# a delightful puzzle ## a review of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom #### 25 oct 2024 Have you ever played a randomizer? If not, let me explain what they are. Randomizers take certain elements from a given game and randomize them throughout the game world in some way, but in such a way that the game can be "solved" by following a logical progression. This can be things like weapons and gear, of course, but it can extend further. My introduction to randomizers was actually a version of Ocarina of Time that randomized the connections between loading zones—enter Link's house and end up inside Goron City, as an example. At the time I think it was called BetaQuest; now it's just another randomizer setting. I don't really muck about with entrance randomizers, but I *love* item randomizers, especially for Ocarina. It's a world I'm very comfortable in, a world whose game language I understand pretty well. The joy of unraveling a randomizer, for me, is not dissimilar from the joy of unraveling a variant sudoku: it is, in effect, a giant puzzle, and it requires you to think hard about which pieces of information (or gear) can logically lead you to the next step. Echoes of Wisdom scratches that same itch. The game certainly has intended ways of solving things and an order in which it wants you to explore the world, but within those constraints, it simply gives you some initial tools—a bed, a table, an unsuspecting enemy—and leaves you to determine how to use these tools to find your next logical step in unraveling the puzzle that is the world. What makes Echoes so particularly interesting—and why I get the same vibes I do from randomizers—is that it pushes even further in making the player feel as though they are *transgressing* while playing. The further you push the settings of a randomizer, the further you will find yourself from the "intended" path through a game. You are invited to collect things in ways the developers never dreamed of. Echoes is happy to plop you down in front of a seemingly insurmountable wall, normally a hard stop in these games, and expects you to ask "well, how do I get over this wall?" Trees are not a barrier, but *elevation.* Buildings can be entered, but also *climbed.* Enemies are *allies.* And because it borrows its design language from a quite famously linear game, you might find yourself having the sneaking suspicion that you are doing something you probably shouldn't be. This feeling is also partially captured in this game's choice of hero. The game opens with an immediate inversion—it is Link who is captured and Zelda who must rescue him. And yet it is only partial: you will come into contact with Link several more times throughout your adventure and acquire a limited-use "swordfighter form" that sees its greatest use during boss fights. On the one hand, it is certainly cool to see Zelda don the sword, bow, and bombs and put them to use to dispatch enemies. On the other hand, it feels like a disappointing compromise to allow the player to effectively "be Link" for brief periods. These moments are when this game feels most like a "traditional" Zelda, and while I do love those games, it does rob Zelda of the limelight a bit. And yet even this has a purpose. > [!warning]- Spoilers for the last area of the game > > Zelda saves Link just before it's time to enter the body of Null and defeat it. The pieces of equipment you've picked up were, in fact, Link's gear, and thus you are forced to relinquish them. What follows is a (perhaps too brief, though I suspect it would have been tiresome otherwise) dungeon which must be completed duo-style, reminiscent of Sakon's Hideout in Majora's Mask, and lets the two heroes work together to accomplish what one could not. > > Once the dungeon is complete, Zelda and Link square off against the final boss, each contributing in their own way. I prefer to think my vast army of crows was outdamaging Link even at his best, but I'll never really know. This fight, incorporating all the previous bosses you've defeated and a banger battle theme, is an incredible emotional high point and victory felt so unbelievably sweet. > > The idea of Zelda soloing her own final boss is sacrificed in favor of this "working together, for real this time" feeling. As great as the end of that game was, this is still a bummer in retrospect. Still, swordfighter form isn't the real meat of the game: that belongs to the echoes. I imagine every player will develop their own preferred methods of world traversal (beds forever) and a favorite enemy (crows for life) while playing, and they will also find creative solutions with the many, many tools the game gives them to solve puzzles that feel otherwise impassable. Being a more "modern" Zelda game, there are minigames and secrets abound. This is another game that I think is a bit *too* stuffed with extra things to do or find, but I don't really think it's a problem unless you are the kind of player intent on 100%ing the game. (Hi, I'm that player.) There are some genuinely neat things to find and some lovely side quests that always managed to distract me from the main story of the game for long stretches. This game was a particularly fun puzzle to unravel in the end; I sincerely hope to see more games like it—games that take the language of their forebears and give players the tools to play with that language in new and surprising ways. #reviews #videogames