What is it? A time-bending metroidvania that marks a new era of Prince of Persia. Release date January 18, 2024 Expect to pay £45 / $50 Developer Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Publisher Ubisoft Reviewed on Nvidia GeForce RTX3070, AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, 32GB RAM Steam Deck N/A Link Official site
Prince of Perisa: The Lost Crown is a slow burn to a fault. Its beginning hours are mired by overly simple and unremarkable platforming, unhelped by a disjointed narrative that left me with zero investment in its story. If I were reviewing this based on the first 15 hours alone, I would've been a lot more sour. Yet its second half does a fantastic job of leaning into its strengths, and when I rolled credits I couldn't help but wish the entire game had been this way.
It's a solid attempt at a metroidvania from Ubisoft and one that, all things considered, took me by surprise with how much I came to enjoy it. I've never been one to express much interest in metroidvanias or even Prince of Persia for that manner, and while I feel less enthusiastic about the whole thing than I did when I previewed The Lost Crown last summer, I can't fault it for how competently it nails the basics.
Though I may not have dabbled in Prince of Persia previously, I do at least know that this is the series' first appearance in a long 14 years. Not only has it swapped out its 3D perspective to return to its 2D platforming roots, it's also forgone its eponymous prince character in favour of new protagonist Sargon. This lad isn't royalty, but rather a member of the Immortals, a group tasked with protecting the prince Ghassan and keeping Persia safe.
He doesn't do a very good job of the whole protecting thing though, as his mentor Anahita snatches Ghassan away to Mount Qaf, where time is all funky and nonlinear, causing some strange behaviour and mysterious characters to crop up all over the place. Sargon then jets off with the rest of the Immortals to try and save Ghassan while combating all of Mount Qaf's weirdness.
At least, I'm pretty sure that's the premise of the story. The Lost Crown's narrative is incredibly underbaked. It feels like pieces of the worldbuilding and overarching story are missing—outside of the Immortals members, I was often lost in who people were and their motives. Characters would talk to each other as if I was supposed to know what was happening, even though nobody had bothered to explain it to me.
Eventually I opted out of paying attention to the story entirely, rather than choosing to be confused by it.
There are books and tablets that can be read throughout for additional lore, but they proved of little help when it came to the moment-to-moment story beats. Moments that I'm sure were intended to be grand reveals were met
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There are plenty of tough platforming challenges in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, but most players are likely to be roadblocked by some of the game’s tougher bosses. Naturally, among the most difficult are the Immortals, who turn on Sargon in favor of Vahram’s treachery. Orod is one of the toughest, but fear not; we’ll guide you through how to topple this giant.
As you make your way through Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, you’ll find that there are plenty of platforming sections that will test your mettle as a player. However, there’s one challenge in particular that will have you banging your head against the wall. It involves a room off to the side from the elevator at the Haven, and you must make it through two minutes of perfect jumps, dashes, and other skills in order to complete it and get a new skin for Sargon.
This particular puzzle in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown can seem especially tricky. That’s because there are two statues to begin with that are roughly the same size, and one of them isn’t meant to be used at all. Don’t worry, though; we’ll guide you through the process as quickly and effortlessly as possible so that you can move on with this particular Metroidvania.
The Sacred Archives puzzles in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will see you creating clones of yourself while solving a series of increasingly difficult timed challenges. Your goal is to address one aspect of the puzzle with each pass until, with the help of your clones, you can complete the challenge. So, let’s get started, shall we?
A quest item named the Key of Kings must be foundto open the Palace of King Darius in .The Palace is one of the last locations Sargon needs to visit before the end of the game, but it is impossible to reach without the Key. You'll have to backtrack through past areas you've visited to obtain this important item.
One of the rooms in the Hyrcanian Forest area of contains a statue puzzle that can be quite difficult to solve. A riddle provides some clues to arranging three figures in certain directions for a rare reward. Those who interpret this clue correctly can unlock an item used to upgrade Sargon's weapons for their continuing journey throughout the Citadel.
The best tool in Sargon's arsenal in is an Athra Surge, a strong technique that unleashes the Immortal's channeled spirit into various attacks. These moves all have unique properties designed for different encounters with enemies across the Citadel. However, the limited amount of Surges you can equip makes some abilities better to have than others.
The best upgrades you can get in help enhance many of Sargon's items and weapons to deal with the first big challenges faced on Mount Qaf. A particular improvement may change a difficult boss fight into a much easier encounter. Since many upgrades are very cheap toward the start of the game, you may have a hard time choosing one.
Alternate versions of Sargon appear as recurring bosses for you to find and beat throughout your adventure in . These dark reflections have the same skills as you but are equipped with extra Athra abilities, making them a challenging fight every time. You will need to overcome your bad habits and learn about your own weaknesses to take down these mirrored reflections.
The maximum number of health bars Sargon has in can be increased when you find special items called Soma Petals scattered across the Citadel. Putting four Petals together forms a flower that makes you able to fight for a longer time during your adventure. However, these artifacts are only found when you overcome great challenges presented in different areas of your map.
As you pursue Anahita into the Upper City of the Citadel in , you will be stopped by a Chakram puzzle with two lion statues that may be difficult to solve. This platforming section relies on the alternate form of Menolias' Bow that transforms the weapon into a spinning blade. This Chakram can interact with the world to open up new paths, but must be used carefully for this puzzle.
Starring a new cast of characters, tells an all-new story, with an ending that leaves the game open to further sequels. The first major entry in the franchise since the 2010 release of, takes the form of an action-heavy metroidvania with a narrative centered around protagonist Sargon's quest to rescue the kidnapped Prince Ghassan from the old city of Mount Qaf, which is where the game mainly takes place. While the story is mostly straightforwardly told, there are a few significant twists.