When Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was announced at Summer Game Fest last year, I was initially a bit skeptical about the game. I wasn’t sure about the art direction and the series’ recent problems also had me worried. But a few days later I had the opportunity to play it for the first time and most of my doubts were dispelled. Since that hot summer day, I’ve had several opportunities to try out The Lost Crown, and I’ve become increasingly intrigued by the game and the variety of gameplay mechanics it offers. But the big question is whether this 2D Metroidvania manages to entertain from start to finish.
The answer to this question is simple. Yes, yes, it does. But it’s not a complete and resounding victory for Ubisoft. First of all, I’d like to note that the 2D style works effortlessly here and the way the gameplay is presented is top notch. It’s a fluid, fast-paced and exciting adventure that will keep you on the edge of your seat from the first minute to the end credits thanks to its intricate platforming and challenging enemies. In this sense he is a full-fledged Prince of Persia. Additionally, the Metroidvania elements are presented quite well. You’ll hit walls and be unable to progress or explore further without the right skills or tools, and this is as predictable and familiar as any Metroidvania in recent years. Of course, progress is helped by the new screenshot mechanic, which allows you to take a photo of a location you’ve visited to remind yourself why you should/need to go back there. The thing is, it basically works, but Ubisoft’s main problem is how it ties together the Metroidvania approach and the overall narrative of this game.
In case you didn’t know, The Lost Crown isn’t actually about the Prince of Persia. Rather, you take control of a warrior named Sargon, whose job it is to rescue the young prince from his captors. Soon after, you discover a plot that upends Sargon’s beliefs and way of understanding the world, leading the hero on a journey through time to discover the motives of the true antagonist and how to defeat him . The narrative takes Sargon through the area of Mount Qaf, a legendary place where time no longer works linearly, and here the Metroidvania elements creep in again, because you have to visit unique biomes, complete tasks and talk to characters, acquire You’ll gain new skills and equipment, all on the way to a devastating final battle. The idea is good and sensible, but in practice it seems more like a series of obstacles that Sargon must overcome to reach his ultimate goal.
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It lacks finesse in conveying the narrative, and since much of the story is told through pop-up dialogue windows, it doesn’t have the same gravitas as other action-adventure games. The other characters are present but don’t exactly stand out, and if it weren’t for the fast-paced and crazy fights involving many of them, most of them would probably be forgettable. But fortunately, this game lacks a sense of narrative but excels in many other areas.
For example platforms. The Lost Crown was designed for Nintendo Switch from day one, meaning this game runs incredibly smoothly on all platforms and typically runs at 60 FPS or higher (I noticed some drops at times on the Nintendo device below). There are sections of varying difficulty, but each part of the game allows you to demonstrate your understanding of the mechanics as you see fit. This is great because many of the abilities do slightly different things and allow Sargon to overcome the challenges previously presented to him. in a variety of ways. From the use of time reversal systems to teleportation, aerial and double jumps, wall climbing and jumping, grappling, sliding and more, there is a whole range of movement techniques applicable to most locations on Mount Qaf. They are also very useful in combat, meaning the basic hack-and-slash systems are augmented with a range of creative abilities and weapons that make Sargon a versatile and exciting character.
Combat has great depth and is a necessary system due to the speed and ferocity with which normal enemies and, more importantly, boss-level enemies attack. As you’d expect from a Metroidvania, The Lost Crown isn’t always an easy game to conquer, and you’ll need to practice and perfect your parry and evasion timing and learn enemy attack patterns to defeat them. For bosses, this also usually means they have to figure out how to avoid devastating cinematic attacks or battlefield-wide abilities if they want to stand by until their meaty health bars are depleted.
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Ubisoft has also mastered the progress quite satisfactorily. You earn significant upgrades at an attractive price and can upgrade and improve your favorite items by spending the currency you earn from defeating your enemies. Sometimes you’ll also need rarer resources to purchase an upgrade, but in general, if you stay alert and explore the map as you progress through the main story, you’ll have plenty of resources available to play with during the main quest. There are also amulets. These are basically perks that you can equip (and upgrade) that give benefits to Sargon and his abilities. This can be more sword damage, a bit of extra health, protection from a fatal blow once per save point, etc., and you can equip them however you want, assuming you have the slots to equip them, slots you will acquire more through that Explore and loot chests.
Speaking of exploration, Mount Qaf is designed to have plenty of challenges and additional content to explore and find, but it’s also not a huge, overwhelming world. It’s easy to explore and what’s more, the mysteries are often presented in a way that doesn’t leave you banging your head against the wall looking for answers. Ubisoft has found a good balance between challenge and ease of access when it comes to exploration.
While I’ve already mentioned that the main narrative didn’t really tie into the Metroidvania aspect convincingly and this often resulted in the main story leaving something to be desired, the same goes for the side missions too. A large portion of it revolves around finding and completing collection quests around Mount Qaf, and others are smaller stories that never really intrigue. Looking at the main and side quests, it’s clear that Ubisoft had issues with this game’s narrative, because while it’s often good and useful compared to the gameplay, level design, combat, exploration, and even the art style ( ( which improves when explored and often becomes an eyesore in close-ups) all of this is missing.
For me, this is the perfect summary of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. This game is a blast for many reasons. I’ve had a lot of fun exploring the world and facing all sorts of dangerous beasts and creatures from myths and legends, to the point where I can see myself creating a new save file and taking on the challenge on a higher difficulty level. But just because it has its strengths doesn’t mean The Lost Crown is one Home run. There is room for improvement with this game and the way it is designed, particularly in the way the story is interwoven from a narrative standpoint. With this game, Ubisoft has a brilliant platform on which to build the future, and I hope they decide to do so, because it’s clear that Ubisoft has an affinity between this game and fantastic titles like Rayman Legends in the past This game has exciting titles of action and adventure in 2D or Metroidvania.