The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is the first game in the main series where you control Princess Zelda from start to finish. A series of mysterious rifts tears through Hyrule, swallowing towns and people—including Link—and Zelda, aided by a fairy named Tri, sets out to discover what is happening. Visually, the game continues the diorama style of the Link's Awakening remake, so the world looks like a sprawling tabletop toy with softly blurred edges—yet it is an entirely new game, not a remake, with its own map, towns, and heavily branching exploration.

The key mechanic is called Echoes. Zelda can save a copy of objects and enemies she encounters and summon them at any time: a table, a bed, a trampoline, a water block, a flying platform, or even an entire monster that will fight on her behalf. Every puzzle and battle therefore has dozens of solutions, and the game rewards improvisation instead of demanding a single correct path. This is complemented by a temporary Swordfighter form, which lets you fight classically with a sword when you tire of sending beds and crates to the front line. The result is the most open-ended top-down Zelda Nintendo has ever released.

Technically, it's a typical late-cycle Switch title: a beautifully lit and readable image that occasionally loses smoothness in larger areas. The music blends new compositions with references to the series' classic themes, and the atmosphere shifts between a playful fairy tale and slightly unsettling scenes inside the rifts. Reviews praised the creativity of the Echoes system above all, and the fact that Zelda finally got her own playable role; criticism targeted uneven pacing and sometimes overly easy ways around obstacles. Today it stands as an important bridge between the classic dungeon structure and the freedom of modern entries, and at the same time as one of the most playful games on the whole console. Many players grew fond of it precisely because instead of harsh difficulty it offers the joy of your own inventions—watching your stacked contraption of beds, statues, and summoned monsters actually work is among the best things the series has to offer.