Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Review – A New Beginning

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is at once a return to the roots of this long-running series while also being a significant departure from what’s come before. The series’ last truly original 2D game was Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame, which is now thirty years old. Since then, the series has only tried to return to its 2D roots in a few handheld spinoffs.

At the same time, however, The Lost Crown is a true original. While there are elements that fans of the series will recognize, such as its setting, your main character’s outfit, and some of the abilities you and your foes use, there’s never been a Prince of Persia game which is a full on Metroidvania. On top of that, in perhaps the game’s biggest divergence from the series, you aren’t even the Prince of Persia.

Saving The Prince

That’s right, while the story of The Lost Crown certainly has a lot to do with the Prince of Persia, that’s not who you’re playing. Instead, you’re Sargon, a member of an elite combat group known as the Immortals, who are tasked with protecting the Kingdom and the Prince. You quickly have your hands full when a traitor in your midst kidnaps the young prince and makes off for Mount Qaf. In following after them, you’ll find yourself tied up in a curse involving the Simurgh, one of the Persian people’s gods who was supposed to protect them but has been missing for thirty years.

Upon arriving at Mount Qaf, you’ll quickly learn at least part of the nature of this curse. Time doesn’t behave normally here. Giant platforms are frozen in place. You’ll run into versions of your companions who say they’ve been here for weeks despite the fact that you’ve only just arrived. Nothing makes sense. During The Lost Crown’s twenty-or-so-hour journey, you’ll dig into the mysteries of Mount Qaf and how they relate to the history of your people. There are twists and turns aplenty, and by the time it was over, I was already ready for a sequel to see what might come next.

You Gotta Fight

At its core, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a platformer, but you might not realize that after the first hour or two. Combat is a major focus of the early part of the game, while most of your platforming in the early areas is more functional than anything else. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because the combat here is excellent. Though it feels perhaps a bit simple at the start of the game, it has a great feeling of impact behind it. You’ll start with just a sword and have to master some basic attack combos as well as the options to dodge or parry certain attacks. Color-based indicators will tell you what attacks can’t be parried and help you establish a flow. This becomes especially important in some of the game’s boss battles, which will really test your timing in their later stages.

Over time, you’ll gain many more abilities that can help you in combat—ranged attacks, powerful moves that require building up energy over time, and more complex combos. You’ll also, however, gain the ability to customize your character using amulets. These items you’ll find in your quest or later purchase at a shop allow you to gain extra skills. Some enhance your attacks or make them more powerful. Others provide extra health or defense against certain types of damage. You’ll find dozens of amulets on your quest, and you can upgrade initially weak ones to make them more useful in the later parts of the game. Over time, you’ll also upgrade Sargon to be able to equip more amulets at once, allowing for even more customization.

A Platformer at Heart

Combat isn’t the only place where new abilities radically transform The Lost Crown. Your movement is actually the most radical change. As you get deeper into the game, you’ll unlock a number of abilities that help you stay in the air for longer and longer periods of time. In the early going, you’ll be able to wall jump, but before long, you can do far more. This is when the game truly shines as a platformer, which shouldn’t be surprising from a game made by the creators of the most recent Rayman titles. Once it knows you’ll have these abilities, the training wheels come off, and you’ll be thrown into some devilishly challenging sequences, to the point where the creators give you the option to skip the hardest ones if you choose. That said, while these sequences can feel hard, they never feel unfair, and even when I was failing a section multiple times, the penalty was limited. Falling into certain traps just causes damage, while others will send you back to the most recent solid ground you were on. You’d have to fall an awful lot to actually die, and while I can’t say that’s impossible, it only happened to me a few times. Thankfully, save points are also common, so I never lost much progress.

Like any good Metroidvania, these new abilities not only allow you to move into new areas but also allow for further exploring areas you’ve already visited. Backtracking is a core part of these games. From the opening minutes, you’ll see paths you clearly can’t reach yet. Unlike most of the genre, though, you don’t just have to remember them. A collectible item called a memory shard allows you to take a snapshot at any time and place it on your map. This is a fantastic option because you can look back later when you have more powers in search of areas worth revisiting, and you can tell before traveling all the way there if that path looks like something your new abilities will be useful for.

If you get lost during all of your exploring, you can always refer back to your map as well. Full area maps are for sale, and a certain character will also sell hints if you need a bit more of a push. Some of the later puzzles in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown can take some time to wrap your head around, and on more than one occasion, I walked away from one thinking I might be going the wrong way or missing a new ability I’d need to move forward later, but I usually worked things out quickly enough. If things get tough, try to really think about the implications of all of the abilities you’ve unlocked. The puzzles here do a great job of mixing in all of your abilities. This isn’t one of those games that will mostly forget about your earlier powers once you unlock additional ones.

Conclusion

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is, in many ways, a new direction for this series, but there’s enough pulled from the past that it very much still feels like a Prince of Persia game. With excellent combat, some of the best platforming you’ll find in any Metroidvania, a fantastic world to explore, and a series of incredible powers to unlock, The Lost Crown keeps getting more interesting as you make your way through it. Fans of the series, the genre, or simply great games will want to check out Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

Final Verdict: 4.5/5

Available on: Xbox Series X (Reviewed), Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Switch, PC; Publisher: Ubisoft; Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier; Players: 1; Released: January 18th, 2024; ESRB: T for Teen; MSRP: $49.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown provided by the publisher.