Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Can't Afford to Cramp Its Heroine's Style

Despite the decades of traditions firmly established by the Legend of Zelda franchise, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom appears to be a different animal altogether. As if Zelda taking the lead as the main protagonist for the first time in a mainline Zelda installment wasn't enough, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom's "Traversing Hyrule" trailer confirmed there are plenty of other things in store as well, including various outfits the princess can wear as she makes her way around this iteration of Hyrule.

While the "Traversing Hyrule" for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom confirmed that Zelda will be able to wear different outfits in the game, it has so far only revealed three: a traditional Princess Zelda dress, a Gerudo outfit, and the cloak she has been seen wearing in most of the game's pre-launch footage. In light of that, should there not be many different outfits to choose from in Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, the whole feature could be very underwhelming as a result. As such, it needs to ensure its titular protagonist has a closet full of cosmetic options made available to her.

Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Should Feature Plenty of Cosmetic Options

Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Could Afford to Take a Cue From Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its direct sequel, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, may be entirely different games from the rest of the Zelda franchise, but they still make efforts to call back to the most popular entries in the series with their armor sets. For example, both Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom feature armor sets themed after Link's wardrobe in Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Zelda: The Wind Waker. There are also unique individual Easter egg armor pieces in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, like Majora's Mask and Midna's Helmet, which reference Zelda: Majora's Mask and Zelda: Twilight Princess, respectively.

Should Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom need wardrobe inspiration for the heroine, it needs only to look to the franchise's past and the example that Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom have set for it. Zelda has appeared throughout the series in different outfits, especially in Hyrule Warriors and its sequel, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. This would be a great place to start to ensure Zelda has plenty of cosmetic options in Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. More specifically, Zelda's Sheik outfit from Zelda: Ocarina of Time would be an excellent addition or her gold-framed dress from Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Should Introduce Original Outfits for Zelda to Wear

While The Legend of Zelda's past is full of great examples of what the princess could wear in Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, it should introduce plenty of original outfits as well. Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom both excel in this area by ensuring players have a wide variety of brand-new armor sets for Link to wear that are themed after the games themselves, rather than anything from the series' previous installments. Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom could offer players similar cosmetic options, whether they are designed to resemble the Deku of the Faron Wetlands or the River Zora of Jabul Waters.

Judging by what was shown in the "Traversing Hyrule" trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, there doesn't seem to be much room for outfits in the player's inventory. That being said, that could either be misleading marketing or simply a misunderstanding of the inventory screen. In any case, for the ability to give Zelda different looks in Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom to really hit home with players, it will need a vast number of options available, especially if it hopes to follow Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's act.