Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown played – Don’t underestimate this Metroidvania

The mood for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is already after thePrince of Persia: The Lost Crown played – You should not underestimate this Metroidvania

The mood for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is already completely in the toilet after the first trailer. But Alex has already been able to play the game and says: The title is cooler than you suspect

What ever happened to the once glorious game series? Over a decade without a fresh sequel, Prince of Persia is gathering dust and not just because of all the sand. The Sands of Time remake is a long time coming and now, instead of playing the Prince himself as usual, he’s been kidnapped in The Lost Crown! And it looks so colourful and full of effects that fans are already disappointed beyond measure.

Yet at the heart of The Lost Crown lies a really strong game that many will never experience because of the prejudice!

I was able to play Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown extensively. Ubisoft invited me to the southern climes of France to get a first gameplay impression. A few hours of gameplay later, I can now tell you what the Metroidvania has to offer and whether it is convincing. Spoilers: More than you probably suspect.

Gone with the Prince

I’ll start with the most obvious: the main character! For the first time, you don’t play the eponymous Prince of Persia (well, in 2008’s PoP you weren’t a real prince either, strictly speaking), but a young warrior named Sargon. He belongs to the Immortals, a Persian elite troop that apparently does not attach much importance to team play. Right at the beginning, Sargon is alone, his comrades-in-arms simply don’t want to have anything to do with him. I can’t say yet how relevant they will become later in the game.

Sargon is particularly distinguished by his appearance: Undercut, earrings and dark eyeliner make him look more like the provocative member of a boy band than a feared warrior. His appearance is also important to him in battle; he constantly shows how cool he is in effect-rich animations. This mixture of styles from Fortnite, anime and Persian setting does not appeal to a large target group, to say the least, which can be easily seen in the immense negative reactions to the first trailer.

Objectively speaking, however, the style is by no means bad or cheap. With its fancy animations and cinematics, The Lost Crown even managed to win me over quite quickly, even though I couldn’t get into the style much at first.

If you are also disappointed by the hip-hop music in the trailer, I can give you the all-clear: In the game, the action is accompanied by the pieces of an Iranian artist who has put together a soundtrack that is well worth listening to with a mix of traditional instruments and modern music (not as “modern” as in the trailer).

What story?

Sargon’s personality has remained like the rest of the story throughout the play event: pale and barely worth mentioning. The story does not tie in with any previous titles, but there is a bit of background lore. Every now and then there are stone tablets engraved with stories about a former king. But they could hardly be more uninteresting and only slow down the flow of the game unnecessarily – but of course they can also be ignored.

Story dull, style appealing to few, main character disappointing. If you’re wondering when the good part will come, it’s time now. The gameplay in The Lost Crown is a lot of fun.

(You have to be prepared for some traps.)

Gameplay

I was allowed to explore several environments, shred all kinds of enemies, take on three boss opponents and cleverly overcome parkour sequences. But one thing at a time.

Climbing: The parkour passages play intuitively and Sargon controls very precisely. These sections have not been particularly challenging like, for example, Super Meat Boy, but could change as the game progresses.

Enemies: Sargon encounters a wide variety of types – whether it’s the classic zombie, forest creatures or a blind giant that can send me to jail with one hit – this is where things get varied.

Boss opponents: Three head smashers got in my way during my play session. At first I bit the dust more often, but the more I internalised Sargon’s abilities, the quicker I was able to finish them off.

(In The Lost Crown you’ll encounter a number of enemy types, some of which require different approaches).

Sargon’s skills

At first glance, the attack options are very limited: One button sabres Sargon with the swords, the other unpacks the bow and arrow.

With time, however, I have learned to make use of this rather limited choice. With a charged arrow, for example, Sargon can shoot a large ball that returns to him like a boomerang. But if I then block my own bullet at the right moment, it flies another round – this can be repeated a few times and is surprisingly fun.

The fact that blocking is trained a bit certainly doesn’t hurt either: after all, those who master this mechanic will rarely face challenges. Almost every attack of an opponent can be used to one’s own advantage: With standard attacks, it stuns the attacker; when the eyes light up yellow, even a particularly powerful counter-attack is possible. Only from red-eyed attacks should Sargon seek safety.

