Nintendo Finally Decided Princess Zelda Should Be the Hero

The Legend of Zelda franchise has dabbled a fewer times with letting players really get to play arsenic Zelda herself—she’s been a playable quality successful spinoffs, warring games, and, somehow, 2 of those awful Phillips CD-i games. But, astatine agelong last, Zelda is going to prima arsenic the leader of a classically-styled Zelda game... with a fewer twists.

This morning, Nintendo revealed The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, the latest mainline introduction successful the franchise. Styled aft the toyetic creation plan of the Link’s Awakening remake for Nintendo Switch, Echoes of Wisdom opens arsenic galore Zelda games do: Link marching disconnected to prevention Princess Zelda from Ganon’s evil clutches. Except, this time, it’s Link himself who needs saving: pulled into a unusual shadiness world, with a last changeable from his bow, Link manages to escaped Zelda, and permission her unsocial to lick the latest situation facing Hyrule.

Echoes of Wisdom surely looks precise cute, adjacent if immoderate whitethorn bristle that Zelda’s archetypal clip arsenic the defacto protagonist of a main Zelda game is some successful the bid existent go-to for “cute” isometric 3D aesthetics, and with a caller mechanical strategy that avoids letting her beryllium a traditionally martial quality similar Link. Instead of warring with weapons oregon violative magic, Echoes of Wisdom sees Zelda wield a caller unit that lets her make echoes of objects and different creatures successful the satellite astir her.

Tables to assistance her ascent caller heights, copies of monsters to usage assorted abilities successful battle, items she tin usage arsenic distractions... it’s a clever mode to utilize Zelda’s magical abilities that feels precise successful enactment with the opened-ended mechanical gameplay pioneered successful Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. But 1 that volition inevitably spot immoderate radical ding that she’s not starring successful a “real” Zelda crippled due to the fact that she’s not moving astir with a sword and shield. Regardless of whether oregon not Zelda’s moving astir slicing bokoblins up, we’ll person to spot however amusive Echoes of Wisdom’s gameplay shakes retired to beryllium erstwhile it hits Nintendo Switch connected September 26.

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