The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - is it a spin-off, are there shrines, is Link playable? Everything you need to know

Link has disappeared and Princess Zelda is ready to go fix her kingdom and save the day, this is how The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom begins, one of the biggest surprises of the latest Nintendo Direct that launches on September 26, 2024. A 2D game that takes the aesthetics of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening from Nintendo Switch, and that in a display of personality and originality puts us in the shoes of Princess Zelda in her quest to save Hyrule. The creativity and all the magic seen in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom in a 2D game that aims very high.

What is The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom about? Fading, rifts have appeared throughout Hyrule. Many people have vanished, including Link himself. At that moment Zelda meets the mysterious Hada Tri, it is there that she obtains Tri’s scepter, a mysterious object with which she will set off on a journey through Hyrule to save heer own kingdom. How does Tri’s scepter work? In the presentation, we have been shown how shaking it in front of a Zelda table will create a replica of that same object. The moment we memorize a replica we can use it at any time, and for example, if a wall blocks our path we will have the option of creating replicas of tables to climb over it, thus giving a large number of possibilities to our adventure. Wooden crates, old beds, and even unusual things such as water blocks and monsters. We can use these replicas individually or in combination, so it is important to memorize and create replicas of everything we find throughout Hyrule.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom gameplay

Nintendo offered a video showing the gameplay of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom where we could see a large part of the Hyrule that we can travel through, where it was also differentiated between main and secondary missions, we saw the Gerudo Desert, Jabul Marshes or the Farone Swamp.

While no details have been revealed so far, it appears as though the land of Hyrule will be full of dungeons and other similar gauntlets to triumph over. However, how that will actually look is still a mystery. Just as well, it appears as though Zelda will be able to travel into the dark rifts to rescue people and solve puzzles, beat monsters, and more.

Turning creativity into power in Echoes of Wisdom

The combat completely changes from what is usual within the Zelda franchise, as Zelda’s main power is her magical staff that can create copies of things. This means that you can do something as simple as conjuring up a stone and throwing it at your enemies, all the way to summoning monsters and other characters to fight for you.

However, it has also been revealed that Zelda will be able to change into different forms somehow, with one even being a sword fighter that lets her fight just as link does, with sword and shield in hand. What other forms will be available to players? We’ll have to wait to find out.

Is The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom a mainline game or just a spin-off?

That question could perhaps be a subjective one, as all things seem to point at the game being a full main title in the series. However, the game has been developed by Grezzo, which is the same internal studio in Nintendo that created the wonderful Switch remake of Link’s Awakening, as well as has ported several games of the company to different consoles.

It depends on what you believe is a “mainline” Zelda games, which in itself can be confusing as every title in the series has been quite different from the previous one. What we do know is that this is a fully featured Nintendo game, and that quality is at the forefront of the adventure.

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