Echoes Of Wisdom is here, and with it marks the return of traditional Zelda dungeons. While this isn’t some incredible roster of dungeons or anything, it takes a while for them to really start to branch out into nonlinearity and the overall theming isn’t especially novel, they do manage to maintain that classic Zelda feel for the most part. And at their best, there are some genuine highlights showing that the Zelda team’s still got it.
Dungeon 1: Suthorn Ruins
Suthorn Ruins is the mandatory first dungeon of Echoes Of Wisdom, which I think is a good call. This means that unlike in the last two Zelda games, you have a dedicated dungeon that instructs the player on how dungeons will work. Right from the get-go, Suthorn Ruins introduces the Bind move, and it manages to thoroughly explore this mechanic through a number of fun environmental puzzles that slowly amp up in complexity as the dungeon goes on. These more strict Bind puzzles are balanced out with some more freeform puzzles involving lighting torches, doing light platforming, or fighting enemies. Since your echo kit is so small at this point in the game, combat is a real challenge here and that applies doubly with the two excellent boss fights against Link and the Seismic Talus. Both fights had me scrambling to figure out what I could use on them, which helped them feel really engaging even for first bosses. My one gripe with Suthorn Ruins is that navigation is sadly pretty basic so far. The first half of the dungeon is mostly a straight line repurposed from the intro where you play as Link, and it's not until the final segment where the place branches out a bit and keys/locks are introduced. Later dungeons are certainly a bit more interesting in this area, but I still think Suthorn Ruins generally made all the right moves to assure me that dungeons are indeed back.
Dungeon 2: Gerudo Sanctum
Gerudo Sanctum is a solid improvement and yet another entry in Zelda's long lineup of great desert dungeons, even in the Wild games. Similarly to the Lightning Temple in TotK or the Ancient Ruins in Oracle Of Seasons, this dungeon really feels like you're exploring an ancient temple, filled with all sorts of booby traps and puzzles. The echo puzzles do a nice job at testing you on all the echoes you've accumulated in the Gerudo Desert like the flying tile and the moles, while the bind puzzles revolve around rotating cylinders to open doors or create a path forward. Layout-wise, the Gerudo Sanctum is still fairly straightforward to navigate, but it doubles back on itself enough that it feels a bit less linear than it actually is, and the second half tasking you with collecting two statues does give the player a bit more freedom than the last dungeon did. Though the real star of the show is the big twist where you straight-up exit the dungeon and explore the exterior a bit, which is always a cool concept. There are a few clever spatial reasoning puzzles where you need to climb through a window or break through the roof from outside the sanctum, though sadly they mostly just lead to optional Rupee rooms. As for the bosses, they're once again really solid. Not quite as tense as the ones in the previous dungeon, but the Bow Link fight has a memorable second phase and Mogryph has a sick design. Overall, I think the Gerudo Sanctum definitely could've been a bit more complex, but it was still quite the fun time.
Dungeon 3: Jabul Ruins
If you know me by now, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that this was the dungeon I was most excited about. I'm a pretty ardent defender of Zelda's many divisive water dungeons, and a big reason why I tend to like them is their labyrinthine, puzzle box design. So out of all the ways TotK felt like a betrayal of what I enjoy about Zelda, getting a wide open water temple that could be completed in about fifteen minutes was probably one of the worst for me. As a result, the Jabul Ruins were kind of the final litmus test to really determine if Zelda dungeons were properly back. Sadly, it kinda disappointed.
The Jabul Ruins did start really strong though, with a fight against Lord Jabu Jabu himself right before the dungeon, and a tense chase scene against the dungeon boss right upon entering. And the main premise of activating switches to increase the water pressure to push Zelda to the top of a central room does have the potential for some interesting puzzles. But in practice, well, it just plays out like the terminals in a BotW or TotK dungeon. You have the choice of which switches you want to go after first, but they're all one-time events and you never have to actually strategize around the water pressure. There are some fun one-off rooms like that one where you need to hop across logs, but most of them are either enemy rushes or 2D swimming segments. It all made for a dungeon that wasn't necessarily unfun, but did feel like a bit of a let-down. The boss, on the other hand, was actually pretty great. Vocavor's attacks were fun to dodge, and the second phase introduced an interesting strategy element about figuring out how to attack it both above water and underwater. Jabul Ruins had a great set-up, but despite my love for water dungeons, I think it's fair to call this the weakest main dungeon in the game.
Dungeon 4: Hyrule Castle
Just like in Link To The Past and A Link Between Worlds before it, Hyrule Castle is this game's midgame dungeon. And just like with those games, it's mostly designed to be an action-packed test of everything you've learned so far. So, there's a bit stealth, some rooms based on prior dungeons, and a fairly streamlined structure that has you descending further into the castle. As such, I really don't have much to say about this dungeon, though I do want to give props for the fairly open final area where you have to zigzag back and forth across a bunch of rooms to get the boss key. And the boss fight against Echo Ganon is as great as you'd expect, a four-phase behemoth of an encounter that really could've been a final boss in any other Zelda game.
