We are less than a month away from the latest adventure in The Legend of Zelda series and this is going to be one of the most memorable games in the series’ history. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe this is the first mainline title where we actually play as Zelda. That alone is an interesting selling point, but what really gets me going is that this might be the most varied combat a Zelda game has ever had. Typically there have always been three styles of combat in The Legend of Zelda series. The first type is melee-focused with a particular emphasis on using a sword for fairly obvious reasons. The second type is ranged combat with bombs and bows being two of the more common options. The third type is magic which is typically limited to a few magic spells or magic weapons. After all, we all know Zelda is more of a mage than Link. However, we aren’t just getting magic attacks, we are getting a summoner class. The closest thing to this before is controlling dummies and armored soldiers in games like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. However, this feels like a proper summoning-style setup.
However, while this is the main mode of gameplay, there are options to diversify your combat style even further by using machines and even summoning a sword-fighting form for a limited time. Personally, I like that there is a lot of versatility in this new combat style because that means there are ways to make up for the inherent weaknesses of being a summoner. Typically there are limitations to summoner abilities since the strength of a summoner is determined by their summons. I speculate the automatons will help as a form of extra firepower for some tougher situations. I can’t be sure how much more useful they are since they can break after a certain number of uses, but I feel they will probably exist as useful trump cards. Speaking of trump cards, the swordfighter form will also help deal with one of the summoner’s greatest weaknesses. It gives them the ability to protect themselves in case they can no longer summon anything. However, it can’t be used indefinitely since it should be used as a crutch. This game’s combat is going to be so much fun in terms of fights and puzzle-solving.
I do wonder how many types of echoes there are for this game. I personally can’t wait to find out. My backlog is screaming at me right now, but I am just too curious about what this game has to offer. One more thing before I wrap up on this for today. The style of this game is very similar to the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening that came out on the Switch a few years back. I wonder if they will use a similar interface for this game. The reason I bring this up is I wonder how quickly you can switch between echoes considering how many we will find in the game. I’m not too concerned, but I just thought I’d add some food for thought. I have other things I want to talk about as well, but let’s leave it at the combat for now. Thanks for hearing me out and have a good night!
That Casual Gamer Guy 