Nintendo unexpectedly released a new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom today, and it’s clear from the trailer that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was very much influenced by it.
This past June, Nintendo released its latest Zelda game, just one year after Kingdom of Tears, but this time around, the titular princess finally gets to star in her own game. Today, Nintendo released a new Across Hyrule trailer that goes into more detail on some of the places you’ll be visiting this time around, as well as another ability Zelda will have, and another companion she’ll be traveling with. For the first time in a 2D Zelda game, the Gerudo will make an appearance, appearing as always in the Gerudo Desert, a place full of mysteries.
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The waters of Jabbur will be populated by both Sea Zora and River Zora, two different creatures you may have seen in the first trailer. Sea Zora are creatures you’re familiar with from Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild, while River Zora are creatures from A Link to the Past and other 2D games – this is the first time they’ve appeared in the game together. The Gorons are back, too, in Mount Eldin, but more importantly, the Deku Bush is back for the first time since A Link to the Past.
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Business Scrubs even helps you make smoothies with the items you collect, creating different effects depending on what you mix in. Oh, and you can also wear different accessories and outfits to get different effects!
It’s clear from the first trailer that Echoes of Wisdom’s gameplay design takes some inspiration from Breath of the Wild’s “use the toolset and see what happens” philosophy, but the influence goes deeper than it initially seems. In addition to the game’s main quest, there will be side quests, just like Breath of the Wild, and an adventure journal.
You do have the option to fast travel when you f ind certain waypoints, but who cares since Zelda can also ride what are probably the cutest horses the series has ever seen (they also let you jump over small obstacles). Using her echo ability to create a carrot can even summon a horse, which I quite like.
Finally, the trailer also introduces another ability that Tri will give Zelda, which is Bind. When using Bind, you actually connect yourself to interactable objects, allowing you to move them, a bit like Kingdom Tears’ Ultrahand. You can also use it on buried treasure or enemies, as well as your echo, which looks like it will come into play in a lot of different ways in the game’s puzzles.
The end of the trailer also shows how the rifts seen in the first trailer can cause important landmarks around the world to disappear, and it looks like players can enter portals, presumably to save them, which is clearly reminiscent of the Dark World in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It’s clear that Nintendo isn’t messing around, which is a relief for Zelda’s first standalone game.
The Legend of Zelda: Echo of Wisdom will be released on Nintendo Switch on September 26.