Dungeon 5: Eldin Temple
Most fire-related temples in Zelda tend to be more focused on action and platforming over puzzle-solving and this one is no exception. There’s a big focus on platforming across lava, which does lead to some pretty fun and memorable setpieces scattered across the dungeon, especially at the end. The rising lava chase after getting the Boss Key and that final glide to the boss door are particularly notable. Navigation-wise, though, Eldin Temple is yet again mostly just a straight line peppered with splits that force you to get keys to progress. With how late we are in the game, I was kinda hoping I’d start getting, you know, lost in the dungeons by now? But as it stands, I think the room-to-room action of the Eldin Temple was still enough to make it a fairly enjoyable time. The bosses, on the other hand, were pretty weak. Bomb Link is far and away the easiest of the Link battles, and I honestly was never a fan of Volvagia, even in his Ocarina appearance. Whack a mole bosses always felt kinda boring and repetitive, and this one is no exception.
Dungeon 6: Faron Temple
Okay, now we’re talking. The Faron Temple is a great Zelda dungeon, and such a massive spike in complexity, difficulty, and length from all the previous ones in all the best ways. It’s so long, in fact, that I needed multiple play sessions to even beat it. I got lost, I got frustrated, I even got stumped a few times, and I was relishing every moment of it.
I knew I was in for a treat when I popped out in front of the Faron Temple and realized there was a whopping six different entrances. You really have to try out all the different entrances to even find the dungeon map, and finally getting it and seeing how everything really clicks together really showcases that puzzle box design that I love about Zelda dungeons. The rooms themselves are also quite fun and varied, ranging from a large dark maze (though admittedly I’m not a huge fan of darkness mechanics), to several satisfying electricity puzzles, to platforming, to some scale puzzles that made me feel very stupid. And on top of all that, the bosses are great in this one. The miniboss brings back that mechanic from Catfish’s Maw where it runs around the dungeon with an important item forcing you to fight it multiple times. The fact that the miniboss in question is a returning Manhandla is icing on the cake. As for the dungeon boss himself, it might very well be the greatest Gohma fight to date. It climbs up walls, shoots lasers at you, and in the second phase, even comes down to the floor and starts slashing at you. It’s a legitimate challenge that forces you to keep track of a lot at the same time, and the fact that I went in with an empty Link bar made it all the more thrilling. As a whole, Faron Temple is easily one of the best dungeons in Echoes Of Wisdom, and even one of the best dungeons we’ve gotten in a while. That being said, it’s not my favorite. That one comes next…
Dungeon 7: Lanayru Temple
If I had a nickel for every time a Zelda game had a sad subplot about a yeti family that culminated in one of the family members becoming a brainwashed dungeon boss, you know the rest of the joke. Of course, Snowpeak Ruins is my all-time favorite Zelda dungeon, so there are certainly worse dungeons to be taking cues from.
The Lanayru storyline was easily one of my favorites in Echoes. Condé is an absolute treasure and his arc about dealing with grief over his father dying and his brother disappearing is a really emotionally resonant part of the game, and it lends Lanayru Temple a sense of urgency that the other dungeons didn’t really have. But on top of that, this is also just a damn good dungeon in itself. Lanayru Temple goes with a similar structure to Turtle Rock in which you descend down a bunch of floors one by one, each having a more complicated iteration of its central mechanic. In this dungeon, the main mechanic are these fans that can cool down or heat up the room when you put in an elemental orb. The puzzles around these fans start simple, but get more tricky as you’ll need to guide the orbs around hazards that could change it to the other elemental. The final puzzle at the bottom floor is probably my favorite of the game, with tons of criss-crossing wires and rooms where you need to purposefully switch the orb’s element. It’s still fairly linear all things considered, but the room-by-room puzzles are easily some of the best in Echoes Of Wisdom. As for the bosses, they’re a bit more of a mixed bag. The fight against a returning yet unrecognizable Slime Eye was a bit tedious, but the fight against Skorchill is fun in how it forces you to use multiple elements along with the story relevance. And just as icing on the cake, the dungeon theme of Lanayru Temple is one of the most gorgeous dungeon themes in the entire series, really heightening the atmosphere.
Dungeon 8: Null's Body
Final Zelda dungeons tend to be either really short or a repurposing of all the previous dungeons. Null’s Body is the latter. It’s certainly a lot better than some of the other dungeons of its kind like the Wind Fish’s Egg and Onox’s Castle, but it’s still very much just an extended tutorial on how to use Link as an ally and not much more. The game stopping every five seconds so Link can nod to you also drags down the pacing quite a bit. Thankfully, everything else is quite strong. Null as a villain gives off some serious cosmic horror vibes that I didn’t expect to see in a Zelda game, and the atmosphere is fittingly creepy. The fight with Echo Zelda prior to the dungeon is admittedly quite easy, but still super memorable in its own right. And the final boss against Null is really good. It’s surprisingly long, packs in multiple distinct phases, and is a legitimate challenge and not just a victory lap (looking at you, Wild games). I was a bit worried that you could just sit back and let Link do all the work, but between Null booting Link out for the second phase and absolutely flooding the screen with attacks in the final phase, I felt it was still ultimately a very active fight that ended Echoes Of Wisdom on a strong note.
So, here’s my final ranking:
8. Null’s Body
7. Jabul Ruins
6. Suthorn Ruins
5. Hyrule Castle
4. Eldin Temple
3. Gerudo Sanctum
2. Faron Temple
1. Lanayru Temple
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