Prince of Persiahas had an interesting evolution since the release of the original game. The series began as a 2D puzzle platformer, and like many franchises that span multiple decades, transitioned into 3D. Unlike many other games where only a third dimension is added, the emphasis shifted toward the more action-oriented elements. The delay of the remake ofPrince of Persia: The Sands of Timewas disappointing news to many fans, but that doesn’t mean the series has stopped evolving.Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownpresents a new adventure that attempts to combine the best elements of bothPrince of Persiastyles by taking the series in a metroidvania direction.
Persia is protected by a group of powerful warriors known as the Immortals. These seven warriors, led by Vahram, have been victorious in countless battles in the name of Thomyris, queen of Persia. After one such battle the queen’s son, Prince Ghassan, is kidnapped. This is not something any queen would tolerate, so she summons the Immortals to Mount Qaf, a mysterious land that has been afflicted by a curse where time flows differently than it normally should. Mount Qaf is also the home of the Simurgh, protector of the Persians and god of time and knowledge. The Immortals spread out to cover Mount Qaf more efficiently, leaving protagonist Sargon to search for the missing prince on his own. During the time in Mount Qaf, many new mysteries arise and loyalty of the Immortals is tested. Mount Qaf itself is a place of varied environments, ranging from forests, deserts, ancient cities and catacombs to name a few of the different areas Sargon will need to overcome.
It can be easy to get lost admiring the different biomes in Mount Qaf, but it’s important to remember that like most mysterious and cursed places, it has no shortage of things that want to kill Sargon. This is to be expected, and as one of the Immortals, Sargon is more than capable of defending himself. Initially his dual swords are his only means of protection, but after just a few hours he acquires weapons capable of ranged attacks. Sargon has a varied repertoire of moves that can be strung together in combo attacks that can include launching enemies into the air or taking out their feet by sliding. It’s a lot to learn, but there’s an NPC Immortal that’s willing to provide training sessions on some of the finer points of battle. There’s a parry and dodge system in place and mastery of both is recommended for conquering Mount Qaf. A well-timed parry can deflect an attack and leave the enemy vulnerable to a counterattack. Of course not all attacks can be parried and that’s where dodging comes into play. Some of the intimidating monstrous bosses can be rendered almost harmless by using the dodge mechanic to slide under them to attack from behind. One of the more potent tools in Sargon’s arsenal is the Athra Surges. These powerful attacks can only be unleashed when the Athra gaugue is full, but successfully utilizing these techniques can turn the tide of any battle in Sargon’s favor.
Platforming challenges have been a theme ofPrince of Persiasince its first incarnation and these puzzles show no sign of easing up in Mount Qaf. There are many sections that require precision with both timing and positioning as Sargon has to pass through narrow gaps between dangerous traps. These challenging areas can become frustrating, but even the worst of them are successfully completed after a few attempts. For those who are having a difficult time with these areas or just don’t like tricky platforming in general, in the option menu under accessibility there’s an option for platforming assistance, which creates portals at certain platforming challenges that allow the player to teleport through the difficult areas. This is an option that’s discouraged during the initial playthrough as it does take away from some of the experience. Some of these more difficult platforming segments have the potential to lead to shouting obscenities, but there’s a great sense of accomplishment when they’re completed. When the player is backtracking through previously-completed areas for side quests or trying to reach formerly inaccessible areas with newly-acquired abilities, the platforming assist can be a great time saver.
Aside from the hostile inhabitants of Mount Qaf and the extreme fixation on traps, Sargon will have to overcome a few puzzles that don’t require jumping through spinning spikes. Some of these puzzles require exact timing and creative use of some of his Time Powers. Without describing them in a way that spoils the nature of these puzzles, they require a different type of precise timing and positioning of Sargon. These puzzles are ones where the solution quickly becomes apparent, but executing everything perfectly in order to be successful can be trickier. Many of these puzzles do require the use of specific Time Powers, but the use of such powers can also be a lot of fun.