Such a counterattack has to be practised first! Sargon holds up his swords for a while to defend himself, but the time window for parrying is much shorter than his movements make it seem. Especially in the beginning it took me a while to get the mechanics right.

Besides all the usual stuff, Sargon still has one ability that makes The Lost Crown feel like Prince of Persia: time travel! While the hothead can’t turn back all of time, he can teleport himself back to where he once stood. In parkour sections, the mechanic is useful now and then. In later sections, the ability is also supposed to be necessary for some puzzles. In combat, however, the little time travel couldn’t give me any significant advantage, only with certain types of enemies can it be used in a halfway useful way.

(The teleport is rarely as much of an advantage in combat as it appears to be in this picture.)

A small advantage can be gained with amulets. Depending on which ones we equip during our adventure, they grant us different buffs. For example, they give you a new attack pattern, healing through successful parrying or more attack strength.

The game world

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a Metroidvania through and through. The world is a huge labyrinth with several paths, some of which cannot yet be opened directly. But so that the previously unreachable path is not forgotten, an in-game screenshot can be taken of the spot and attached to the map. So I can always check why I didn’t continue down the corridor instead of having to go back to the place in question.

It’s also worth looking off the main route. You can also find side missions there. For example, I came across an NPC who wanted to recruit me to look for the lost shards of the real moon – the moon that can be seen in the sky is only a cheap replica in his eyes.

How this and other side missions play, however, whether they are worthwhile and on how many are stuck in the game, I cannot yet assess. During the event I was unable to follow up on the mission.

From January 18, 2024 Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown should be available for the PC as well as for last- and current-gen consoles.

Editor’s Verdict

It almost hurts to see the negative opinions on the first trailer. Because yes, I can understand all of you. I wasn’t expecting big anime effects and a pseudo-cool unknown when I went to Montpellier either. The trailer music doesn’t make it any better then.

With a little time, however, I not only got used to the style, I really enjoyed the hours of play because of the great gameplay! The character plays nice and precise, the hit feedback is great and the bosses are a lot of fun. The Lost Crown certainly doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it does a more than decent job of putting the familiar into a new guise!

first trailer completely in the bucket. But Alex has already been able to play the game and says: The title is cooler than you suspect

What ever happened to the once glorious game series? Over a decade without a fresh sequel, Prince of Persia is gathering dust and not just because of all the sand. The Sands of Time remake is a long time coming and now, instead of playing the Prince himself as usual, he’s been kidnapped in The Lost Crown! And it looks so colourful and full of effects that fans are already disappointed beyond measure.

Yet at the heart of The Lost Crown lies a really strong game that many will never experience because of the prejudice!

I was able to play Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown extensively. Ubisoft invited me to the southern climes of France to get a first gameplay impression. A few hours of gameplay later, I can now tell you what the Metroidvania has to offer and whether it is convincing. Spoilers: More than you probably suspect.

Gone with the Prince

I’ll start with the most obvious: the main character! For the first time, you don’t play the eponymous Prince of Persia (well, in 2008’s PoP you weren’t a real prince either, strictly speaking), but a young warrior named Sargon. He belongs to the Immortals, a Persian elite troop that apparently does not attach much importance to team play. Right at the beginning, Sargon is alone, his comrades-in-arms simply don’t want to have anything to do with him. I can’t say yet how relevant they will become later in the game.

Sargon is particularly distinguished by his appearance: Undercut, earrings and dark eyeliner make him look more like the provocative member of a boy band than a feared warrior. His appearance is also important to him in battle; he constantly shows how cool he is in effect-rich animations. This mixture of styles from Fortnite, anime and Persian setting does not appeal to a large target group, to say the least, which can be easily seen in the immense negative reactions to the first trailer.

Objectively speaking, however, the style is by no means bad or cheap. With its fancy animations and cinematics, The Lost Crown even managed to win me over quite quickly, even though I couldn’t get into the style much at first.

If you are also disappointed by the hip-hop music in the trailer, I can give you the all-clear: In the game, the action is accompanied by the pieces of an Iranian artist who has put together a soundtrack that is well worth listening to with a mix of traditional instruments and modern music (not as “modern” as in the trailer).

