It doesn’t take a keen eye to see thatThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdombuilds off of theLink’s Awakeningremake from five years ago, but whether it’s an improvement over its predecessor could be a more contentious point. Like the originalLink’s Awakening, the remake showcases theZeldaformula at its best, delivering classically great dungeon and puzzle design while exploring its own setting and tone. I’m already lovingEchoes of Wisdommore, however, and something that didn’t really click for me inLink’s Awakeningis actually part of what’s winning me over this time around.
From my perspective, theLink’s Awakeningremake faced an uphill battle from the get-go, as bringing an 8-bit game back to life is never an easy task. Finding a way to replace classic pixel art isn’t easy, and remasters that make the attempt often fall flat with artwork that looks cheap and silly compared to what came before. To its credit,the shiny 3D modeling of theLink’s Awakeningremake is gorgeous, but I’d still make the argument that the simplistic, arguably unattractive style of the original game is the better way to play.
Link’s Awakening’s New Art Style Doesn’t Quite Suit It
Exceptionally Charming Graphics Aren’t As Evocative
Zeldagames can often feel like familiar comfort food, butLink’s Awakeningis weird, and that’s always been a defining part of its identity. While the defining influences for theZeldaseries as a whole are classic fantasy and Shigeru Miyamoto’s own childhood explorations,Link’s Awakeningtook some of itscues fromTwin Peaks. There’s something about the dream-like island setting that isn’t quite right, andthe sparse visual style of the game gave that weirdness a chance to settle in the mind and grow, filling in the gaps where the pixels faltered.
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Link’s Awakening was the first handheld Zelda game, and its odd development circumstances provide some insight as to why it’s such a strange game.
TheLink’s Awakeningremake doesn’t overwrite any of this, but at least for me, it does make it harder to get sucked into that reality. On paper, the way the art is translated to 3D is exceptionally loyal, from trees that retain their same squat proportions to miniature houses that are bigger on the inside.The effects of that conversion can best be described with one word, though — cute. Fantastically, wonderfully cute, no matter how much fog might drift through a forest. And that’s just not what I want to get out of Link’s Awakening.
I don’t mean to disparage this approach, because I do think it’s quite nice to look at, and it easily puts most other remasters of classic games to shame. It’s just evidence of the struggle of re-interpreting older graphics, where the imagination did the work in constructing something more vividly real out of a simple template. A more controversial example can be found in the remasteredGTA Trilogy, where cartoon renditions of PS2 characters fall closely in line with their original looks but fail to evoke the convincing figures that the older low-poly models did.
Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom Is The Perfect Application
A Toy Box Style For A Toy Box Game
Echoes of Wisdom, co-developed by theLink’s Awakeningremake studio Grezzo, carries on the same charming aesthetic. This time, however, I’ve found myself thoroughly loving it, and it’s not because of any significant overhaul. The context is the key. While makingLink’s Awakeningbright and plasticky didn’t do any favors to its atmosphere of unease,the style makes perfect sense forEchoes of Wisdom, which feels more like a romp through an overstuffed toy boxthan a venture into the strange unknown.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Review - The Zelda I Was Waiting For
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom combines the freedom of recent titles with the structure of classic games, and it’s absolutely worth playing.
Take the trees, for example, which are once again lined up in uniform, squat rows. On the Game Boy, this was an inherent limitation, and theLink’s Awakeningremake rendering it faithfully didn’t convey a feeling of getting lost in the woods in the same way that either the original game or something likeOcarina of Timecould. InEchoes of Wisdom, however, trees are a common platform surface like anything else, andZelda can jump between bounded areas by simply building a few steps to the treetops and walking on over.
Echoes of Wisdomalso opens up the fun of omnidirectional movement, whileLink’s Awakeningappropriately locked Link to the eight-directional movement of the original.
The modular nature of the style also works exceptionally well when it comes to echoes.With its roots in the sprite-based layout ofLink’s Awakening, individual items fit neatly into blocks, and the clearly defined distinction between a table that takes up one square and a bed that takes up two is one of the core tenets of using echoes. The angled top-down perspective, meanwhile, adds a layer of verticality that a fully two-dimensional top-down game couldn’t support, opening up a much widerarray of possibilities for traversal, puzzles, and combat.
Echoes Of Wisdom Delivers On Zelda’s Visual Evolution
It’s Been A Long Time Coming
I’m also happy thatEchoes of Wisdomisn’t resting on the laurels of theLink’s Awakeningremake, carving out enough of its own visual identity despite the obvious similarities. Entering random buildings and homes is a huge point of appeal for me in any game that allows it, and I especially loveEchoes of Wisdom’s interiors. From the classic simplicity of Link’s own home to Zora houses that feature diving spots underneath wooden slats, there’s an exceptionallevel of thought and charm packed into every corner.
Echoes Of Wisdom Is The Perfect Payoff To A Controversial 37-Year-Old Zelda Feature
A concept that defined one of the most divisive moments in the Zelda series is back once more, and it’s finally found an interesting new layer.
In some ways,Echoes of Wisdom’s visual payoff feels like a long time coming. The franchise has been using 3D rendering for the top-down games sinceThe Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglassfor the DS, and I was never quite sold on the approach as a follow-up to the peak ofZeldapixel art.A Link Between Worldsis a fantastic game that, likeEchoes of Wisdom, makes great use of perspective, but its world also frequently looks bland compared to the detail bursting at the seams of thepixel art inThe Minish Cap.
Matching the gorgeous visual style of theLink’s Awakeningremake with a game that perfectly suits it in tone and gameplay delivers the complete package, and I, for one, am thoroughly satisfied with the results. Although I’d like to see moreZeldagames with rich, evocative atmospheres in the future,Echoes of Wisdomisn’t going for that, and its approach makes sense according to its aims.The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomis a smart evolution of a great remake that I never quite loved, and it somehow feels like the experience that the style was always made for.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Strange rifts are tearing Hyrule apart, and with Link missing, it’s up to Princess Zelda to save the kingdom. Armed with the Tri Rod and aided by a mysterious fairy, she must solve puzzles, create environmental “echoes,” and battle enemies while navigating new regions and uncovering hidden secrets.
