Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Review

By: Vladyslav Nuzhnov | 11.01.2024, 19:00

One of the first major studios to start this year is Ubisoft, which has returned with a new Prince of Persia adventure. The gg editorial team received Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown for review and will share their impressions so that you can understand whether the game is worth playing.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a 2.5D metroidvania where we play as Sargon. A young Persian warrior who goes to Mount Qaf to save the heir to the Persian throne. Although the plot in the game could rarely surprise, The Lost Crown has another trick up its sleeve. And this trump card is the gameplay. We have 10 different biomes and dozens of locations to explore. And the weapons and abilities of Sargon, which the hero uses against various enemies in intense battles, do not let you get bored.

And thanks to the fact that Ubisoft has added many accessibility features to the game, even those who will play Metroidvania for the first time in their lives will be able to complete the game. So it is also a good opportunity to get acquainted with the series for those who missed the peak of Prince of Persia's success.

5 reasons to buy Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

  • You have been missing a new game in the Prince of Persia series
  • Metroidvania is one of your favourite genres
  • The game does not "stifle" you and does not force you to discover everything
  • Many accessibility features will allow almost everyone to complete the game
  • You don't have a powerful PC or a new console, but you still want to play a new game

2 reasons not to buy Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

  • You were waiting for the Prince of Persia in 3D
  • You will never play in metroidvania under any circumstances

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

How we evaluate games

Storyline.
3/5
Gameplay.
5/5
Graphics and sound
3/5
Optimisation
5/5
The balance of expectation and impression
5/5
Atmosphere.
4/5
Level of stress for parents/girl
3/5
Willingness to recommend
4/5
4.0
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Quick transition

What we learned after the review of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

I have to admit, I didn't have high expectations from the game. Most of all, this was influenced by the fact that metroidvania is far from my favourite genre. However, Ubisoft has shown that it is possible to create a game in this genre so that it can be played by both those who have long been familiar with such projects and those who have not played many games. And if you've been putting off getting to know Metroidvania for a long time, because games in this genre are usually not easy, then Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown can be a good springboard for you to discover something new in this industry. And I appreciate games that help the player to get to know a genre with which they are practically unfamiliar.

The plot: a young warrior has to figure things out and become better

The Persian kingdom is guarded by a group of elite warriors called the Immortals. One of these Immortals is our protagonist Sargon. One day, Prince Hassan, the son of Queen Tomiris of Persia, is kidnapped. The Immortals go to Mount Kaf and the city there to rescue Hassan. But from the moment they arrive at the mountain, the heroes realise that something is clearly wrong with this place. It's cursed, there are constant temporal anomalies, and in addition to rescuing the Prince, a new task is added: to figure out what happened here.

And the plot is not the game's strongest point. It is more of a motivation to move on. Some of the plot twists are easy to guess in advance, and some characters are clichéd. However, there are still some interesting characters, and some plot points can still be interesting. But it seems that the developers relied on the gameplay (which, looking ahead, worked).

But this plot is definitely not bad. And not all games are obliged to give Hollywood stories. If you want a non-intrusive story about a young warrior who grows up during the journey to fix everything, and most of all you want interesting gameplay, then you shouldn't have any complaints about the narrative part of The Lost Crown.

Gameplay: explore, fight, return

For those who don't know what a metroidvania is. These games focus on exploration. The player will find a large world with different locations. However, in the beginning, most of them will be closed. During the passage, the hero will discover new skills that will help him return to old places and explore them. Therefore, you will often have to run back and forth, but at the same time, in such games, you can feel the progress of the hero and the fact that he becomes better with every hour spent.

Exploring the big world

Mount Kaf is divided into 10 different biomes, so the world in the game is large. At the beginning, most of the paths are blocked, but after a few story quests, Sargon will start to gain abilities that will help him to look where he could not before. For example, he will be able to make a leap in the air or create a copy of himself to teleport to it.

With a sense of constant progression, the game encourages you to explore as many places as possible. Discovered a mid-air leap and remembered that you saw a closed location, where can this ability help you open it? You run there to start experimenting, and then rejoice when you succeed and get valuable items.

At the same time, The Lost Crown doesn't force you to discover everything. You can only complete story quests all the time. Of course, then some tasks will be more difficult to complete and you will have to spend more time, but the game does not force you to do anything, and this is important.

And to make exploring all this faster, the developers have added fast movement points, which is very helpful, and special trees that allow you to save the game, restore health, and more.

And remember that the game has a lot of different puzzles, so your best friends during the passage should be the ability to analyse and react quickly. Because although some of the puzzles are easy to solve, some will take time to complete.

There are also 9 additional tasks in the game. Most of them ask you to find a certain number of things and bring them to a specific character and get a reward. We have already seen quests like this dozens of times, so you shouldn't expect anything very interesting from them. They are designed more for those who want to do absolutely everything in the game. I have completed some of these quests, but I can say that you won't lose much if you refuse to complete them. It is better to just explore the places you are interested in and concentrate on the main story.

Persian Battles.

Puzzles and world exploration are certainly interesting, but at the same time, you will have to fight a lot in the game. Sargon has two main weapons: swords and bows. Our Immortal also has access to Atra bursts - special abilities. The Atra scale is filled during the battle with enemies. You can carry two bursts with you at the same time, which is done near special trees. There are two types of bursts: for attacking (for example, to launch a powerful shockwave) and for restoring health. I recommend taking one burst to attack and one to restore health.

