After years of playing second fiddle to Link in her own franchise, Princess Zelda is finally getting a video game of her own this fall.
During today’s Direct presentation, Nintendo revealed The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, the franchise’s first game to follow as Princess Zelda herself embarks on an adventure to save the world from destruction. After Ganon bests Link in battle, Zelda is left to her own devices to battle hordes of monsters that descend upon the game’s take on Hyrule (which seems heavily inspired by 2019’s Link’s Awakening remake).
According to series producer Eiji Aonuma, Zelda will navigate and fight through the world somewhat differently in Echoes of Wisdom as she wields a magical staff known as the Tri Rod with the assistance of a fairy named Tri. The trailer details how Zelda will be able to use the Tri Rod to create “echoes” of objects and monsters she’s previously encountered and use them to overcome obstacles.
News of the game comes at a rather booming time for the Zelda franchise. Last year finally saw the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the expansive sequel to Breath of the Wild. (If you want to learn more about Tears of the Kingdom’s mind-blowing physics, check out our overview of Nintendo’s Game Developers Conference 2024 talk.) And following the smashing popularity of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Nintendo is developing a live-action Legend of Zelda movie in partnership with Sony.
It’s not yet clear how Echoes of Wisdom will fit into the franchise’s larger timeline or just how different the game’s combat will be from previous top-down Zelda installments. But given how long we’ve been waiting to see the princess front and center as the protagonist in the story she’s named after, it’s going to be fantastic to finally see it happen when The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom hits the Switch systems on September 26th.