What story?

Sargon’s personality has remained like the rest of the story throughout the play event: pale and barely worth mentioning. The story does not tie in with any previous titles, but there is a bit of background lore. Every now and then there are stone tablets engraved with stories about a former king. But they could hardly be more uninteresting and only slow down the flow of the game unnecessarily – but of course they can also be ignored.

Story dull, style appealing to few, main character disappointing. If you’re wondering when the good part will come, it’s time now. The gameplay in The Lost Crown is a lot of fun.

(You have to be prepared for some traps.)

Gameplay

I was allowed to explore several environments, shred all kinds of enemies, take on three boss opponents and cleverly overcome parkour sequences. But one thing at a time.

Climbing: The parkour passages play intuitively and Sargon controls very precisely. These sections have not been particularly challenging like, for example, Super Meat Boy, but could change as the game progresses.

Enemies: Sargon encounters a wide variety of types – whether it’s the classic zombie, forest creatures or a blind giant that can send me to jail with one hit – this is where things get varied.

Boss opponents: Three head smashers got in my way during my play session. At first I bit the dust more often, but the more I internalised Sargon’s abilities, the quicker I was able to finish them off.

(In The Lost Crown you’ll encounter a number of enemy types, some of which require different approaches).

Sargon’s skills

At first glance, the attack options are very limited: One button sabres Sargon with the swords, the other unpacks the bow and arrow.

With time, however, I have learned to make use of this rather limited choice. With a charged arrow, for example, Sargon can shoot a large ball that returns to him like a boomerang. But if I then block my own bullet at the right moment, it flies another round – this can be repeated a few times and is surprisingly fun.

The fact that blocking is trained a bit certainly doesn’t hurt either: after all, those who master this mechanic will rarely face challenges. Almost every attack of an opponent can be used to one’s own advantage: With standard attacks, it stuns the attacker; when the eyes light up yellow, even a particularly powerful counter-attack is possible. Only from red-eyed attacks should Sargon seek safety.

Such a counterattack has to be practised first! Sargon holds up his swords for a while to defend himself, but the time window for parrying is much shorter than his movements make it seem. Especially in the beginning it took me a while to get the mechanics right.

Besides all the usual stuff, Sargon still has one ability that makes The Lost Crown feel like Prince of Persia: time travel! While the hothead can’t turn back all of time, he can teleport himself back to where he once stood. In parkour sections, the mechanic is useful now and then. In later sections, the ability is also supposed to be necessary for some puzzles. In combat, however, the little time travel couldn’t give me any significant advantage, only with certain types of enemies can it be used in a halfway useful way.

(The teleport is rarely as much of an advantage in combat as it appears to be in this picture.)

A small advantage can be gained with amulets. Depending on which ones we equip during our adventure, they grant us different buffs. For example, they give you a new attack pattern, healing through successful parrying or more attack strength.

The game world

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a Metroidvania through and through. The world is a huge labyrinth with several paths, some of which cannot yet be opened directly. But so that the previously unreachable path is not forgotten, an in-game screenshot can be taken of the spot and attached to the map. So I can always check why I didn’t continue down the corridor instead of having to go back to the place in question.

It’s also worth looking off the main route. You can also find side missions there. For example, I came across an NPC who wanted to recruit me to look for the lost shards of the real moon – the moon that can be seen in the sky is only a cheap replica in his eyes.

How this and other side missions play, however, whether they are worthwhile and on how many are stuck in the game, I cannot yet assess. During the event I was unable to follow up on the mission.

From January 18, 2024 Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown should be available for the PC as well as for last- and current-gen consoles.

Editor’s Verdict

It almost hurts to see the negative opinions on the first trailer. Because yes, I can understand all of you. I wasn’t expecting big anime effects and a pseudo-cool unknown when I went to Montpellier either. The trailer music doesn’t make it any better then.

With a little time, however, I not only got used to the style, I really enjoyed the hours of play because of the great gameplay! The character plays nice and precise, the hit feedback is great and the bosses are a lot of fun. The Lost Crown certainly doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it does a more than decent job of putting the familiar into a new guise!

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