It’s a 2D sidescrolling Metroidvania called The Lost Crown. As Sargon, you assume control of the elite Immortals squad of the Persian army. Sargon travels to Mount Qaf with the Immortals to rescue the prince when he is abducted. Sargon will gather a variety of tools, weapons, and trinkets along the way that will aid him in overcoming the difficulties of negotiating the enigmatic and enormous mountain.
It may seem paradoxical, but The Lost Crown’s unique feature is that it doesn’t really introduce any new mechanics. All of the abilities Sargon gains to get through the different platforming challenges are presumably ones you’ve seen elsewhere. The abilities include an air dash, a bow, and an arrow (which may be used to change into a boomerang-like weapon that bounces off objects), the ability to shift dimensions and disclose incorporeal platforms, and an imprinting ability that enables Sargon to teleport return to a location after effectively “saving” his spot there.
This isn’t an exhaustive list of powers because I haven’t finished the game yet, but Ubisoft isn’t inventing the platformer genre with this one. It has created a game that makes it absurdly enjoyable to use each and every one of these common abilities. The finest part of The Lost Crown is figuring out the intricate waltz of buttons I need to hit to get from point A to point B, performing that waltz, and then reveling in my godlike prowess. Shout out to the level creators for that. Even though puzzles can be challenging—and they certainly are—I don’t get annoyed when I have to try a sequence more than once until I get it perfect because Sargon moves fluidly and his power cooldown is lenient.
A little later in the game, there’s a puzzle that’s one of my favorites: you’re trapped in a room and the only way out is to utilize Sargon’s ghost doubles to get a crucial object that’s out of reach. Ghosts are given limited time to solve a single puzzle piece, such as pulling a lever to open a door that allows another ghost to pass through. I had twelve seconds to teleport to my double’s location, fly down a shaft, make a double, stand on a pressure plate, double jump up another shaft, and wall-jump my way to the goal while facing three ghost doubles. I detest repetition, finding it to be the most annoying aspect of challenging games, but I was so engrossed in the experience—like a saxophonist stuck in the middle of a Charlie Parker solo—that I didn’t mind if it took me up to forty attempts not just to solve the challenge but also carry it out.
Fighting is both challenging and gratifying. As you go, you’ll need to utilize every ability Sargon possesses to survive everything from routine enemy battles to boss encounters. Similar to the platforming challenges, you have to memorize attack patterns, search through your vast toolkit for the appropriate weapon, and then perform an intricate dance against a boss who will punish you mercilessly for being overly damage-hungry. Sargon will acquire new fighting skills during the game, such as a potent thrust and a healing wave, but even though some of them are helpful in certain situations, I was able to disregard every new skill after the first two. Simply put, they didn’t appear important enough or different enough from “hit harder than normal” to be useful.
I feel that The Lost Crown is more soulslike than Metroidvania because of how easy it is to use your tools and weapons to get past the puzzles and boss fights, despite their complexity. Whether it’s a combat or a puzzle, the demands made on you never feel unjust or tiresome—rather, they feel more like a step-by-step evaluation of your development. The impression I got was that the game was saying, “Now that you’ve had your air dash ability for a while, let’s see how well you can use it.” The Lost Crown becomes a game in which you, as a player, feel like you’re growing along with Sargon. My favorite thing about video games is when gameplay reinforces narrative. This idea that the game is testing your mastery of skills is combined with the actual narrative of Sargon being a newer, younger member of the Immortals eager to prove himself.
Aside from the delectably fluid platforming and complex fighting, the map is the game’s most inventive feature. The map, that is. It’s enormous, to start with. There are so many locations to visit and mysteries to solve that, even if you’re not moving toward the next story objective, you’ll still find yourself with something to gain, be it money to purchase upgrade hints, or necklace charms that strengthen Sargon’s powers. Furthermore, every section has a unique theme that determines the kind of platform hijinks that will occur. In one level, you’ll have to dodge insta-death spikes and wade across a sand river. In another area, the cursed library, you’ll have to use your bow-boomerang to ring bells that will expose hidden platforms.
The genre of metroidvanias can become extremely monotonous if you are unsure of where to use your abilities next. Ubisoft has included a signpost system in The Lost Crown that allows you to snap photos of your current position and pin them to certain spots on the game’s map. You can thus check those screenshots whenever you gain a new power to see if your new toy opens a new location. These navigation systems are fantastic; they truly demonstrate how considerate Ubisoft is of players’ time.
I needed something more manageable and straightforward to occupy my time after the deluge of massive, laborious, but incredibly entertaining blockbusters of the previous year. With The Lost Crown, Ubisoft has taken the 2D sidescrolling Metroidvania genre, which was formerly thought to be technically and mechanically simple, and transformed it into an incredible gaming and narrative experience.
On January 15, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will be available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.
