For years, Nintendo fans have been clamoring for the opportunity to play as Princess Zelda in The Legend of Zelda series. For a franchise that bears her name, it's become a bit of a running joke that she's never actually starred as a playable character.
That is, until now. Nintendo revealed during today's Direct presentation The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, the first ever Legend of Zelda where you'll save the Kingdom of Hyrule while playing as Zelda.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom takes us to the vast lands of Hyrule where strange Rifts have started to pop up, stealing the people, including Link. With the legendary swordsman now missing, it's up to Princess Zelda to step into the protagonist role.
This isn't just some gender swap game either where Princess Zelda will be wielding a sword and shield. For The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Nintendo has created a new gameplay style that "breaks conventions seen in past Legend of Zelda games with a top-down perspective."
Zelda meets a mysterious fairy named Tri who gifts who with a powerful staff called the Tri Rod. This Tri Rod is the key to the game's main mechanic — echoes. Using the Tri Rod, Zelda can create imitations — or Echoes — of objects that she comes across on her adventure. Once Zelda learns an echo of something, she can create it whenever she wants.
The Echo mechanic is used to solve puzzles throughout the game. One example shown was an environmental puzzle where Zelda was met with a wall that she couldn't get over. So she creates an Echo of a table to climb up. Other Echoes Zelda will be able to create include = wooden boxes, old beds, and unusual things like water blocks. As players expoer Hyrule, they will learn to create new Echoes of things they find.
"How you use them separately or together, is up to you," Nintendo explained in the gameplay teaser.
Echoes are also the primary mechanic in battles. For example, Zelda picks up and throws a rock Echo at an enemy. She also creates Echoes of monsters who will fight by your side. Monsters have different abilities, so you'll want to choose which one to create based on the situation.
Overall, it looks like a unique spin on The Legend of Zelda series. Not only are we getting Princess Zelda as the main playable protagonist for the first time ever, but we're also getting a new gameplay style as well.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom launches this year for the Nintendo Switch on September 26.