As I play throughThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, I can see all the different inspirations Nintendo pulled from.. The influence of the two most recentSwitchgames,Breath of the WildandTears of the Kingdom, is clear in the big (Echoes' emphasis on finding creative solutions) and the small (the presence of BOTW-era cooking mechanics through the smoothie shops).
There are other, smaller influences, as well. Zelda’s hands-off approach to combat has a lot in common with bullet heaven games likeVampire Survivors. And, of course, any 2D Zelda game is building on a lineage that stretches all the way back to 1986, when Link first ventured out into a top-down Hyrule. Of those games, it’s surprising to see that the most influential seems to be a remake of a Game Boy game.
The UI is straight out of BOTW/TOTK, too, with circular yellow waypoint markers and the ever-increasing scroll through discovered echoes calling back to TOTK’s Fuse items list.
Link’s Awakening Is The Foundation Of Echoes Of Wisdom’s Look And Gameplay
From thefirst trailer back in June, it was clear that Echoes of Wisdom had the same basic art style as theLink’s Awakeningremake. The 2019 version traded in the original’s pixelated aesthetic in favor of characters and objects that looked like they belonged in a Playmobil set. That aesthetic choice is intensified through the use of a tilt shift effect that blurs the edges of the screen and makes it appear that you’re staring at a diorama as you play.
Nintendo carried remake dev Grezzo’s choice over to Echoes of Wisdom (which Grezzo co-developed) and it feels surprisingly appropriate. Given that Echoes is a game about engaging in creative play with everyday objects, it works well to present those objects as though they belong in a toybox. It’s pretty unusual for a remake, made by an external developer, to set the template for a new, mainline entry in a series.
While other series have used remakes as test balloons to gauge interest in new entries, those have been more common for long dormant franchises. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy paved the way forCrash 4, but Crash had been dormant for nine years (barring mobile spin-offs). We got a new Zelda game last year, so Nintendo rolling with Grezzo’s take is a little unusual. But, the look the team landed on for Link’s Awakening was a great choice and it’s smart to keep it moving forward.
Side Scrolling Through Hyrule In Echoes Of Wisdom
What’s more unusual to me is that Echoes of Wisdom picks up one of Link’s Awakening’s weirder design quirks — weird, at least, within the broader context of the Zelda canon. All three versions of Link’s Awakening have occasional side scrolling segments. They aren’t common, but they are there. Echoes of Wisdom takes this and builds it out, with frequent platforming diversions that provide opportunities to use your echoes in ways you wouldn’t otherwise get the chance. Like, for instance, using a mole-like summon to dig holes in sand platforms so you’re able to drop to the next level down.
Echoes' platforming is significantly more involved than it has been in previous Zelda games, and though Link’s Awakening is the obvious comparison point, Nintendo built something much more interesting on the foundation of that classic. Those side scrolling bits were pretty straightforward but here they’re puzzle platforming sections, and it feels like an extension of the top-down gameplay more than something separate.
These aesthetic and design choices have me amazed at the sheer impact of Link’s Awakening all these years later. A remake of a 31-year-old game plays like a prequel to a brand new Zelda adventure. And it builds on that foundation so successfully that it doesn’t feel like an echo of the past. It feels like the future of the franchise.
