Princess Zelda has to flee from jail. She was tossed into jail over her alleged involvement within the look of mysterious “rifts” all around the land of Hyrule. Beneath regular circumstances, she’d be caught down there till longtime hero Hyperlink might come rescue her.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Knowledge, nonetheless, doesn’t play like that. On this recreation, Zelda can save herself—and Hyperlink too.
Echoes of Knowledge, launching September 26 for the Swap, is Zelda’s first recreation within the main position. When Nintendo introduced the sport in June, Legend of Zelda stalwart Eiji Aonuma mentioned that the aim was to “create a brand new gameplay fashion that breaks conventions seen prior to now.” In different phrases, a brand new manner for Zelda to step out of the damsel position and into her personal energy.
Though it might seem like the 2019 remake of Hyperlink’s Awakening—brightly animated environments and characters with adorably massive heads—it’s nearer to the creative spirit of Nintendo’s final recreation within the franchise, Tears of the Kingdom. After greater than an hour within the recreation throughout a latest demo, we discovered Echoes of Knowledge to be a playground of puzzles the place everyone seems to be in control of their very own journey.
Zelda isn’t any skilled swordsman, so her powers are completely different by design. Through the use of the Tri Rod, with a bit assist from a brand new character referred to as Tri, she will create object replicas referred to as “echoes” to assist her navigate the world. There’s loads for her to repeat and create, from tables, beds, and fireplace pits to enemies of all varieties. Have to make a bridge? Stack collectively a number of crates. Or tables. Or beds, simply after you’ve taken a bit nap in a single. Boss-fight? Attempt siccing a fleet of bat-like Keese on it, or perhaps an armed Moblin.
The primary a part of the demo included Zelda’s escape from jail, the place she’s simply starting to discover ways to make echoes, and spilled over right into a small portion of the sport’s overworld. In a small village, I discovered find out how to make a trampoline echo and used it to bounce onto rooftops. Out within the area, I unleashed a spiky ball enemy to make use of as a battering ram on different foes. It was the second half of the demo, nonetheless—a small dungeon full with boss-fight—that felt probably the most satisfying.
Echoes of Knowledge isn’t practically as expansive as latest video games like Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, however the exploratory components is there. Zelda has a number of different talents she’ll unlock later within the recreation, like the ability to seize onto an merchandise and pull or push it. Combining echoes—it’s unclear what number of there are in whole, however the demo had over a dozen—with Zelda’s grabby energy has a whole lot of potential for goofy options, just like the flame-throwing penises folks made in Tears. I used to be particularly keen on trampolining over every little thing I might and throwing no matter I discovered, whether or not that was a rock or an enemy echo. One other participant, based on a Nintendo rep, unleashed an echo to combat for him whereas he took a nap in mattress.
