The strongest impression I have of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown after almost 20 hours is that Ubisoft Montpellier’s action-adventure platformer somehow manages to capture the spirit of both Jordan Mechner’s original 1989 Prince of Persia game, and Ubisoft’s 2003 The Sands of Time, while being its own original thing. That’s no mean feat, which leads me to say upfront that if you loved either of those acclaimed Prince of Persia firsts, you’ll get a kick out of The Lost Crown, which harnesses a very special time power: nostalgia.

In side-scrolling Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, you play as an all-new series protagonist Sargon, the acrobatic youngest member of the seven Immortals, Persia’s elite fighting force. Having come to the Empire’s rescue at the start of the game, the heroes are forced into action yet again when the Persian prince is kidnapped. Prince Ghassan is dragged off to the Citadel on Mount Qaf, once the revered home of bird god Simurgh, overlord of Time and Knowledge, but now a cursed and corrupted place full of secrets. Sargon must explore this massive realm, which consists of 13 distinct biomes filled with dangerous enemies, traps and traversal puzzles.

For the record, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown features a 20-25 hour Main Path, though side quests and collectibles hunting could double that playtime. At 17 hours, I was sitting at just 32% completion according to the game’s tracking system.

Something about Prince of Persia titles is that they have always leaned towards challenging – though never to the level of a soulslike. Played at default Warrior difficulty, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown follows that tradition. The platforming will test your reflexes constantly (sometimes Sargon is too agile), and it’s far from a cake walk on the combat front. Die by an enemy’s hand and you respawn at your last visited Wak-Wak tree, which act as the game’s save points and opportunity to replenish resources. Die in a boss fight and you’re sent back to the very start of the battle, or given the chance to go away and buff up by equipping different amulets, or purchasing useful items and upgrades from Qaf’s eclectic mix of merchants.

Although unstated, you’ll want to visit Artaban the Sword Master to come to grips with the numerous attack combos at your disposal. Mastering these move sets, and all-important parry, will give you an essential advantage during the tough boss battles. Plus, they’ll make you realise there’s a lot more to Sargon’s combat options than is first apparent.

Speaking of things being unstated, one of the most impressive things about Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is that the game is set up to provide as much or as little hand holding as you want. You can change the difficulty settings on the fly, or use a slider and tick box system to customise the level of challenge. There’s even an option to skip the toughest platforming segments, though these are decided for you.  

With its labyrinth structure, the very first Prince of Persia could arguably be called a proto-Metroidvania. Thirty five years later, and The Lost Crown is a full-blown entry in that sub-genre, standing confidently shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Hollow Knight. You’ll be doing a lot of running back and forth over the vast map as you gain new time-based abilities that allow you to overcome previous barriers. This can be frustrating, of course, but there are a smattering of fast travel points to save time (if you can find and unlock them). Also, even if you don’t activate Guided Mode, which highlights objectives on the map, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown encourages players to screenshot key locations within Qaf through the use of Memory Shards. This way you can see at a glance what obstacle is where in the maze.

It’s easy to fatigue playing Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown – particularly when you spend what feels like an hour overcoming one short stretch of spiky platforming. However, once your temper has cooled, you realise that there is a lot to appreciate about this game. Like the fact that, much like Sargon parkouring around a stage, The Lost Crown dodges the open-world bloat; the collectibles obsession and side quest busywork often associated with Ubisoft action adventures. These elements are present, but they’re dialled down; present to flesh out the game world and provide some useful but unessential rewards.

In a refreshing change, you’re not forced to micromanage individual pieces of gear either. You enhance your chosen play style by equipping different amulets, but your gameplay tools are solely your swords, bow and chakram, paired with two of ten charge-up attacks, and, eventually, six time-based powers. That’s it. No more in-depth fiddling required.

The story too is uncomplicated. The Lost Crown relishes its plot twists, but it doesn’t strain to be edgy, funny or self-referential. There’s an anime influence in its combat cut scenes but otherwise the game is content to keep its focus on Persian mythology, and telling a literally colourful, PG-13 tale featuring a diverse cast. The modern music and Sargon’s aggressive attitude in the game trailers is misleading as to the game’s actual tone.

Some may look at Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and consider it a standalone oddity or experiment given how much of a departure it is structurally from other contemporary Ubisoft crowd-pleasers. What I see, though, is the publisher learning from, and leaning into, the past, not unlike what happened with last year’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage. We’re talking about creating something new that combines modern and throwback sensibilities – and that’s welcome to see from an AAA publisher, especially as an older player with 30+ years of fond gaming memories.

In the case of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, the result of this approach is something that stands out thanks to its revisit of classic design elements paired with buttery smooth next-gen performance. The game is relatively straightforward, very elegantly designed, and features a sumptuous, but distinctly stylised, look.

As a long-time fan of the Prince of Persia series, this latest entry provides a familiar sense of emotional and cerebral satisfaction. And it includes what has instantly become one of my favourite puzzle sequences of all time, centred on cross-time collaboration. It’s a flash of perfection in a surprisingly and solidly entertaining game.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown releases on 18 January – with early access from 15 January for Deluxe Edition owners. The game will be playable on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One consoles, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Nintendo Switch and Amazon Luna.

As of today, 11 January, a free demo for the game is available as well on Ubisoft+, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and 5, Xbox consoles, and Windows PC through the Epic Games Store and the Ubisoft Store.


Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown review

The plot is perfunctory, and it’s easy to fatigue on the platforming – more of the brilliant time power puzzles would have been appreciated – but Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a fantastic start to the 2024 gaming year. Sleek, visually striking and satisfying, the game pays tribute to the Prince of Persias of yesteryear, while being its own thing, a contemporary class act.

 8.5
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was reviewed on Xbox Series X