb up.
What has impacted me most during my time with “Echoes of Wisdom” is how immersed I became in Zelda's story. The “Legend of Zelda” games have a complicated, confusing and often impenetrable story, although the game tends to stick to a central formula: an enemy, usually the demon Ganon, must be defeated and only Link can do so. Innovation comes in how games are played. Over the years, Link has become trapped in time loops, been able to merge with walls, and, more recently, completely manipulate and alter his environment.
Princess Zelda has the ability to conjure “echoes” or objects and enemies. One of the most useful is a bed.
(Nintendo of America)
All of that left Nintendo facing a challenge. The company has firmly (stubbornly) taken the approach that the gender of characters like Link or Mario is irrelevant, as they are simply puppets under the player's control. It's a vision of gaming that was outlined and defined by game design master Shigeru Miyamoto, the original architect of “Super Mario Bros.” and “The Legend of Zelda.” “It's almost like we're artists,” Miyamoto, perhaps the greatest game designer of all time, told The Times in 2014. “Our way of doing things is by creating these fun, weird, ridiculous things.”
And yet, these digital actors were created from a certain perspective. If the male characters were anonymous, the female characters were too often in danger. “It's safe to say that for a long time most game designers were men,” Miyamoto said in that same interview. “So it wasn't necessarily that they didn't like female characters, but maybe they didn't know how to portray them well.”
“Echoes of Wisdom,” overseen by veteran franchise producer Eiji Aonuma and directed by Tomomi Sano, the first woman to direct a “Zelda” title, was originally conceived as a game starring Link. But when the creators settled on a design focused on “echoes,” they concluded that Link's nearly four decades of history as a swordsman were more of a burden than a help.
“When we focused on the game using echoes and had Link copy and paste things on the game field, the sword and shield got in the way,” Aonuma said in an interview posted on Nintendo's official site. “If you have a sword and a shield, you can fight using them.”
Large purple cracks are consuming the land, spurring Princess Zelda into action.
(Nintendo of America)
The result is not only an inventive work (video games are almost always more interesting when they deviate from swordplay or gunfights) but also aims to give its protagonist deep motivations, a reason to venture beyond his luxurious quarters. At the start of the game, large purple-tinged cracks are consuming Hyrule. Link is apparently trapped in one, as are many of those close to Zelda. With the help of a mysterious glowing ball of energy called Tri, Zelda has the ability to travel to these cracks and heal them.
Puzzle-filled rifts often force us to find ways to traverse a fragmented world. Beds are useful again, but sometimes Zelda conjures blocks of water and where there was once a hole, there is now a pool. There are monsters and there are many ways to defeat them – a fierce propeller flying plant is one I found particularly useful. However, the boss battles at the end of the rift against a giant enemy sometimes feel out of place. Here, the game delves into pure action, whereas before, Zelda often used echoes to solve any challenge.
And yet, there are great themes present if one examines the game patiently. Often, those who return from the divisions face a form of post-traumatic stress disorder; We are told that some are no longer willing to speak, apparently traumatized. And while a central mystery of the game is who is responsible for said divisions, the enemy also uses them to illuminate the kingdom, regularly creating echoes of captured rulers who argue that simply getting trapped in an endless, fruitless battle with random monsters will cure you. the land.
In a Hyrule overrun by conspiracies, Zelda faces a battle for the truth. “Echoes of Wisdom,” in turn, felt… current.
There are many ways to solve puzzles in “The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.” Conjure, for example, blocks and a table to traverse cracks, caves and dungeons.
(Nintendo of America)
Zelda finds herself at odds with a patriarchal world that wants to solve its problems by force. She needs to repeatedly persuade people that she is capable of closing the gaps, forcing her to constantly prove herself. Those he encounters speak abstractly of a hero named Link, as if there is no other solution. Some of Zelda's followers try to use reason, but she often has to prove her skills, an obstacle Link never had to overcome.
Without a doubt, Zelda is powerful. You can climb mountains by conjuring beds, tables or even trampolines. He can summon a Boarblin and turn the army of demons with snouts and spears against himself. He can cut grass with a simple twist of his cloak, and if necessary, he can draw a sword to deliver a well-timed blow. But she is far from a female Link.
Like the best “Zelda” games, “Echoes of Wisdom” is one we can get lost in. What makes it truly special (and somewhat rare) is that it gives us a main character with a point of view.
