A review of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Over time, even fans of Prince felt that Assassin's Creed was a logical extension to the open worlds of their beloved game and with each passing year, the calls for a new Prince of Persia only got fainter.
Hyderabad: Even before Assassin’s Creed, there was Prince of Persia – a franchise that wove tales of epic romance, mysterious time-altering, and frenetic swordplay. The series has laid dormant for fourteen years since 2010’s Forgotten Sands as Ubisoft has found much joy pursuing other gaming adventures.
Over time, even fans of Prince felt that Assassin’s Creed was a logical extension to the open worlds of their beloved game and with each passing year, the calls for a new Prince of Persia only got fainter. Thus, when the franchise’s return was announced in June 2023, most wondered how Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed would coexist if both were to be open-world adventures rooted in the past.
However, one look at The Lost Crown’s metroidvania/platformer avatar conveys Ubisoft’s vision for the future.
Situating The Last Crown is a challenge. In terms of design, it has more in common with the first-ever Prince game from 1989 (playable on systems like MS DOS) than the recent 3Dreimaginings. Regarding navigation, the game shares certain elements with the Ori franchise (alongside the music from Garth Coker) and its combat elements seem inspired by the Devil May Cry games.
Playing the game almost feels like engaging in a nostalgic mishmash. You fight using some of the best combat mechanics while timing dodges from old-school spikes and guillotines, all spurred on by fantastic music. At higher difficulties, it all melds into a blur as you dodge, slash, die, respawn, and repeat – progressing slowly and methodically. Ubisoft seems to have perfected the Metroidvania sub-genre, as this game surpasses even Rayman.
However, The Last Crown is a lot more than a mishmash of mechanics. This 2.5 D side scrolling adventure offers players unique ways of mapping dungeons (think screenshots in games), an amulet system to boost health and damage dealt during combat, and a difficult yet fluid combat system to face a variety of enemies.
From fire-breathing lions to acid wasps and from spectral knights to zombified soldiers, you must survive them all over and over again as they respawn alongside you each time you die. The Lost Crown is a fitting choice for those who enjoyed games from the Ori franchise or even for someone who is tired of waiting for the next Hollow Knight.
There is simply a lot to explore and numerous times to die before you finish this one. If you are a fan of the old-school charm in video games like I am, you must pick The Lost Crown up when it launches later today. Gaming in 2024 is off to a great start!
Sneak Peek:
Title Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Game Type: Single Player Platformer with Action and Puzzle elements: in the Metroidvania sub-genre
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows
Price: Rs. 3,499 on the PS store and Rs. 2,999 on the Epic Store for PC.
Verdict (all scores out of 10):
Innovative Gameplay: 8
Game Handling & Quality: 9
Value for Time: 8.5
Value for Money: 9
Overall: 8.62
– What Stands Out:
* The nostalgia, action, visuals, and music are all top-notch. This platformer could serve as a worthy successor to the fantastic Ori games, albeit with a lot more action.
* The speed of respawns and reloads is excellent here. In this game, one is bound to die many times, and the developers, having foreseen this challenge, have done their bit to make the experience worthwhile.
– Fails to impress:
* There are a few minor oversights that seem to have escaped final quality checks. For example, there is character whose voice and diction are out of place and resembles generic text to speech software.
* I am just nitpicking here, but the dodge mechanism is a bit too overpowered at times. I have used it to slide under objects with virtually no height/ ground clearance, like shields perched on the floor.
