Echoes of Wisdom ~ New Old Hyrule

Echoes of Wisdom is yet another Zelda game that will take place in Hyrule, where the Zelda games that don't slowly become a minority. From the trailer we can already see that this won't be a completely new version of Hyrule, however, but based on the one from A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds. If you look at the above screenshot, then you will notice how Zelda stands on a ledge above Lake Hylia. Hyrule Castle is in the center and the Eastern Palace is in the east, with the same old rock formation between the two. And then there is a forest area northwest of the castle.

So, this is clearly meant to be the Hyrule known from the Downfall Timeline, which we have explored a couple of times before. If you also count the BS-X Zelda game Ancient Stone Tablets, then this will be the fourth game to make use of it...

It has a lot more evolved from when we last saw it in 2013, however. What used to be Death Mountain now looks heavily mined and has turned cold, with snow on the top, like Death Mountain in Lorule. Hyrule Castle now has a small settlement in its walls, what could be a new Hyrule Castle Town:

And to the west of the castle there now seem to be some new ruins, which haven't been there before, while there is now a giant rock wall north of Kakariko Village, separating it from the forest above. Also, if you study the main artwork of the game (see here), you can see how Kakariko now has a windmill, like it used to in Ocarina of Time.

Most importantly, though, the game world was expanded. You can now go south of Lake Hylia, as already mentioned, which is seemingly where the adventure begins. In the west you can spot a giant volcano, which might be the new Death Mountain. And below it there is a canyon with some sort of temple, which could be Goron City.

There is a more tropical, jungle-like area, which we have never seen before and could be the Faron Woods of this game or something new entirely. This one isn't really visible in the landscape shots that we got, where potentially this lies somewhere in the east or south.

Hyrule wasn't just expanded with new areas, but also with the tribes that live there. It's getting a lot livelier than in A Link to the Past & Between Worlds. As already mentioned, there could be Goron City at the new Death Mountain in the northwest.

But you can also find Gerudo in this game, which is their second appearance in a top-down Zelda title, the first one being Four Swords Adventures. (Unless you also count Cadence of Hyrule.) They have their own Gerudo Town / Fortress somewhere in the desert. Maybe we will also see the Rito at the snowy mountains, which would be their first appearance in a top-down game. And there is more than a single Sheikah this time around.

Both the classic River Zora and the Sea Zora co-exist in this version of Hyrule, which was an idea from the Oracle games, mainly Oracle of Ages, to explain why the Zora from the 3D Zelda games were so different. But in the Game Boy Color classics the two different types of Zora never interact with each other, one is hostile and the other is not. In Echoes is Wisdom it looks like there will be some conflict between the two different Zora groups, which is very intriguing.

Finally, the Deku have returned, which marks their first appearance in a mainline Zelda game in almost 20 years. The last two games to feature them were The Minish Cap and Four Swords Adventures. Crazy, right? (Again, Cadence of Hyrule also got you covered there and even has a playable Deku.) We only get to see a Deku Merchant here, but there might be others around, probably in the Lost Woods.

Speaking of, this even will be the first top-down Zelda game to feature the Deku Tree from Ocarina of Time, which probably is found somewhere in the Lost Woods, maybe even at the spot where the Master Sword used to be. There is still some pedestal there, but not the exact same one.

Is it a coincidence that LEGO will release a Giant Deku Tree set a couple of weeks before this game, a Zelda game where you can take things from the environment to build with it? I think not...

Anyway, this game has pretty much everything that you might have wanted from A Link Between Worlds already. While the 3DS game also has changed up the world from A Link to the Past quite a bit, it still stayed quite faithful to it, maybe a little too faithful.

With Echoes of Wisdom they could potentially be making the ultimate version of Hyrule for the top-down perspective by taking the beloved Hyrule from A Link to the Past once more and adding a lot to it. And I can't wait to explore this.