Prince of Persia hasn’t had the best of luck with getting a new game off the ground, with our last outing with the titular prince being all the way back in 2010. Alongside a remake of the original Sands of Time game, Ubisoft is double dipping by giving us a more traditional 2D game as well with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
Playing in a 2D, metroidvania style, The Lost Crown is a slick package both in how it looks and plays. The game is absolutely gorgeous and the combat is incredibly tight with some of the most satisfying combat systems I’ve played in the genre in a while. Combos are directional so you can easily start a ground combo that then builds into an air juggle.
Our hero, Sargon, has a few tricks up his sleeve besides swinging swords as you have a bow and a sort of shadow rewind ability that lets you teleport yourself back to a previous spot. Additionally, both of these abilities (and others) can be enhanced with amulets you equip. Your bow for example can fire three shots instead of one, or you can add a laser that fires when you teleport back to a saved shadow. There was some potential for interesting builds and I’m curious to see how deep the system lets you go.
My only quirk with the game is that displaying it on a Switch wasn’t the best way to showcase your game that’s due for release because it performed pretty awfully when things get hectic. I’m sure the other platforms are perfectly fine, but if you play on Switch you may want to pause before buying to make sure the performance issues get ironed out.
