PRINCE of Persia hasn’t seen a mainline release for over a decade, and The Sands of Time remake seems to be in development limbo.
However, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is bringing the Prince back to basics with a 2D platformer that will remain long-term fans of the series’ roots.
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The original Prince of Persia games were brutally difficult, where players had to memorise the layout of levels to avoid plentiful death traps.
On the other hand, The Lost Crown brings a different kind of difficulty.
As a metroidvania, there are hidden areas with long difficult sections of platforming, many without ground to land on.
The world map is vast, and as you unlock new abilities, it unfurls before you.
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With these new abilities comes more complex puzzle-solving as you try to navigate your way through these complex corridors.
If you’re a fan of the genre, this is exactly what you’ll hope for, getting the right amount of difficulty, and pushing the challenge further if you so desire.
There is another area where it is also brutally difficult, and that is the combat.
While the enemies lurking in corridors shouldn’t give you too much trouble, the bosses are a different story.
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Particularly in the end game, boss fights are intense, and the only way to break through them is with well-timed parries.
However, there is only one attack you are able to parry for every five unblockable attacks.
This means there is a long wait time before you attack, on top of the overreliance on flashy animations.
Certain attacks carry long cutscene-style animations, and once you enter them, there is no way to escape.
On top of this, some of the attacks can take quite long to carry out, which drags in these fast-paced battles.
However, if you are in The Lost Crown for the platforming, there are options to make this significantly easier and trivialise these fights.
While some may be against this, it allows people to play and enjoy The Lost Crown exactly how they wish.
The story is possibly the weakest point, with a lot of focus going into telling you how close all of the characters are, without actually showing you.
This means that you don’t actually feel close to any of the characters, and don’t care when they show up infrequently for an over-dramatic cutscene.
For its faults, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown gets the essentials right.
The movement is sleek, fast-paced, and feels good to master, as you zip around the labyrinth of Mount Qaf.
It’s clearly made as a love letter to fans of 2D platformers, and they will more than get their fill here.
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A demo for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is available now on all platforms.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
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