Daily Debate: Did Echoes of Wisdom Make the Most of the Bind Ability?

Warning: This article contains minor spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

While “echoes” were undoubtedly The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom‘s most touted new feature in the run-up to the game’s release, the “bind” and “reverse bond” features were often promoted as another noteworthy addition to Princess Zelda’s toolset. With bind, the princess is able to tie the movement of enemies and objects to her own; meanwhile, “reverse bond” ties the princess’ movement to that of an object. These features certainly had their uses throughout the adventure — and they have definitely been a boon to speedrunners so far — but I nonetheless wanted to discuss whether or not the Echoes of Wisdom made the most of its bind ability.

Because the use of echoes was so central to Echoes of Wisdom‘s gameplay — they were useful for everything from traversal to combat to puzzle-solving — I personally found myself forgetting that bind was an option for any given challenge, especially as late-gate echoes began to make bind’s utility redundant. Sure, there were points in the early game where I relied on reverse bond to cross gaps or gain height in a cave; but once I was able to create four “old bed” bridges or stack up four water blocks, I no longer needed to use the ability for those purposes. Likewise, I found that most puzzles that could be solved with bind could be equally solved with an echo instead.

Overall, I can only think of a few specific tutorial sections and side quests where bind was absolutely crucial. In most other circumstances, bind could be ignored in favor of an echo. I’m sure there were a ton of creative uses for bind and reverse bond that players have thought up over the last month, but I would have liked to see the game require such uses in some of its late-game puzzles. At the end of the day, to me, Echoes of Wisdom just didn’t make the most of these abilities.

But where do you stand? Do you think Echoes of Wisdom made the most of its bind and reverse bond mechanics? Would you have wanted to see them emphasized more often? Join the debate in the comments below!

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