Review of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - The New Prince
If Ubisoft hedges more bets like this one, the big publisher with a storied history and a difficult present, may have greater optimism for the future. In the last ten years or so, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is their best game. It settles for the lovely 2D instead of the three-dimensional hijinks of every current PoP game, but it's hardly a redux. It blends contemporary Metroidvania ideas with the platforming genre, taking influence from the series' seminal 1989 predecessor. By fusing the old with the modern without resorting to needless gimmicks, it turns into the pinnacle of Persia. I'd even go so far as to say that it somehow surpasses the cultural influence of everyone's favorite Point of Pride, Sands of Time (2003).
And it does everything without fanfare! It moves like a ninja into the market, especially in comparison to the noise the unfortunate Skull and Bones made over the last several years. Many Prince of Persia fans may not be aware, but the first new PoP in fourteen years is arriving this languid January. And the greatest PoP, not just any PoP. But I stray and make unnecessary repetitions.
Eternal Champions
Sargon, the youngest Immortal, is the main character of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. The protectors of Zoroastrian Persia in antiquity, they were the Avengers of their day, ruthlessly resolving any issues that had befallen the old realm. The kidnapping of royal prince Ghassan was the most recent scandal to make headlines. The young man was abducted by betrayers from the royal palace, who then took him to Mount Qaf, a once-important site for civilization that is now a temporal black magic labyrinth. There, Sargon and the group will encounter betrayal, long-forgotten beasts, and lethal traps—the final test of their mettle. In addition, time seems to move differently in Qaf, with the streams of the past and present seeming to cross at random.
With its old magnificence and hidden history, Mount Qaf is a very beautiful location. It has several distinct biomes that are all gated by Sargon's skills, which you may gradually unlock, much like in a Metroidvania. Like a flower, it unfolds to surprise and enchant you at the same time. Numerous intriguing NPCs will come up in your encounters, some of them will give you the chance to do side missions and explore the old, twisted mountain even further.
Persian souls
Though it's difficult to choose a favorite aspect of the game, I would argue that its battle system and navigation system are both excellent. These components feel and function incredibly soulslike. Sargon uses two (upgradeable) swords for combat, along with a bow and Chakram, an archaic magical boomerang. He has access to a variety of charms that improve his fighting prowess in different ways. Sargon will get the ability to control a variety of temporal abilities and basic Athra magical surges during the game. All of this comes together to create a sophisticated but user-friendly program that offers plenty of opportunity for the refinement required to play at harder difficulty levels. Strong combination structures help the battle, which you'll need to use to take out progressively tough enemies.Magical Wak-Wak trees, which function as bonfires in spirits games, are scattered across Mount Qaf. After your (inescapable) death, you may revive there and rearrange your amulets to better suit the difficulties of each zone. After some time, fast travel becomes possible, but it never becomes a feature that is particularly prominent due to the dearth of teleportation-enabling statuary. The one aspect of The Lost Crown that I find a little annoying is its linearity—major bosses often possess vital time abilities that are necessary to advance the plot.Championing accessibility Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has unparalleled accessibility options when compared to games of a similar kind. When asked what kind of experience you would want, you may choose between the Exploration and Guided modes at first. The first is a traditional Metroidvania, where exploring and the odd headbang from being lost are integral aspects of the game's experience. The other is to gorge on the target marks, where you will be led every step of the way by someone gripping your hand tightly. Other than that, there are five other levels of difficulty in the game, and you may choose to completely bypass the most challenging platforming sequences.My favorite item was Memory Shards. These shards allow you to snap a picture of your present location at any point throughout the game and save it to your map. Let's say you discover an ability gate that leads across rooms or zones; rather than making a mental note, you get a tangible copy that is inscribed on the map. It's excellent and adds nothing negative to the exploring process. The developers included three distinct colorblind options in their high-contrast design for visual accessibility! For gamers with protanopia, deuteranopia, and other forms of this hereditary impairment, this is wonderful news.Finally, this is the first big Western AAA game that has been properly translated into Farsi (both the text and the dub, as far as I know). Hats off to a developer for this elegant generosity, considering the people of modern-day Iran hardly get any affection from the collective West.
