Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Did You Know?

• The game is one of the first video games to be dubbed into Persian (Farsi).
• Players who pre-ordered the game received a costume based on Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (2004).
• The game attracted more than three million players but failed to meet Ubisoft's sales expectations, leading to the development team's disbandment.

Gameplay

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a 2.5D side-scrolling action-adventure game. The player controls Sargon, who uses a pair of daggers to defeat enemies; launching consecutive attacks forms a combo. Aerial attacks can be performed by launching enemies into the air, and charged attacks deal larger damage or create a blast affecting multiple enemies. Successfully parrying a hostile attack staggers the enemy, and attacks with yellow flashes can be parried with vengeful counters that trigger a short cutscene and incapacitate weaker enemies; failing this parry depletes a significant part of Sargon's health. Unblockable attacks can only be dodged. As players progress, they unlock bows and arrows and a chakram for ranged combat, and accumulate points for Athra Surges, powerful attacks divided into three ranks. Sargon's basic movement includes jumping and sliding, and the game is a platformer where players avoid deadly contraptions and hazards. Time powers unlocked during the game allow air dashing, double jumping, and grappling, as well as abilities such as Shadow of the Simurgh (placing a temporary checkpoint), Dimensional Claw (capturing and tossing objects or enemies), and Clairvoyance (toggling platforms between solid and incorporeal states). These powers and weapons are used to solve puzzles and remove obstacles. Accessibility features let players independently toggle the difficulty of exploration, platforming, and combat, including a platform-assist option to skip difficult sections.

Plot

After over 30 years of drought, famine, and invasion by the Kushan Empire, the Persian Empire is near collapse. The Immortals clan repels a Kushan invasion, and Sargon kills the Kushan general Uvishka. During victory celebrations, Sargon's mentor General Anahita abducts Prince Ghassan. Sargon and the Immortals pursue her to Mount Qaf, a sacred citadel destroyed by an unknown curse. The Immortals suspect Anahita plans to use Ghassan's royal blood to access the temple of the Simurgh and gain the divine bird's blessing to overthrow Queen Thomyris. Trapped inside the citadel by a time anomaly, the Immortals split up. Sargon encounters undead soldiers, monsters, and trapped humans, and recovers Simurgh's feathers that grant magical abilities. He catches Anahita and saves Ghassan, but the Immortals' leader Vahram kills the prince, revealing himself as the true culprit. Sargon helps Anahita escape but is defeated by Vahram's time magic and thrown from a cliff. Surviving, Sargon meets the old man Alkara, who says he can reverse time by bargaining with the snake god Azhdaha. Azhdaha instructs Sargon to gain the blessing of the four Celestial Guardians. Anahita claims she kidnapped Ghassan on Thomyris' orders, while Vahram lies to the other Immortals, saying Sargon killed Ghassan, and Sargon is forced to kill several former comrades.

Development

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was developed by Ubisoft Montpellier with support from Ubisoft studios in Bucharest, Kyiv, and Pune. The team had prototyped 2D Prince of Persia games but did not initially set out to make a side-scrolling title. Development began in 2019 after assembling a team with expertise in world-building and platforming gameplay. The game is a standalone chapter with no narrative connection to previous games and is not a spin-off. To distinguish the franchise from Assassin's Creed, the team analyzed past games and researched how to reintroduce it to modern audiences. Director Mounir Radi said the franchise's four core pillars are acrobatic fights, puzzles, platforming, and narrative. The developers retained the setting and time-manipulation powers but added twists: the Prince is no longer playable, and the time-rewind power from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is wielded by the antagonist. Sargon initially had no name, following the franchise's tradition of unnamed protagonists; the name was added near the end of development to foster emotional attachment. The team described Sargon as a young, agile warrior and aimed to modernize the franchise's image with fresh visual design referencing modern culture, urban culture, and fashion.

Reception

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown received generally favorable reviews on all platforms according to Metacritic, with 96% of critics recommending it on OpenCritic. Many critics called it a successful return to the franchise after a long hiatus and ranked it among the best games in the Metroidvania genre. The map design was frequently praised for its complexity, filled with shortcuts and interconnected rooms. Eurogamer's Christian Donlan wrote that traversal and exploration feel like solving puzzles. Game Informer's Wesley LeBlanc noted that exploring off the beaten path and completing difficult platforming sections often rewarded players with tangible gameplay rewards. GameSpot's Steve Watts found the platforming sections difficult and demanding precision. Location design was praised for each biome's unique art and obstacles. VG247's Dom Peppiatt compared the map to those from Hollow Knight and Ori and the Blind Forest, calling it the real star of the show. PC Gamer's Mollie Taylor criticized the first half as unremarkable but found the second half more engrossing. The lack of frequent fast travel points and the need to backtrack were criticized, while accessibility features and the screenshot system were praised.