Each biome has its own type of enemy. Due to the fact that the enemies are different, and at the same time Sargon has various combinations available, the game does not get boring.

From time to time, the player will face boss battles. Most of them are interesting, sometimes they will make you suffer a little, but you need to find your own tactics and sometimes prepare carefully for each one. All this makes you not just press buttons mindlessly, but think a few steps ahead.

And the progression is also clearly visible in the moments with the bosses. You fought one for a long time, but you defeat the next one much faster because you've learnt more combos, discovered new abilities and improved Sargon. And I advise you to use the aforementioned Atra's bursts only with bosses, because several times it was a prepared burst that saved my nerves and helped me win the battle when I was almost out of health.

How to become better in battles

The game has several ways to turn a hero into an even better warrior. The first is amulets. Sargon wears a necklace of amulets that give him additional abilities. Amulets give passive bonuses. They can allow you to attack more strongly, have extra health, or even show the health indicator of enemies. Amulets can be purchased, found in chests at locations, or obtained by completing quests.

Initially, there are only 3 amulet cells available. However, keep in mind that one amulet can occupy two or three cells at once. However, the number of cells can also be expanded to 12. There are 38 amulets, and you can put on or change them near special trees.

Sargon can also upgrade his weapons or amulets. This is done in a special place at the blacksmith. Three resources are used to purchase or upgrade things: Damascus ore (the hardest to find and used to improve the hero's arsenal), herx coins (also not very easy to find) and crystals, of which you will have thousands, but you need a lot of them to buy something.

In addition to the blacksmith, there is also a separate location with a shop where a nice woman sells important items or expands your number of health potions, because at first we can only carry one flask (flasks are also restored near special trees).

Prince of Persia knows how to balance

Ubisoft has managed to create a good balance. Battles with enemies constantly alternate with research elements and puzzles. That is why the game does not get boring, and you do not even want to take a break between gaming sessions. And thanks to a variety of locations, intense battles, abilities, and the ability to improve yourself, which gives you a sense of constant progress, we can safely say that the developers have coped with the task of creating an interesting gameplay.

Accessibility that will allow a large number of people to play the game

I have repeatedly mentioned that almost anyone can complete Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown can be played by almost anyone, but how did you manage to make it possible?

You can turn on the hint mode. It adds icons to the map that show the main goals to make navigation easier.

As we know, in metro travel, we constantly need to return to old locations, but how do we remember all the interesting places we've seen? Memory shards come to the rescue. You can take a screenshot at any place. Its location is saved on the game map, so you just need to press one key instead of memorising everything (you'll forget anyway).

You can't solve a puzzle for a long time and you're already losing your nerve? No problem. Turn on the Platform Assist feature and you'll see a portal that will take you to the final challenge. It will be especially useful for those for whom The Lost Crown will be almost the first platformer in their lives.

There are also 4 difficulty levels in the game, but there is a special fifth one when you can fully customise the game for yourself: how much health enemy attacks will take away, the speed of filling the Atra scale, how long you will be able to repel enemy attacks, and so on.

And I would like to see such accessibility options appear in most games, because it helps to attract a large audience and introduce the genre to those people who have no idea what it is. For example, try to get a friend to play Hollow Knight if they have been playing shooters all their lives. In Lost Crown, it's much easier to do, and then your friend, if he likes it, will go on to explore other metroidvania.

How is Kaf Mountain with optimisation, visuals, and audio?

I played the game on PlayStation 5, and it works flawlessly. It kept 60 frames per second the whole time, I didn't encounter a single bug, and the game never crashed. It is worth noting that the game runs at least at 60 fps on all platforms. And owners of PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PCs will be able to play The Lost Crown at 120 fps if their monitor supports 120 Hz.

And given that the project has relatively low system requirements for a 2024 game, a large number of players will be able to run The Lost Crown.

Not Next-Gen graphics, but beautiful

Due to the fact that the game will be released on all possible platforms, you shouldn't expect The Lost Crown to have Next-Gen visuals. Although I support the decision to release games of a similar scale on last-gen consoles.

However, this level of graphics is compensated for by the fullness of locations and effects. There are various objects everywhere, leaves falling from trees, traces of sand, fire, and wind. No location feels empty, and you don't feel like you've been placed in a cardboard scenery.

And thanks to the variety of locations, your eyes constantly see a new picture. Fairy forests, temples, sandy areas, poisonous catacombs with a toxic green palette and more. So you are constantly looking at something new, and it is beautifully drawn.

Good sound, but most of the soundtrack will fly out of your head

The sounds in the game are also well done. Characters, weapons, enemies, and the environment sound good, and there are no complaints about this aspect. But the music is not very memorable. The only thing that sticks in my head is the track recorded by 2WEI, Joznez and Kataem, which sounds in the end credits, and that's it.

Five things you need to know about Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

  • The Lost Crown is the 12th game in the Prince of Persia series
  • The story tells about a group of Immortals who save the son of the Queen of Persia
  • The strongest point of the game is the gameplay, which successfully balances between battles and world exploration
  • The game is created in the genre of metroidvania
  • Almost everyone can play the game thanks to its accessibility features and release on many platforms
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Genre. Metroidvania
Platforms. PC, PlayStation 4|5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Switch
Number of players Single player
Developer Ubisoft Montpellier
Publisher Ubisoft
Time to complete 12-30 hours
Release date 18 January 2024

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