Prince of Persia franchise is back with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. It is a new adventure in Persian mythology. The game is decent and acts as a nice surprise if you like the classic Prince of Persia or Metroidvania games. It looks like a reboot or maybe even a spin-off in a new direction. Unlike the classic Prince of Persia, you are an immortal which is a powerful warrior. The entire plot revolves around Persian mythology.
In the beginning, a thought might cross your mind, why this game why not a mainline Prince of Persia? That’s a logical question, but after playing the game for a while you realize that this could be the new direction. This new gameplay fits well with what the game is trying to convey. It is different than traditional UBI soft games which usually have a big map.
It is just an enjoyable and challenging adventure. Its price is less since it is not a AAA game and will take you 20 to 30 hours depending on how you play. All this makes you wonder, Is Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Worth it? Let’s find out.
Premise (Spoiler Free)
The main character you play is named Sargon. He is a powerful character who has been given the task of rescuing the kidnapped price. In this Price of Persia, you have to rescue the prince which is kind of comical. It is a fantasy world with monsters, otherworldly beings, immortals, and stuff like that. Your character is powerful which is portrayed in the way he fights and reacts to the world.
Characters are generic and the story does not offer that much but it’s not like it was expected since it is not a story-driven game. The story is not the focus here, it’s the gameplay but it can be negative for some.
Players will navigate through 2D planes, progressing through the story while also unlocking abilities for combat and transversal. These new abilities allow you to go to new areas of the game and progress further. Your character is fast, it uses sprints, dashes, and slides. Death is easier because you can die from a couple of hits or falling into a spike trap. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown can be challenging at times but it gives options of different difficulties and accessibilities option. You can set the difficulty the way you want it.
Combat
At times, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown can be challenging especially when it comes to combat. You can slide under characters, do charge hits, slam on the ground, hit characters in the air, use ranged attacks, and juggle them.
There is also the option of filling your super meter and then using it for two unlockable special attacks. These attacks can be mapped which include a healing bubble, ranged blast, a powerful hit, and other things like that. There are some interesting ones to unlock as you progress but they are not as powerful to go way ahead of the initial moves. I stuck to the initial moves and rarely used the one I unlocked.
The combat is really smooth and responds well. If you have the skills, your character will react to your input. As long as you are good at the game, controls won’t screw you over. The gameplay and controls are super responsive.
Some of the attacks can be parried but the window for the parry is really small. At times, this window can feel brutal. When you parry a special attack, an in-game animation will occur which will instantly kill that enemy. The slash and clang of parry perfectly harmonize with the finisher. So, once you do parry that feeling is really satisfying. All of it ties into super smooth gameplay and gives the game a good presentation.
Get In Action
When the action does start, it can be satisfying. The cut scenes can occur during a phase of a boss battle or point of a mission. All of it makes up for the things that it lacks such as story drawbacks. The glowing of color, your character glowing blue, flash on the screen, camera zooming, and moving of the character all feel nice both during cut scenes and gameplay. The anime-inspired animation makes Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown look cool and exciting.
The Metroidvania exploration element is the base of what you can expect from it. There are different kinds of Biome to play through. Some of these biomes are good while others are just decent enough. Each Biome has its own enemy type and obstacles.
Enemies you fight are well-designed and every enemy is dangerous. You have to consider your moves. Some of the best enemy types will force you to run around the environment and choose the right attack.
The platforming is really good and is reminiscent of the old-school Prince of Persia. It is the same thing all over again. You will be jumping, running around, dashing, avoiding traps, and defeating enemies. All of it feels good and satisfies that itch of platforming. All of it gets better as you get more abilities and time manipulation. It is a Prince of Persia game so time manipulation has to be there.
Some of the more complex environments and puzzles might push you to the limit. It pushed me to the limit but maybe it’s just that I am a bad player. I can see how it can be a problem for some players. Fighting enemies while doing puzzles, planning your attacks or any of that stuff can get a little unnerving.
Explore and Upgrade
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will encourage you to explore. It will make you go to an area where you have unlocked something and move on. After that, you might need to backtrack to the start of the game where you will open up a new area. You are encouraged to explore and revisit to find new secrets and stuff. There are some side quests. Most of these side quests are about going and collecting something. These side quests will open up but you can’t progress them until you open a part of the map and get new abilities there.
It is all about finding stuff and making your characters better. There are collectibles that just give you something. At the same time, there are also different currencies and items with rarity types. These items and currencies can be used at mythical weapon forge and shop respectively.
You will be increasing your attack power, capacity, buying different items that will help you, and things like that. You have a necklace for which you can buy charms that can stack. These charms give you extra hits in combo, poison attacks, and stuff like that. Some of these changes can alter things in a strange way. There is a limit to the capacity of your necklace. Some of them will take more slots than others so you have to manage.
The Map
There is a map that you can use while exploring. It is standard stuff and you can pull it out with the press of a button. There is a feature in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown that lets you save screenshots along with that area of the map. So at any point on the map, you can take a screenshot by pressing down the D-Pad on the console and it will save that screenshot on the map. So if there is a chest or something interesting you can use this feature to save it and return to it when you have the ability to reach it. It is a really cool feature.
Verdict (Is Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Worth It?)
Metroidvania is a genre where there are plenty of games in the past and more will come out in the future. We have seen some pretty interesting entries into the genre. Some of them have been good while others are decent at best. There is a large player base for these kinds of games. It is an interesting genre that is growing with each new game. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is one of those games that will help grow the genre. It is simple and fresh which is a good combination.
The story is not that great, it is mostly forgettable but like I said story is not the focus, gameplay is the focus. A better story could have made the game better but it is what it is. The game has some exciting ideas and lore. The lack of a good story could be the biggest negative of the game. The main character has a good personality and there are things to like about him. The major positive of the game is the gameplay. It is smooth and challenging with top-notch action. It will be interesting to see the series go further with Metroidvania style.
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