The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has been nominated for another award. This time it's up for 'Adventure game of the year' at the 28th annual DICE Awards.
The other nominees include 1000xRESIST, Animal Well, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. That's some tough competition, but there's always a chance it could take out the top spot.
As previously announced, the former Nintendo of America employee Don James will also be honored at this year's event with a prestigious lifetime achievement award for his contribution to the video game industry. You can learn more about this in our existing story:
The DICE 'Game of the Year' nominees include Astro Bot, Balatro, Black Myth: Wukong, Helldivers 2 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. You can see the full list of nominees on the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences website - the winners will be announced on 13th February 2024.
In some related news, earlier this week four of Nintendo's Switch games were nominated for New York Game Awards - with Echoes of Wisdom up for 'best kids game'.
We'll let you know if Zelda ends up winning of these awards.
[source interactive.org]
Comments 24
Is animal well an adventure game?
Out of this list. I would pick the prince of Persia.
Indy and PoP are both very strong contenders, that's for sure. Also, I hate trashing on this game, cause I feel kinda mean, but it would be nowhere close to these awards if it wasn't for the word "Zelda" being on the box. It just ain't that good man.
This 2d zelda is a step down compared to ALBW. Even Link's Awakening is a better game
Dice Awards are much more prestigious than game awards but I didn't really follow it much to determine their accuracy. I hope people who deserve the awards will get them, we need some more talent recognition in the industry
A game not being for you personally doesn't mean that it isn't overall good if not even better and I can't help but feel that people keep on mixing the two and not only when it comes to Echoes of Wisdom - doesn't mean that such games don't have issues mind you and they should absolutely be mentioned (more often than not I even agree on them at least to some extent), but at the same time I feel that some people disregard the positives and only focus on the negatives...
Anyway, great nominees for both the adventure and GotY categories, looking forward to the results!
Completed this 2 days ago. I’m glad it’s over to be honest. What a disappointing Zelda game. I started it before Xmas, but stopped playing during the Xmas break to have a palette cleanse with a real Zelda game with real dungeons. Playing Ocarina of time again made me realise how great dungeons in Zelda games used to be. The ones in this game are terrible by comparison.
I also find the final boss fight to kind of sum up the game really. You sit back summoning a few monsters to get the odd hit in, while Link does most of the fighting and most of the damage.
Please please don’t let this be the design template for all future 2D Zelda games Nintendo. I’ve already lost my beloved 3D Zelda games, don’t do the same with the 2D games.
Wow, I had the opposite experience that some of the people here did. I played it when I was off for the week of Christmas, and finished it by the end of the week. It slipped in as my GOTY, and I had many strong contenders for it.
I loved everything about it. I felt that the world was dense with always something interesting to discover. I loved the echo system and finding all these tools to solve problems in so many different ways. I also felt that the game had some of the best dungeon designs that I've ever seen from the franchise (and I've played just about every Zelda game out there, apart from the original NES games and Oracle of Ages). It had me smiling the whole way through, and it felt magical to me. It's too bad some other people didn't feel the same. To each their own, I guess.
Also, I never felt those technical hiccups that so many people complained about.
Funny because it is a great game and highly ranked for the year. But it also can't rank much when compared to the larger series. Love the game but it would be just above Skyward Sword when ranking Zelda games on Switch.
@nintendophilia I feel bad, I really do. I tried my hardest to get into into it, but it just wasn't for me. I think my main issue is there is so many echoes but not much incentive to use the majority of them. Like a handful is just enough. Another thing is the combat just stopped being entertaining after a bit. Just summoning echoes and standing in a corner becomes a bit of a bore.
I get Nintendo didn't want to Zelda to be play exactly like Link, but she's so passive within her own game that it's not as interesting.
It is not a well programmed game. (Neither is Links Awakening). I don’t know what should win it but at least The Lost Crown and Indiana Jones work properly.
That is great to hear. I enjoyed playing 'Echoes of Wisdom.' Not as much as playing as Zelda with her powers in 'Age of Calamity' but it was a fun game nonetheless and I hope we get 'Hyrule Warriors 3' next. My favourite game of 2024 has to go to 'Kena: Bridge of Spirits' though which I am still playing now and it was worth the wait for it to be released on X Box Series X as a Premium Edition and I can't remember the last time I have enjoyed a game as much as this one. It reminds me of 'Ary and the Secret of Seasons' and has a Disney and Pixar look to it. 😀
I had a fantastic magical experience with it and it was almost everything I wanted from TotK and didn't get. I hope Nintendo keeps iterating on the blend of old and new and I get to see more balance like this in the next 3D title.
