The first new Prince of Persia game in 13 years might surprise you. The initial announcement at Summer Game Fest — and the follow-up trailer for Ubisoft Forward — did little to convince the general gaming crowd that the world was ready for gaming’s oldest prince to return to our screens.
Take a look at the comments on any Youtube video, or search social media for reviews of the game, and you’ll see what I mean – if Ubisoft wants people to believe in this completely original prince, detached, there’s a game ahead uphill battle. Whatever happened before is the right path forward for IP.
However, after playing the game for about an hour, I’m convinced. Developed by the hand-in-hand developers at Ubisoft Montpellier (the brains behind the Rayman games and the remarkable UbiArt engine), Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown makes something very special for players who love the adrenaline rush of Metroid’s white-knuckles doing their best.
The Lost Crown is hard. Surprisingly. It expects you to react quickly, think ahead, and mix up your combat skills and platform quickly and consistently, staying motivated and using that flow to overcome the various hazards and enemies that crowd the game. Inertia means death; move, respond, and retaliate, and you’ll get farther. Even during the hour-long demo, the developers were eager to make sure the lesson was well digested.
Throughout the game’s presentations and trailers, you’ll notice that Ubisoft describes your new hero, Sargon, as a “gifted young warrior,” “acrobatic,” “quick,” and “agile.” This explains how the game is played: you’re encouraged to slide into combat to start an encounter, dodging under projectiles and knocking your undead opponents into the air, then getting into them with aerial combos. Pop them back into the ground, slam them, and pull away, unscathed, ready to fight again. It’s a fascinating combat flow that isn’t easy in Metroidvania.
And then, of course, there’s the power of time. The special ingredient that makes Prince of Persia stand out. These temporal techniques are well represented in The Lost Crown, and haven’t lost any of their splendor when the modern Prince of Persia experience is compressed into two dimensions. Conceit is simple; you activate your powers in one place, do a few jumps or attacks, then press a button to return to where you first activated them.
This simple trick means Sargon never has to slow down. If you’re on a tricky platforming section where multiple swinging traps are all synchronized on some deadly timer, you don’t have to stop, wait, run, stop, sprint, jump, wait. No. Your timing powers respond to that staccato rhythm that keeps the platforming dynamics (and fun) from dying on track – getting into the flow of rewinding and making the most of the momentum that comes with it is crucial to this game important. I can only imagine how scary the puzzles can be later in the game.
The actual platforming is just as fluid as the combat, and there’s a really nice parry–enabled by some gorgeous stylized animation–that you can fall back on if things get too sticky. One boss I encountered in the demo, a true manticore meat sponge, took a lot of punishment before going down. But once you realize that this game is testing you all the time (making sure you know how to use your special abilities, your time travel, your platforming, your combos), it’s pretty easy to deal with. As much as I hate to say it, Boss reminds me of hardcore action RPGs; study the moves, know your openings, exploit them, profit.
Given the skepticism the game has received, I think a lot of what was said in this article fell on deaf ears. The Lost Crown might be a hard sell for some; it’s not the Sands of Time remake we were promised (never canceled, never, not at all), and it’s not a massive, Content-rich 3D action game. But it’s very, very good. If you have even a modicum of interest in modern classics like Hollow Knight, Ori and the Blind Forest, Axiom Edge, or any other 2D masterpiece that revives the Metroid genre, The Lost Crown is definitely a game for you! Your game pays attention.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown launches January 18, 2024 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
