You don’t need the triforce of wisdom to appreciate this new Legend of Zelda price cut

The Nintendo Switch may be at the tail-end of its lifespan but that hasn’t stopped the console from receiving heavy hitters like The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom in 2024. Typically, major releases, which include new entries into the beloved series, don’t waver much in price from their $59.99 MSRPs. Echoes of Wisdom’s price tag has dropped before but it has never been this low.

Now you can pick up The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom for $49.99 at woot, where the latest Zelda adventure has dropped below $50 for the first time. The MSRP has only dropped as low as $51.99 in previous months, which was still a good deal given it was only released in September this year. We’ve been stuck at between $53-58 since then and is currently available from retailers like Walmart for $57.84, but as a recent release, it still sits at full price on multiple other sites.

Price cuts on Nintendo games aren’t anything new. However, they can be a rarity when it comes to first-party titles. That makes particular offer extra special, especially in the lead-up to Black Friday and the holidays. So if you want to experience Princess Zelda’s first official adventure for less, this deal is the way to go.

Should you buy The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom?

If you’re a Legend of Zelda connoisseur, and adored Link’s Awakening on the Nintendo Switch, then picking up Echoes of Wisdom is a no-brainer. The newest game utilizes the charming style of the Link’s Awakening Switch remake and uses it to tell an entirely new story, featuring Princess Zelda in her first-ever official role as a protagonist. (We don’t talk about the Zelda CDI games here.)

Not only is Echoes of Wisdom one of the cutest-looking Zelda games to date, but Nintendo and co-developers Grezzo have designed a whole new addictive game mechanic. With the help of her new adorable companion Tri and the Tri Rod, Princess Zelda can learn the ‘echoes’ of monsters and items and replicate them at will. This puts combat in the rear-view mirror, and instead of just fighting bosses with a sword and shield, the game constantly challenges you to think outside the box. Why fight a Moblin when you can summon your own to fight for you? Or, why climb a mountain when you can make a ladder of beds and find your own way?

As a big enough Zelda fan that I have an entire display dedicated to the series in my house, I picked up Echoes of Wisdom on day one and it did not disappoint. The game brings back some of my favorite series staples, like the adorable Deku scrubs and River Zora from the older games, and is a breath of fresh air after two open-world games. Finding new ways to traverse around Hyrule, whether it be with beds, cubes of water, or on top of flying tiles never gets tiresome.

There are some frame rate drops throughout the game, which is more a sign the Nintendo Switch 2 is more needed than ever, rather than a poor reflection of Echoes of Wisdom itself. However, on an OLED Switch, the world of Hyrule has never looked more lush and vivid. Even with the now ridiculous amount of games in the franchise on the handheld, it still comes out on top as one of my favorite Switch games.

Games like Breath of the Wild and its follow-up, Tears of the Kingdom, pushed the limits of what a 3D open-world Zelda game can be. However, they just as equally fuelled fans’ desire for a return to the classic top-down dungeon crawler many of us fans grew up with. Echoes of Wisdom manages to not only quench the thirst for an old-school experience but also tries its hand at something new that every fan, old or new, will find hard to put down. But don’t just take my word for it, our official The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom review received 4 out of 5 stars when it was released in September this year.