Summary
The Legend of Zeldahas featured many different iterations of Hyrule over the last almost four decades, ranging from smaller to larger and denser to emptier. Most recently, however,The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomhas introduced a brand-new version of the iconic world, complete with plenty of sights to see, eccentric characters to meet, and classicLegend of Zeldaside queststo complete.
SinceThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomis a standalone adventure, its iteration of Hyrule is much different than the series' last two installments,Breath of the WildandTears of the Kingdom. WhileEchoes of Wisdomdoesn’t feature a massive open world like its predecessors and therefore applies a different approach, it might have been for the better, as its smaller scale has allowed it to succeed in an area where the last twoZeldagames fell short.
Echoes of Wisdom’s Hyrule Feels More Densely Populated Than Its Predecessors'
BotW and TotK’s Hyrule Feels Empty and Barren
Theopen world crafted forBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomhas been praised for its fresh approach to the tired open-world formula, as it rewards exploration by piquing the curiosity of players rather than handing them every objective and collectible on a silver platter. Unfortunately, regardless of how well it has been received, the series' departure from its linear level design to an open-world model came with a few downsides, some of which are often unavoidable in open-world games.
It’s not uncommon for open-world games to have empty and lifeless worlds, as there is generally far too much space to fill with content, and if those worlds are packed with enough content to justify the space, it tends to feel repetitive and chore-like after a while.Breath of the WildandTears of the Kingdom’s Hyrule doesn’t succumb to the latter, but it does feel empty due to all the extra space between locations. There are obviously plenty of enemies scattered throughoutBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdom’s Hyrule, but a sense of civilization isn’t felt very often thanks to a lack of populated towns and villages, which is especially noticeable after the debut ofEchoes of Wisdom’s densely populated Hyrule.
Zelda: Breath of the WildandTears of the Kingdom’s open-world model also puts each game’s story on the back burner, making it feel even more lifeless at times.
Echoes of Wisdom’s Hyrule Features Plenty of Populated Towns
One thingZelda: Echoes of Wisdomdoes much better thanBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomis that its Hyrule is filled with plenty of populated towns where players can experience worthwhile NPC encounters, obtain fun side quests, and not feel so alone in the world.Echoes of Wisdom’s Castle Town, for one, is among the most bustling places in all of Hyrule, namely once players defeat Ganon a second time and expunge the rifts that cover the town. In fact,Echoes of Wisdommarks the first time aZeldagame has had a proper Castle Town sinceZelda: Spirit Tracksin 2009.
Castle Town isn’t the only notable populated area inEchoes of Wisdom’s Hyrule, however, as there are plenty of others scattered throughout the overworld as well, including the following:
To be fair,Breath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomboth have plenty of populated towns as well, like Kakariko Village, Tarrey Town, Lurelin Village, andHateno Village. However, the size of each game’s open world makes it feel proportionally less populated thanEchoes of Wisdom’s Hyrule.Echoes of Wisdom’s Hyrule being much smaller than its predecessors ultimately lends to its denser feel, thereby adding to its life and energy and potentially helping players not to feel so alone on their journey. Hopefully, the series sees more versions of Hyrule likeEchoes of Wisdom’s in the future.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
WHERE TO PLAY
Save Hyrule—this time with the wisdom of Princess Zelda!The people of Hyrule are being stolen away by strange rifts—and with a certain swordsman among the missing, it’s up to Princess Zelda to save her kingdom in the latest adventure in The Legend of Zelda™ series!Team up with the ethereal creature Tri and use the Tri Rod to create “echoes,” which are imitations of things you find in the environment—then recreate those echoes whenever you like to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. Use echoes like water blocks to reach new heights, make bridges out of old beds, throw rocks at foes, or find your own combination of echoes to do things your way. You can even make echoes of monsters to fight at your side in combat!
