Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Review

“Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown” is a 2.5D metroidvania where the player has to take on the role of Sargon, a young Persian warrior traveling to Mount Qaf to rescue the heir to the Persian throne. While there are rare surprises in the game’s story, the main focus is on gameplay. The game features 10 varied biomes and many locations to explore. Sargon’s weapons and abilities are used in intense battles against various enemies, which helps keep the player interested.

Plot Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

The Persian kingdom is guarded by a group of elite warriors known as Immortals. Among them, we will play as Sargon. When Prince Ghassan, son of Queen Tomiris of Persia, is kidnapped, the Immortals travel to Mount Kaf and its city to rescue the prince. However, from the moment they arrive at the mountain, it becomes clear that something unusual is going on. The place seems cursed, there are temporary anomalies in it, and in addition to saving the prince, the heroes are faced with the task of making sense of what is happening.

The game’s plot is not its strong point and rather serves as motivation to move forward. Some plot twists can be predicted in advance, and some characters seem clichéd. Nevertheless, there are some interesting characters and moments in the game that can keep the player interested. However, it is obvious that the developers emphasized on gameplay, which, as it turned out, justified itself.

What is metroidvania about?

In these games, the emphasis is on exploration. A large world with various locations full of riddles, secrets and dangers awaits the player. However, most of them will be closed at the beginning, requiring the player to acquire new skills or items to access them. During the course of the passage, the hero will unlock new abilities or upgrades that will not only help him overcome obstacles, but also open up new paths and opportunities to explore. So you will often have to run back and forth, but at the same time in such games it is good to feel the progress of the hero and the fact that with each hour spent he gets better, gaining new abilities and increasing his capabilities.

About the locations of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Almost the entire game takes place on the sacred mountain Kaf and its surroundings, where the god Simurgh dwells. This god generously rewards worthy warriors with new powers, but enemies can count on his wrath.

The world consists of one and a half to two dozen huge and intricate locations connected to each other. With a sense of constant progression, the game encourages you to explore as many locations as possible. If you unlock a new ability, you may remember a locked location where you can use it and go there for valuable items.

At the same time, the game doesn’t force you to unlock everything at once. You can focus only on story quests, but some tasks will be harder to complete without additional skills. However, the game does not force you to do so.

To make exploring faster, the game features fast travel points that are very handy, as well as special wak-wak trees that allow you to save your game and regain health.

There are also 9 additional quests in the game, most of which boil down to finding a certain number of items and bringing them to your character. They are designed more for those who want to accomplish everything than for those who focus on the main story.

Acrobatics

A large part of the challenge of the game consists, as before, of acrobatic etudes. These often involve multiple stages and throw away any islands of safety for nothing, stopping means losing. The second half of The Lost Crown’s walkthrough requires pinpoint precision and instantaneous assessment of the environment. Platforms disappear under Sargon’s feet in a second, the number of deadly mechanisms is off the scale, and in one of the episodes the catacombs quickly fill with poisonous liquid.

Local merchants

As we pass through, we meet a girl, Fariba. She claims to be able to move around the entire mountain with ease. We will meet her in different nooks and crannies of the locations. The girl will give us a closed world map in the form of a wanderer’s eye and teach us how to use memory shards, with which we can put markings on the map. As we explore the terrain – it is plotted on our map. If you meet Fariba, you can buy a map of the location we are in for 50 time crystals. 

Upon arrival at the Refuge, our hub, we will receive several important services. Fariba’s grandmother trades very important items. From the old lady you can buy: amulet frame (one-time), Xerxes coin (one-time), amulets. And most importantly – additional health bottles and strengthening of their properties. Higher levels of goods at the grandmother will require, in addition to time crystals and ancient Xerxes coins.

The Refuge also has a local martial arts trainer, Artaban. He is one of the immortals who decided to settle in the refuge. The process of learning to fight is very useful in itself, because Sargon, as it turns out, is able to perform a lot of techniques. Not all of them can be reached by your own mind. And for each completed training course we will get crystals. 

At some point in the Refuge will open another useful place – the forge. Here the colorful goddess will also trade with us, improve our weapons and amulets. In addition, she will give a rather interesting quest related to the passage of a complex trap.In addition to crystals for trading in the forge we will need a rare resource – ingots of Damascus steel.

Merchants are found not only in the Haven. Very good goods are sold at a certain creature in the sewers.

Combat System

Of the weapons Sargon has: two sabers and a bow. Also absolutely all acrobatic and spatio-temporal abilities of the hero can be used during fights.

Variable, fast battles, one of the best of its kind. Sargon has a huge set of blows and combinations, he demolishes enemies with an amplified swing, throws them in the air and does not let them hit the ground with new blows, slips behind his back and performs super strikes using the local analog of mana – Atra. 

Atra’s scale fills up while fighting enemies. It is possible to carry two bursts at the same time, it is done near special trees. There are two types of bursts: for attacking (for example, to launch a powerful shockwave) and for restoring health.

Amulets and acquired abilities often help in combat, giving you an additional attack if you successfully connect blows and other bonuses. There is not much space for Amulets on Sargon’s neck and the more powerful the Amulet, the more space it takes up. You can expand the number of slots for amulets at a merchant or by finding them in secret places.

About Sargon’s enemies

Each biome has its own type of enemies. Enemies are represented by a large number of types of ordinary units, several types of conditional elites and huge, dangerous bosses. From all enemies fall time crystals, which are the local currency. Due to the fact that the enemies are different, and at the same time Sargon is available to various combinations – fighting in the game is not boring. 

In fights, the main thing is to understand how the enemies are trying to attack us at the moment. If it’s a normal attack, we can block it. If it is a special attack (with a yellow light), Sargon will be able to perform a spectacular counter-strike while blocking it. If the attack has a red light, it is an unblockable attack and the hero only needs to dodge.

Boss battles in the game are interesting challenges that require not only dexterity and reaction, but also strategic thinking. Each boss has its own unique attacks and vulnerabilities, so the player needs to adapt his tactics to each enemy. Defeating bosses also reflects the player’s progress: with each new attempt, the player improves his skills, learns the enemy’s behavior and finds more effective ways to attack and counterattack him. Using Atra bursts in such moments becomes a decisive factor that can turn the tide of the battle in the player’s favor and help him win, especially when there is very little health left.

The combat system in the game evokes only positive emotions and stimulates the desire to experiment and try new techniques. With enough skill and skillful combination of all available options, including combinations of amulets, various short-range and long-range weapons, the player can achieve impressive results.

The main danger is the timer

In fact, the main enemies in the game are puzzles and jump quests. Almost always we interact with timers. And it does not depend on the set difficulty level.

In total, the key trials are several. We are talking about compulsory trials, where the slightest mistake in timing or unsuccessful movement – start from the beginning. 

To pass successfully we will have to develop an algorithm of actions for each test, then it must be correct, and then we need to clearly implement what we have planned.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown turned out to be a pleasant surprise for fans of metroidvania and action games. The mechanics of metroidvania work well, forcing the player to return to remote corners of the world for new abilities and to unlock previously inaccessible treasures. That said, the game successfully incorporates ideas from the Souls series, adding depth and challenge to the battles. The setting of ancient Persia is well crafted, with the atmosphere and music immersing you in an oriental tale. While the game has some flaws, such as limited facial animation and some challenging platforming sections, overall it is a lengthy, beautiful and intense adventure that can be recommended to both Prince of Persia fans and those new to the genre.