It’s been 13 years since the last major installment in our beloved Prince of Persia series, The Sands of Time, was released. Ubisoft announced in 2020 its intention to release a Remake of the most famous part in the series at the beginning of 2021. To announce Then the date was postponed indefinitely, so that the title completely disappeared from sight.
Fortunately, Ubisoft has found a way to compensate us, even a little, for the deprivation of Remake of its iconic title, by issuing a reboot that takes us back to the roots of the series by introducing the “platformer” style of jumping and 2.5D dimensions while adding new elements such as Metroidvania design, and I am talking here about Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
Two weeks ago, we had the opportunity to try out the “Preview” version of the game Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown for a full 4 hours, during which we had the opportunity to complete a main mission full of events and bosses, explore some parts of the game world, try the gameplay and many puzzles, and in the end we were able to… To form an adequate impression of the game.
Here’s our impression of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
The search for the kidnapped Prince of Persia in the Forbidden Land
The game’s events begin with the Persian kingdom being invaded by the Kushan army, and here comes the Immortals, a group of powerful warriors including the hero Sargon, to help the Persians expel the Kushans from their kingdom. Then Sargon is honored by the queen and the prince and everything is fine, but everything changes suddenly when a member of the Immortals team betrays the Persians, kidnaps the prince and takes him to a forbidden area in the hope of obtaining tremendous power.
From this moment, the first goal of the story is determined, which is the journey to search for and rescue the kidnapped prince, and this is just one of many adventures hidden in the story, which is approximately 20-24 hours long. The story is told through dialogues between characters, cutscenes, as well as what the player finds while exploring, such as murals. I did not find the story interesting enough, especially since the dialogues were naive, but the atmosphere of Persian culture was a strong motivation for exploration.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown sticks to the series’ roots and adds some freshness
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown sticks to its origins with a 2.5D world design and platformer style, but it also adds new elements such as a semi-open world and a Metroidvania design that makes the parts of the world more interconnected as the player explores new areas so that it is easier to navigate between parts of the world Gradually, it was like a cave with a lot of tunnels connected in some way.
The playing style varies between exploration, puzzle solving, and combat, and all of this is presented together in a fun and distinctive way. Puzzles take a variety of forms and are solved in one or more ways, including, for example, jumping between walls or over thorns, dashing quickly or under a giant hammer, and aiming with arrows and other throwable objects to activate a button or extend a huge leaf in order to jump over it.
The game offers one of the best fighting experiences among all platform games. The fighting style calls for a challenge and is characterized by its very fast pace and requires high concentration, relying on the appropriate timing to avoid blows and direct the appropriate strike, to a degree that is close to the Souls games. The game offers a lot of bosses. I remember that the first main mission contains approximately three bosses, and they are very different in their mechanics, strengths, and weaknesses, and therefore the way to defeat them is different.
The visual and sound effects immerse you in their charm and reflect the Persian culture
Throughout the 4-hour game experience I was amazed by the quality of the visual effects. The game world was designed with utmost care to reflect Persian culture in a unique way, starting with its areas inspired by real landmarks such as palaces, temples, and forests, passing through its characters coming from Persian mythology such as enemies and gods – God forbid -, all the way to the distinctive Persian myths, and ending with its magical oriental music and live voices.
I specialize in the visual effects of Sargon’s character design, which is wonderfully designed. He is a muscular young warrior who wears Persian clothing, possesses two long swords, and has magical powers. But what caught my attention here was the splendor of the animations, which were entirely designed with Keyframe technology. This is a technique for designing movements digitally instead of simulating them via motion capture technology, which enabled the developers to present amazing movements that cannot be simulated.
Will Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown compensate fans for Sands of Time Remake?
The Lost Crown may not be what fans expected to see and have been waiting for for years, and it may be a far cry from Sands of Time Remake, but it goes back to the franchise’s roots, which is a really good thing. We return to our previous question. Yes, I believe that The Lost Crown is appropriate compensation from Ubisoft and I will accept it. Although I was not enthusiastic about the title, trying the preview version changed my point of view, so wait for our review of the game soon.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will be released on January 18, 2024 across PS5/PS4, Xbox Series
