The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom review roundup: ‘A resounding success’

• 👍 The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has a Metacritic score of 86 after 74 critic reviews

• 🤩 The game has 91% positive reviews, 7% mixed and 0% negative

• 👸 It’s the first time Zelda has been given the leading role

• 📆 The game is out on September 26 for Nintendo Switch

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Like Princess Peach earlier this year, Princess Zelda has her own game on Nintendo Switch – and it seems like critics enjoyed The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

A different spin on the top-down Zelda formula, Echoes of Wisdom brings new concepts that help distinguish it from more traditional titles like The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is sitting on a Metacritic score of 86 after 74 critic reviews, which means it received generally favorable scores. The game is out on September 26 exclusively for Nintendo Switch. Nintendo is also releasing a limited edition Nintendo Switch Lite to celebrate the game’s launch. Here’s what reviewers had to say.

Dexerto was gushing with praise for Zelda’s first solo adventure, saying: “While Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom successfully brought exciting new concepts to Nintendo’s iconic series and helped revolutionize open-world games – Echoes of Wisdom feels like a big step forward for classic Zelda. The game is a punchy cocktail of old-school Zelda, expertly blended with modern mechanics from the series’ two open-world giants.

“As a result, Nintendo has created something that feels both nostalgic and uniquely fresh…It may have taken 38 years for the series’s titular princess to finally get her own game, but boy was it worth waiting for. Echoes of Wisdom not only demonstrates that Nintendo is capable of wowing Zelda fans, but it can breathe new life into its legendary series. Echoes of Wisdom is a resounding success, a masterclass in creativity, and a worthy debut title for the series’ legendary princess.”

Nintendo Life also praised Echoes of Wisdom in its review and said: “The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom should be the new standard for top-down Zelda going forward. Rather than abandoning the classic formula, Zelda has shown that the old and the new can come together and produce wonderful results that reward experimentation and reinforce the joy of play.

“This is easily in contention with A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds as one of the best top-down adventures in the series, and we hope we don’t need to wait another 35 years for Zelda to take a starring role again.”

IGN felt similarly, saying: “The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is far more than some second-tier spinoff, combining the expertly crafted dungeons and item progression you’d expect from a 2D Zelda with the wild creativity provided by Tears of the Kingdom.”

However, not everyone was as enthusiastic about The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. VGC said, “Despite some ambitious ideas, beneath the surface, Echoes of Wisdom is a surprisingly uneven Zelda adventure. Few of its headline mechanics are utilized to their potential which means that, while enjoyable and charming, it ultimately feels less essential than other modern 2D entries.” The Guardian also wasn’t keen, saying: “It’s great to finally get to play as Zelda, but working out how to take an active part without being able to fight is rather hard work.”

Still, the reviews for Zelda’s first foray as the heroine are mostly positive, which should encourage Nintendo to give the Princess another push in the future.

Check out the upcoming PS5 games and upcoming Xbox Series X games to see what’s next for Sony and Microsoft’s consoles.

Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.