Sargon doesn’t gain experience levels to become a more powerful warrior. He does become much more formidable throughout his journey. This is all done by acquiring items or purchasing upgrades for his equipment. Finding certain items will increase the size of his health bar while other materials are required to reforge his weapons into something more powerful. Amulets are important for increasing Sargon’s power and this is also the closest the player gets to customizing Sargon. There are numerous amulets hidden throughout Mount Qaf, but only a finite amount of space on Sargaon’s necklace for them. These offer a variety of bonuses, such as extending his sword combos, increasing damage, causing parries to restore health and even offering a one-time chance to cheat death. The player is free to mix and match the different amulets in order to strengthen Sargon in a way that’s most befitting to their play style.
Time Powers are some of the more fun elements of increasing Sargon’s power. Their acquisition is crucial to advancing the story and like all metroidvanias are needed to access initially inaccessible locations, but are quite enjoyable to use. Air dash and double jumping are standard metroidvania traversal upgrades, but a few of the other Time Powers are more unusual. Creating a phantom body double not only provides a safe location to teleport to if something goes awry, but it’s also required for some timing puzzles and can be used to make a sneak attack on some otherwise invulnerable enemies. Many of these powers have practical traversal applications, but the Dimensional Claw is one of the more fun ones. There’s just something undeniably fun about trapping an enemy in an inter-dimensional pocket and then destroying them by throwing them into one of the numerous spike traps.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crowntakes around 23 hours to complete the main story and address about half of the side quests. Being a fan of the metroidvania format, it was a pleasant surprise to seePrince of Persia: The Lost Crowngo this direction. It doesn’t do anything to revolutionize the genre, but drawing inspiration from the greats while maintaining staples ofPrince of Persiagamesresulted in a game that’s enjoyable from start to finish. It’s a challenging game, but not one that’s incredibly difficult, but there are plenty of options to customize the difficulty setting for players who want a greater or lesser challenge. There was more variety in the environments than was expected and the gameplay was a balanced mix between puzzles, combat and platforming. The execution of all these elements is done in a way where the game is able to maintain interest during the longer play sessions during the review process. Important quest points can be marked on the map, but getting to their location isn’t always clear. Exploration is encouraged, however, and just traveling to all available points on the map will eventually lead Sargon to his goal and maybe discover some secrets on the way. The downside to the emphasis on exploration is that even with the generous amount of fast travel points, a lot of backtracking is required which can become tedious.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownhas a vibrant art style with fluid animation. The art direction was inspired by numerous sources, one of which was Weekly Shonen Jump anime. This is apparent in some of the super human attacks executed by Sargon and his more powerful opponents. Some of the bosses have special attacks that are done with mini cutscenes, but these are double-edged swords. They are impressive to look at (the first or second time at least), but stopping battle to watch special attack animations does disrupt the flow of combat. One feature that should be mandatory in all metroidvanias is the memory shard feature. This allows the player to take a snapshot of an area and have it marked on the map. A staple of this genre is the player will discover many things that are initially inaccessible and it can be hard to remember what type of ability they need to return to a certain location, let alone the specific location in question. This feature provides easy access to remember where an out-of-reach treasure might be or an area that’s blocked by a locked gate, which is a great quality-of-life improvement for completionists with finite gaming time.
Closing Comments:
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crowncombines elements of the classic 2D games with the 3D reboots to create a solid metroidvania. In factPrince of Persiatranslates to this genre so well it’s surprising it took until 2024 to happen. The gameplay is a mix of fighting, platforming and puzzles that are balanced in a way where things never get stale. Many of the obstacles Sargon faces will present a challenge and only the most skilled players will make it through without falling prey to a trap at least once, but none are so challenging that they can’t be overcome with a little perseverance. The same can be said for the combat, where learning the intricacies and nuance of the combat system is an important part of winning against the challenging boss fights.Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownmay not revolutionize the genre, but it’s one of the better metroidvanias to come out in recent years.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Version Reviewed: PlayStation 5
