When it comes to the gaming company Ubisoft there is usually only one word people have used to describe them and their games in recent years and that is “mediocre”. The game publishing company best known for franchises like Assassins Creed and Far Cry hasn’t had a game release that has pulled them from that mediocrity gamers associate them with even with their recent release of the Avatar movie licensed game which has been described as mid-at best by gamers. So you can imagine that when it was announced that Ubisoft would be helming a couple of projects involving the Prince of Persia franchise a lot of people were worried about their outcomes and most people have even written them off. However, after getting my hands on the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown I can safely say that this game will no doubt be the sleeper hit of 2024.
The story begins with a massive battle where a group called the seven Immortals; Sargon the main character of the game and the youngest warrior of the group, Vahram, Neith, Artaban, Orod, Menolias, and Radjen aid in defending Persia against an invading force. Upon the invaders’ defeat, the seven are rewarded for their services and congratulated by the Queen of Persia and her son Prince Ghassan. However, after the ceremony Prince Ghassan gets kidnapped by Sargon’s former instructor Anahita for a seemingly unknown reason and it’s up to the immortals to find and retrieve him unharmed. They track the kidnappers down to a temple on Mount Qaf, but unbeknownst to them the temple is cursed with a spell that makes time alter differently for those who enter meaning that when one person enters for them it might only be three hours, while for another person, it could be three years. Eventually, after traversing many regions of the temple Sargon discovers a plot that could not only threaten the Prince and Persia but, possibly the world as well. This discovery leads to Sargon becoming alone on his quest and he needs to figure out a way to save the Prince, Persia, and the world itself.
One thing to keep in mind is that this game unlike most Ubisoft games is a Metroidvania-styled RPG so the gameplay for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has simple basic controls, but they can be combined with abilities and other button combinations that can make them more exciting. Of course, you have the basic controls like the X button being the jump button which can be held down so the player can jump higher and The square button being the basic attack button which can unleash a charged attack when held down. There is also a sprint button which is R2 and the Parry button is L2. The Parry system in this game has an interesting feature which is that when an enemy flashes yellow when they attack and Sargon Perry’s it it triggers a badass cinematic counter move that can one-shot normal enemies, but also deal a massive blow to boss enemies these are referred to as Downburst Counters by Sargon. There are traversal mechanics like wall jumping which is triggered by jumping on and off the wall with the X button, pole spinning which can be directed with the left stick, and a sliding mechanic which involves using the left stick and R2 trigger. A large majority of the meat of the game comes from Sargon’s Athra Surge which is the energy meter that grants Sargon the ability to unleash powerful moves against enemies that can both damage enemies and give him benefits in combat. Sargon will also gain other items and abilities that are meant to advance to other areas of the map such as; the Bow of Menolias, Chakram of Menolias, Rush of the Simurgh, Shadow of the Simurgh, Clairvoyance, Dimensional Claw, and many others.
Another feature that stands out that is made to help players keep track of the collectibles and secret passages in the game is the Memory Shards. Mount Qaf is full of unreachable passages and treasures, which can be accessed once players find new abilities. The memory shards act as a Photosystem, which essentially takes a picture of the environment which and gets automatically saved to the player’s map for later.
When it comes to Metroidvania-styled games that I’ve played over the past few years none of them made me want to explore the world and discover more secrets than this game aside from last year’s Metroid Prime. The world of this game is very vibrant, colorful, and full of well-designed monsters and puzzles that I couldn’t help but want to explore as much as possible to find every treasure and ability I could. The game also has some of the smoothest gameplay animations I’ve ever seen for this type of game. The gameplay is also very fun and addictive despite having some puzzles that will no doubt frustrate people who don’t like puzzles in games. There is one segment in particular that involves time trials that I have already seen frustrate a lot of people.
Overall this game is a diamond in the rough and will certainly no doubt be overshadowed by other games coming out this year especially since this game was published by Ubisoft. However, despite that, this game was certainly a good start to a new year and I hope gamers give this game a chance regardless of who made it.
Overall Score: 9 out of 10
Reviewed on PlayStation 5