You Might Not Believe How Good New Prince of Persia is!

A few years ago, Ubisoft announced the remake of The Sands of Time, which brought nostalgia for this brand in me. Since then, there has been no remake, but during the Summer Game Fest, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was presented. A game that, at first glance, has nothing in common with the tearfully remembered series about the Prince. I had the chance to play The Lost Crown for an hour and now I can't stop thinking about how much fun I had. I didn't expect that kind of Prince, but this one undoubtedly convinced me. And now I will try to convince you.

Where is the Prince?!

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown turns the entire franchise upside down. Not only does it not return in the form of a TPP game, but as a platformer (yes, I know that there are classic installments of the series). What's more important we don't even play as the Prince. He disappeared somehow and our task is to find him. Along with the six companions called Immortals. We play as a Sargon, the youngest member of the team, but like the rest of his companions, he possesses special powers that we will develop over time. An opportunity for this will show up very quickly, as the Immortals are looking for a prince on Mount Qaf, which is a mythical location straight from Persian literature. Within, it turns out that time structure is completely unstable there and extraordinary things are happening.

Sargon has a simple range of skills - he can attack with melee weapons and a special spectral bow with a limited number of arrows. He can also parry blows, dodge them, jump, and dash out of the enemy's attack range. In accordance with the legacy of the series, he can run on walls, perform amazing acrobatic jumps - and all of this despite having a Killmonger hairstyle from Black Panther, while also belonging to a group with faces straight outta Fortnite. Moreover, he has several useful abilities, such as leaving behind a shadow frozen in time, to which he can be quickly teleported and surprise his enemies.

Add to this we have the special heal/attack bar which is refilled by performing a strike against antagonists. Healing like this is an important feature because it works no matter how many potions we have. The fight using all the tricks available in the presented demo was incredibly meaty and dynamic. It was quite easy to quickly figure out what works together and how to approach specific opponents. The first boss also cracked at around the fifth attempt. I want more.

If had to compare some other game to The Lost Crown, I would call this game a marriage of Dead Cells with the Ori series. Both combat and moving through levels are extremely smooth, and the slightly comic book-style graphics complete the quite fairy-tale image of this production. Sometimes we fight, sometimes we solve environmental riddles to move on, and sometimes we search for secrets. For sure we will miss something or won't be able to reach it - all because this Prince is not ashamed of his Metroidvania roots even for a moment.

I also heard in the conversation that, while designing the metroidvania aspect of Prince, the development team decided to meet the players halfway, and we will be able to take some sort of screenshots. They can then be attached to the map, to know what is in a certain location and what we didn't have access to before due to the lack of appropriate skills. There will be no need to go back for 20 minutes to some location just to find out that we still cannot enter, because we unlocked something completely different.

The creators at the beginning of the brief introduction emphasized that the game is based on several pillars, which are meant to establish it in the Prince of Persia brand. Exploration will be a key element, which fits perfectly with the idea of metroidvania; there will be no lack of narration and storytelling set in Persian literature and myths, in which the developers will include their unique vision; the combat is meant to be dynamic, difficult, flexible, and impressive - and that's exactly what it is, offering few keys to choose from, but a multitude of possibilities. And there remains the issue of time, which not only is one of the main destructive forces of the visited location, but also becomes an important advantage of Sargon (at least that's how I understand his teleportation). Apparently, it's not the end - the game producer admitted during an interview that the well-known time reversal hasn't disappeared, it's just ended up in the hands... of our antagonist.

One of the developers, when asked about inspirations, actually admitted that among them should mentioned Dead Cells. The team drew inspiration from productions such as Devil May Cry or Dark Souls - although I think it's hard to call The Lost Crown "Souls among metroidvanias." There were also references to comics, anime, and above all "Sands of Time" likewise the first game from 1989. The developers, however, did not want to copy all the old ideas and show the familiar world from a different perspective. That's why the main character is not a Prince, and we can't turn back time.

"Time is like a river, that flows swift and sure in one direction"

After the Summer Game Fest conference and the first trailer, I approached The Lost Crown as an interesting curiosity - despite the huge excitement for the brand. However, I decided that there was no harm in trying, so I played the PC version, then the Switch version, and I really fell in love with the new Prince. I don't know if words can convince anyone, because it only spoke to me when I put my hands on the controller and tried the game myself. I hope Ubisoft decides to release a demo of the game, because as the online reactions show - the reception is mixed.

However, if you still need some encouragement, I'll mention that the game is developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, who have created very well received Rayman games. It's worth to give this game a chance.