For all the successful strides that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom made in reinventing The Legend of Zelda’s tried and true formula, eschewing the franchise’s more linear progression in favor of a thrilling amount of player freedom, the widespread rejection of every franchise convention wasn’t necessarily all for the better.

Echoes of Wisdom is a surprisingly substantial top-down Zelda with the slap-things together puzzle-solving spirit of Tears of the Kingdom, though its new ideas sometimes get in the way of the fun. Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products,