The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom marks the history of Nintendo’s legendary franchise: for the first time, the main playable character is not Link, but Princess Zelda herself. Being able to properly embody the one who gives its name to the series 38 years after the first opus is a welcome idea, particularly for young players, while being a “logical evolution” – both for the series and for the video game world —, according to the experts interviewed by The Duty.
“Every time we offer a new female protagonist, I will always say that it is a good thing,” says Élodie Simard straight away. For the member of the Homo Ludens research group, which focuses on the study of the sociology of games, the impact is even greater coming from a “franchise which has been there for a long time in the world of video games and which is as important”, as is The Legend of Zelda.
With Echoes of Wisdom and more complete female characters in the video game sphere, “what we are sending as a message is that women and girls are included in the world of video games – of Zelda here in this case – and that they are not just Mario’s princess to be saved, but heroines themselves,” says Maude Bonenfant, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Gaming, Technologies and Affiliated Society at the University of Quebec to Montreal (UQAM).
For her, playing Zelda is “in the order of things”, especially in the context of the more inclusive turn that the games have taken. After the video game marketing of the 1990s where “boys are addressed directly and women are completely excluded from the discourse”, the 2010s have led to a “certain awareness of the problems of sexism, misogyny, discrimination in video games,” explains the professor at UQAM.
Everything allowed “a diversification of the characters and subsequently more interesting female characters from the perspective of the players,” she adds.
A greater impact for the youngest
For Élodie Simard, having Zelda headlining this opus represents an advantage, especially for younger players. “I imagine a little girl passing through the games aisle and seeing the Zelda cover on display. Maybe she’ll say: “Ah, well, I’d be tempted to try that.” Maybe it will hook him more,” she said.
A “similar phenomenon [s’est produit] with Lara Croft in the late 1990s that many girls or women appreciated, among other things because it was a female character, while at the time, it was even rarer to have female characters », Expresses the one who wrote her master’s thesis on this character.
In terms of sales, Maude Bonenfant and Élodie Simard do not think they will see a big impact, at least negative. “For fans of the series, there will be no change. They’re going to want to buy the game, regardless of whether they’re men or women. There is already a good base of players who are fans of Zelda at the start,” expresses the latter.
This is the case of Aliénor Sens, a player and fan of the series, who would have played a new opus even if it featured a male character, but for whom being able to play Zelda “is particularly pleasing”.
Zelda also brings renewal
Besides the presence of the new heroine, it is above all the renewal that the latter brings that Aliénor Sens likes. In Echoes of WisdomZelda uses magic much more than her male counterpart, opening up unique gameplay mechanics to this protagonist. “I like Link, but after a while, it’s always the same thing. While this is really a game Zelda which renews itself,” she says.
“It’s really an effort to make a character detached from Link, more original, with actions in his own right,” explains Élodie Simard. An element which allows us to “reverse a little the stereotypes of the damsel in distress” which might have been present. This time, the roles are reversed: it is Link who must be saved at the end of the adventure.
THE Zelda are “already games that are not necessarily associated with the masculine gender. The way they are marketed is already more open,” notes Maude Bonenfant. “Putting Zelda forward will definitely help, it can’t hurt. »
According to Élodie Simard, Link stayed in the role of the main character for so long because it was a “safe bet”. “Once the table is set, it becomes a little difficult to propose new products, to change the winning formula,” she illustrates.
According to the doctoral student, the argument that the over-representation of male characters is linked to a predominantly male audience is also often cited in the industry. “But ultimately, we realize that if women are able to project themselves into male characters, there is no reason why the opposite should not be true either. There are several men who can play female characters without any problem,” says M.me Simard.