The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

• Genre: Action Adventure
• Spoiler Free Review: Yes.
• Time Played: ~30 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It feels a little long for what it is. Not that the gimmick grows tired but there is a point where you've more or less done all you can with everything you have. The dungeons are generally pretty short though, so it's either something about the way I did everything, or maybe there are just too many of the rift areas that feel a bit redundant.
• Did I cry: No.
• Soundtrack: I would say probably the weakest part of this. Zelda soundtracks are usually pretty good, but nothing really stood out, and most tracks sounded like they were just general background noise from a hushed orchestra. Not that nothing was good, it just didn't stand out like Zelda usually does.
• Why I played: Usually I wouldn't feel I need to explain why I played a Zelda game, but it took me a good bit to get to this one. The Link's Awakening Remake just wasn't what I hoped for/imagined and I felt with this being in the same style of that it was going to be a let down as well. I happened to be talking to someone playing this while I was playing Mina the Hollower, talking about puzzles, and they had a pretty positive perspective on Echoes of Wisdom that inspired me to pick it up next.
• Jank: It's not really janky. There is some weird stuff you can force with your summons if you're really trying to brute force things, but generally it's a pretty smooth experience.
• Difficulty: Echoes of Wisdom isn't that difficult overall, it gives you a lot of options. There may be some puzzles those who struggle to think outside the box may struggle with, but I think it's cleverly designed in a way that a lot of things can be approached various ways.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I'm actually very pleased overall. My hesitations were misguided and this is another great Zelda game. In some ways I think it's the most well designed Zelda game yet.
• Recommend to others: I definitely would. Especially to those who love Zelda and hesitated to play it like I did.

Just like I took so long to play it, I took so long to write up my review. I finished early in the week. Sunday? Monday? Here I am finally considering what to say the better part of a week later. It kind of leaves me with not too much to say at first. It was a really solid game. It had surprisingly clever puzzles, many of which can be approached in many ways. It's odd because it leaves you feeling like your broke the game, or did something you weren't supposed to. I've played few games where I wondered "Is this what the devs intended?" as I progressed through the game.

Even after completing it, I think the answer is yes. I think the devs intended for you to "make shortcuts", even when those shortcuts weren't in fact shortcuts. After completing the game and getting everything, and then looking back, some parts you begin to realize there was no other way to proceed, or if there was - what you could have done different ultimately would have left you with the same feeling of "Am I supposed to do it this way?" "Am I allowed to be here - the way I got here?" and for some reason that makes me feel like the game is well designed. It makes you think you're getting one over on it, but you're just playing as intended.