Summary
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomis charting new ground for the beloved series, but it has the perfect way to welcome fans into its new world. Coming off the heels ofTears of the Kingdom,The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomshares one important aspect that fans of the previous game have come to love. Link’s Ultrahand ability inTears of the Kingdomis one of the things that helped define that game’s identity. Players were drawn to it as a way to creatively solve problems, take down enemies, and push the boundaries of the game’s design.
Some fans have grown so attached to the mechanic that they were disheartened to learn thatUltrahand will not be returning in futureZeldatitles. The decision to leave the ability behind likely stems from the need to make each game feel different from the ones that came before it, but fans of Link’s latest power should keep an eye onEchoes of Wisdom. The new game’s Tri Rod allows for a similar anything-goes style of problem-solving and experimentation as the Ultrahand, acting as a link between the two games that fans are sure to appreciate.
Zelda’s Tri Rod is the New Version of Link’s Ultrahand
With such a stark change in perspective between the two games, it’s hard to imagine a version of the Ultrahand functioning the same way as it does inTears of the Kingdom. This might even have played a role in the decision to make the next entry a top-down game rather than continue the open-world trend. However, the shift of gameplay styles doesn’t mean that the essence of the Ultrahand is gone, asthe Tri Rod’s echo powers are an evolution of the Ultrahand mechanic. Both abilities provide the same type of feeling for the player, allowing them to take the objects around them, and reinvent their use.
Giving players the ability to utilize any object regardless of where they originally found it, the Tri Rod may even be more useful in some regards than what fans have become accustomed to. The key difference is that uUtrahand was a multipurpose tool, allowing for the movement, fusing, and rewinding of objects, while the Tri Rod only seems to allow for replication and placement. With the difficulty that the development team faced whenimplementingToTK’s Ultrahand ability, it’s no surprise that some of these elements were dropped fromEchoes of Wisdom. The result is a new gameplay innovation that improves on the Ultrahand’s main function at the cost of losing some of its other features.
The Tri Rod’s Similarity to the Ultrahand is Key
The similarity between the two game’s main mechanics is no coincidence. Now that the Ultrahand is gone, the Tri Rod can act as a thematic bridge between the previous era of theZeldaseries and the future. It’s important that a series changes over time while still holding on to what players loved about the previous games, and that’s just what the Tri Rod does. It gives fans something of the
Ultrahand to hold on to as a way to introduce them to a Hyrule very different from the one they’ve spent so much time in. The exact types ofpuzzles fromTears of the Kingdommay be gone, but the creative process of solving them remains.
An important precedent was set byTears of the Kingdomand the Ultrahand of allowing players the freedom to solve problems their own way, andEchoes of Wisdomcontinues this trend expertly. It remains to be seen just what the Tri Rod and its echoes will allow players to create, but based on their inventions inTears of the Kingdom, anything is possible. Players used their surroundings to create vehicles and homes, and evenused the Ultrahand to mimic the game’s most fearsome creatures. On the surface, it might seem like the Tri Rod isn’t built for the same type of experience, but when players put their minds to it, anything might be possible inThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.
