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How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (Metacritic) | – | 85 | 32 |
| Creator reviews (2 tracked) | – | 93 | 3 |
| All-time Steam reviews | – | – | 0 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 87 | 662 |
| Backloggd ratings | – | 83 | 750 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | – | – | 0 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 0 reviews sampled · 0 total reviews in window · weighted 0 up / 0 down · computed 2h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (116)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 90
“The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is simply delightful and is how every top-down Zelda game should feel like. It’s not huge in the scale of Tears of the Kingdom in size or depth, but it still manages to give you plenty of hours of fun, exploration, and wonder that make it an influential entry in the Legend of Zelda series.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“While it likely won’t be remembered to the same degree as “bigger” Zelda installments, it’ll absolutely go down as a classic to me. Echoes of Wisdom is brilliant in its creativity and versatility, one of the best in the series as far as I’m concerned...Also, Octoroks. Octoroks for days.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is the first brand-new top-down adventure in almost a decade. Fans might be used to long pauses between outings, but Echoes was worth the wait. It not only introduces Zelda’s first canonical solo adventure, but merges familiar and new to create an incredibly creative and beautiful experience. Despite some graphical load issues, let’s just say Zelda’s first adventure presents a strong contender for 2024’s Switch game of the year. ”
read full review ↗ - 90
“The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a great adventure with interesting mechanics and exciting puzzles.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“The closest analogue to the sorcery that Zelda gets to pull off throughout this game is the Scribblenauts series, and even then, there’s something so much more special about that idea of conjuring things out of thin air in a Legend of Zelda game, let alone all the charming secret abilities of some items and how much they encourage players to try and break the game.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom should be the new standard for top-down Zelda going forward. Rather than abandoning the classic formula, Zelda has shown that the old and the new can come together and produce wonderful results that reward experimentation and reinforce the joy of play. This is easily in contention with A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds as one of the best top-down adventures in the series, and we hope we don’t need to wait another 35 years for Zelda to take a starring role again.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“Echoes of Wisdom proves that Zelda can be a true protagonist of its titular franchise. It’s maybe a bit slower when it comes to pacing, or a bit less engaging when it comes to combat, but it’s truly a title that feels like one of the building blocks of Hyrule Castle. A nice break while we’re waiting for a bigger, mainline entry that hopefully won’t take long.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“Echoes of Wisdom is a fantastic game that skillfully redefines the classic 2D Zelda formula, while taking inspiration from other games in the series. These changes will be noticed mostly by veterans, but even new players will find lots of fun here.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“Nintendo reimagines The Legend of Zelda series by using Zelda herself, creating an adventure very different from those of Link. It's clever and rewarding, offering almost complete freedom to experiment and turning this "classic Zelda" into a revolution of 2D sandbox games.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“After cooking up extremely original ideas with the latest 3D entries in the series, it is great to see Nintendo apply this lust for originality to top-down Legend of Zelda, too. There isn't a lot to be said for difficulty, and, like Tears of the Kingdom before it, certain gameplay features can be abused to make the quest easier, but the key thing about Echoes of Wisdom is that it is so much fun to play. The 3D games got their much-needed shake-up, and now the top-down format has received it for the better, as well. It was far too long of a wait for Princess Zelda to get her playable role in the series that bears her name, but this is an excellent start to hopefully bigger things to come.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Echoes of Wisdom is a solid game with fantastic ideas that will force you to reprogram that Legend of Zelda brain you've been shaping over years and years of practice. Grezzo has created an experience worth trying and a journey no fan of the franchise will regret starting. That being said, we can't ignore the fact that there are several elements in the game's design that fall short because they don't reach the level of maturity we see in era-defining games.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Ultimately Echoes of Wisdom excellently weaves itself into the grand tapestry of Zelda with surprising originality while being careful never to trample on what has come before.”
read full review ↗
Gamepressure
The Jimquisition
Pure Nintendo
GameMAG
Slant Magazine
Nintendo Life
PLAY Zine
GRYOnline.pl
Cubed3
LevelUp
NintendoWorldReport…and 104 more tracked reviews.