Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is the latest installment in the Prince of Persia franchise from publisher and developer Ubisoft. Since the original Prince of Persia game release in 1989, the franchise has covered a variety of storylines, and the newest iteration provides a fresh perspective once again.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown follows Sargon as he attempts to save Prince Ghassan. The journey takes place on Mount Qaf, where time and space are manipulated and no longer linear, meaning Sargon may often find that the enemy he faces is himself. Along with the help of six other powerful warriors that make up the group of heroes known as the Immortals, Sargon is eventually tasked with the complicated mission of not only saving the Prince but lifting the curse on Mount Qaf as well.
A New Entry For The Metroidvania Subgenre
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is the newest addition to the Metroidvania subgenre, a combination genre inspired by classic 2D Metroid and early Castlevania games. When compared to Hollow Knight, a prime example of a modern Metroidvania classic, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is surprisingly simplistic.
While Prince of Persia doesn’t have the same level of exploration and depth that a game like Hollow Knight has, the simplicity makes it much more approachable for new players and is by no means a limitation. The key difference is that Prince of Persia allows a much more linear approach to exploration in which players are encouraged along the correct path, but free to veer off of it whenever they please.
Not only are players free to explore away from the indicated direction, but they are rewarded for it, encouraging seeking out new tucked-away areas of different zones. Additionally, with the option to add a key to the map that signifies areas available for exploring and locked zones, players can make their journey as clear or unclear as they would prefer, accommodating a variety of different play styles. Those who wish to get right to the point can while those who enjoy blind exploration are free to do so as well.
Story That Lacks A Solid Hook
Perhaps one of the most disappointing aspects of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is the story’s potential never gets fully realized. The foundation for an interesting plot is there, with a likable protagonist and complex timeline, but it’s overshadowed by several storytelling pitfalls that don’t allow players the opportunity to develop proper investment in the characters. One example is Sargon’s obliviousness to aspects of the environment, which should at least provoke reactionary dialogue. Not only that, but the world-building itself feels under-baked and lacks depth.
Players are often thrown into scenes that feel as though several hours of backstory were missed. Some examples include bosses who often have no explained significance but are simply there to fight the player; or the names of places or people that seem to hold significance to the world, but have no explicit relevance to the player. This creates a bit of a disconnect where there’s no emotional investment in fights that boil down to being just for fun. Though there’s nothing necessarily wrong with this approach, it is disappointing when Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown promises such an immersive story at its best moments.
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Genuine Fun That Makes It Worth It
While some action sequences lack punch, Sargon and his combat style still evoke an emotional response through play that resonates even in its less appealing moments. While working through the story, Sargon receives new abilities in a trickle effect, most of which are traversal. This allows players to continue taking advantage of the ability to explore and, while many of the abilities aren’t necessarily directly combat-style-related, they don’t need to be.
Sargon was designed with a combat style that is either as complex or simple as players would like it to be. Fans of Super Smash Bros Ultimate may even feel a sense of familiarity with the playstyle of Sargon since his attacks follow the pattern of a specific button and directional combo. This allows each player to develop a fighting style that feels unique to them while knocking enemies around. Players are given the option to participate in a training sequence early on in the game that instructs them on Sargon’s different combos using familiar terminology like up-air or down-air combos.
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As for the enemies themselves, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown offers a good variety that require unique approaches, keeping players on their toes. Though the smaller enemies aren’t complex, the change-up they require every so often keeps players from getting too comfortable or bored while completing the game. In addition to the interesting enemies and combat, the environment itself keeps things from feeling too repetitive, which can be a tough task for 2D platformers.
With positive technical gameplay the majority of the time, the only drawbacks are a parry system that can be frustrating at times, as well as Super Moves that seem to lack balance. With the parry system, mistiming, which is easy to do, is heavily punishable. However, this is redeemed by the fact that when it is timed perfectly, Sargon will trigger a flashy finishing move that is unique to whichever enemy is being fought. Though it’s a small touch, it is both satisfying and entertaining, which makes up for the awkward timing system.
As for the super moves, many of them feel useless as players get further into the game. The super moves earned early on in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown seem to maintain their usefulness, while super moves earned later don’t seem to outweigh the early ones. This creates a feeling of unbalance as these don’t feel worth it after a certain point and will quickly cause players to lose interest in experimenting with them further.
Final Thoughts & Rating
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a great new addition to the Prince of Persia lineup that is sure to attract both long-term fans and new players. The impressive combat system specific to Sargon and the overall enjoyment of the game greatly overshadow any of the shortcomings mentioned concerning the story. However, those who are hoping for a bit of complexity and depth may be disappointed with what they are presented with.
Screen Rant was provided with a PS5 code for the purpose of this review.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
- Franchise
- Prince of Persia
- Platform(s)
- Microsoft Windows , Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X/S , Amazon Luna
- Released
- January 17, 2024
- Developer(s)
- Ubisoft
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft
- Genre(s)
- Action , Adventure , Platformer
- ESRB
- Not Yet Rated
