First impressions of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown — the return of the famous franchise in a new form:
• it’s now a”metroidvania” where you run around a two-dimensional location studying the environment;
• you don’t play as the prince himself, but as the warrior Sargon of the Immortals clan who is saving the heir to the throne;
• the bright visual style with plenty of effects and surrounding objects is immediately noticeable, but sometimes it looks like a mobile game and the locations seem lifeless;
• gameplay respects all genre norms — we gradually uncover new abilities and mechanics, solve puzzles, and fight bosses at the end of the locations;
• the plot is absolutely straightforward and unsophisticated, but the high pace of narration saves the initial hours — you always need to run somewhere and fight someone, so you don’t get bored;
• battles with opponents are surprisingly simple, but you can definitely perform impressive combos which forms a significant part of the gameplay. Over time, the battles become more challenging and interesting.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown leaves a dual impression. On one hand, it’s a decent game from the creators of the Rayman series, and it’s hard to find fault with it. All mechanics work as they should, and no bugs were noticed. On the other hand, it seems more like a good indie project, of which there are many to cater to all tastes. Ubisoft can make cool small games when they want to, but for the return of “Prince of Persia” we expected something more.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is now available on PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series, and Switch.