I also think this model of 'wisdom' puzzle based gameplay is a playable Princess Zelda's thing in future 3D titles, while Link goes back to more traditional gameplay. I think Tears would have been better if the Zonai building elements were a Princess Zelda thing (given her not having Link's fighting, climbing, or gliding abilities) and the gameplay for Link was centered again on combat and items.
Also, as an aside, I wouldn't mind if a Pokemon title was inspired a bit by this for a side title more focused on overworld interactivity through Pokemon rather than the old gym battle thing, which I honestly never cared about
What a great little game that was. Loved it from the beginning to the end. It's a great idea for a Zelda game and one I hope they will further develop at some point. That would be well deserved.
Also Animal Well is a metroidvania right?
Peach and Zelda have really made Switch's 2024 on the first party front as far as I'm concerned - but where Showtime is a more concise experience, Echoes offers a whole franchise-appropriate open world for its captivating blend of classic top-down actventure roots and the inventive fun of Calamity saga. And does memetic justice to the series name at long last, resulting in one of the best elven princesses on the block. Breaking the binge queue yet again for it is paying off big time.
When franchises are around for a long time, like Zelda, it's commonplace to have changes here and there, to test new systems, to try new mechanics. Some of these become fixtures, others are simply forgotten and never used anymore. This is a different Zelda game. The introduction of the echoes made it a very different game in the series
Whether you like it or not, it's up to you. Every kind of answer is fair here. The only thing that's unfair from my point of view is to say that it's a bad game, which it isn't. There's a lot of love poured into it and it's easy to see it. They took really good care of every aspect of the game and it shows. Maybe it's not for you, but it's really well done. It's not my favorite Zelda of all time, but I had a lot of fun playing it and I'll sure be playing it again in the future. It's a 9/10 for me. Take it for what it is, not for what you'd like it to be if you could call the shots
@Liam_Doolan if NintendoLife really wanted to do this game and the Zelda community a service beyond their positive review, you'd cover its mechanics more in depth. Maybe a ranking of echoes, dungeon order insights, and in particular I wish you would look at YouTube videos and shorts for the best examples of engaging combat of grunts and bosses, the time trials like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw9uNnvmr3g&lc=UgzaXWF4PI0qsqPIkUV4AaABAg&ab_channel=imLeJayRo
Do people use bind in combat? (They should)
I see sooo many people just spawning 1 echoes, maybe big, maybe small and just waiting like they don't know you can summon multiple. I'd even just like to see screenshots from your team or their "most used" and "order learned" echo lists. Everybody won't play this game the same and a lot of folks are playing it in a way that gives them a bad impression. A publication highlighting different play styles would be great!
I loved Echoes of Wisdom. The echoes concept was refreshing and original. A nice shake up on the tired, safe, yet tried and true classic top down Zelda’s. This spark of originality is just what top down Zelda needed.
@nintendophilia the dungeons are so simple and straightforward it's almost insulting (minus the dungeon of the Deku Woods, that was really good)
@Bigmanfan
Probably has more to do with it being a well made game that’s fun to play than just having Zelda in the title. I mean, the title Zelda didn’t do anything for the Philips CDi games so…
@Bumb_Ditch Well made? I dunno man. Terrible frame rate, boring dungeon design, very passive and uninteresting combat are all things I don't associate with "well made" games. Also, not really comparable to the CDI games. Those were bad, this one's just average. You can't honestly tell me if this was some random indie game it would be anywhere near this GOTY conversation.
Can I hand out an award for ‘most cumbersome game ever made’?
@Bigmanfan
Yeah, if it was “some random indie game” it would still get lots of notoriety just for being a Zelda-clone. The Legend of Zelda franchise has its reputation for a reason, not just because it has Zelda in the title. Just because a game isn’t made for you specifically doesn’t mean it’s a bad game. Maybe you just need to broaden your gaming horizon.
@PinderSchloss
Sure, but who would it go to? My vote would be Elden Ring.
@GregamanX
Probably because people can’t accept anything new that deviates from the same old pattern they’re used to. It doesn’t matter that Zelda started out as an open world game with zero linearity. People only jumped on the Link to the Past bandwagon and then closed their minds to what came before. Cognitive dissonance is a terrible thing.
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