Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is one of those weird instances of reverse catfish. It attempts to hook you with a start that has some of its most boring gameplay and cutscenes. I thought the characters looked basic and buff — like, they would not be out of place in Valorant, enough to throw me off giving the game an honest shot. The first boss fight felt like a budget version of something in a street fighter game. I almost felt bad for Sargon, the lead character. He is one of the most reactive and fun characters to play with in videogames, and he felt almost out of place in this dry start. And then suddenly, The Lost Crown had me declaring that it might just be one of the best games I would play this year.
We have heard the story of the Lost Crown before. It’s no different from the seasoned trope in the Zelda series and in the Mario games. Here, the real Prince of Persia is kidnapped, right under the supervision Sargon and his “Immortals” crew.
This elite soldier force run after the perpetrators and find themselves in a lost city that is frozen in time. Sargon’s job is to rescue the prince, and in the process, rescue the city from the monsters that have taken over.
As a two-dimensional side scrolling game, there isn’t anything revolutionarily new here. It is almost reminiscent of the original game in 1989, but only much, much better. It follows the tried and tested “metroidvania” gameplay progression and does it well. A slow starter, the game finally reels you in once you get the “dash” ability and the arrow shooting skill. And then, from being a linear map, the city unfurls like a gigantic banyan tree, pushing you into newer exploratory regions where you must use the new-found abilities.
I really enjoyed the environmental puzzles, and only wish there were more of them. Blocked passages somewhere only mean that you await a new skill that will get you past it a few hours later. I was also quite impressed with the “clone” ability, where Sargon can freeze a version of himself somewhere on the map, and teleport back to that version. It was used remarkably well within the game.
Sargon is fast. Which makes him extremely easy to work with in combat situations, because enemies (if you play it on the easy mode), are often slow to react. He also consistently picks up charms for his necklace along the way, which enhances certain types of combat reactions in fights. The game also features a very God of War-esque rage mode, called “Athra” surge, that can be unleashed strategically in boss battles.
But battles aren’t as exciting for me as the challenge of navigating through the perilous corridors of its map. The game isn’t shy with using spikey platforms, poison lakes, and gigantic, fast-swinging blade pendulums to create a hazardous obstacle course. It encourages Sargon to be creative with his abilities to zoom past the obstacles. It embraces the “platform” aspect of the game without relegatwing it to the primary focus, ensuring a dynamic experience throughout.
Undeniably the best part of the game is that it is accessible — especially if you are new to platformers, and metroidvania in general. It is a lot more approachable than the Ori series — although when it comes down to it, I would admit that I liked the Ori games a lot more than the Lost Crown. The game is currently available for the PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.
Anusha Ganapathi
@quofles
(This economics graduate spends her leisure time preparing for the zombie apocalypse)