Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown Looks To The Past To Build A New Future For The Franchise

Most people think of time as a river, and that river has been flowing swift and sure for 13 long years since the last entry in the Prince Of Persia franchise--the somewhat aptly titled Forgotten Sands. With Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown, Ubisoft appears to be looking to the past and present in the hopes of creating a future for the franchise; a return to Prince Of Persia's roots in 2D platforming, on the foundations built by modern metroidvania titles.

Announced at Summer Game Fest, Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown is a 2D action-adventure platformer developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, the studio behind the beloved Rayman Legends. At a recent preview event at Ubisoft Montpellier's studio in France, we had a chance to go hands-on with an early build of the game, playing on both PC and Nintendo Switch for around two hours.

In a presentation, director Mounir Radi spoke of a desire to bring back the "core ingredients" of Prince Of Persia: platforming, puzzle-solving, time-based powers, and a sense of adventure. This new outing is set in a "legendary Persia", that is described as an "age of Heroes and Gods." Players take on the role of Sargon, a young and impetuous hero who is part of a superhero-esque gang of seven warriors known as The Immortals. Sargon and The Immortals journey to Mount Qaf, a land cursed with time anomalies, to rescue the kidnapped son of the Queen of Persia--the developers notably didn't use his proper title when referring to this titular Prince in our presentation.

Immediately apparent is the game's striking visual style. Combining 3D foreground environments with painterly 2D backgrounds, its vast world is made up of several visually distinct biomes: beams of light beat down over the deserted streets of the Lower City; leaves drift serenely through an Autumnal Forest; sand dunes swallow crumbled ruins in the depths beneath the city. The backgrounds are richly detailed and are clearly intended to demonstrate Persia's rich environmental diversity beyond the stereotypical deserts and temples seen in Western pop culture, but always with a high fantasy flavor. Sargon can encounter behemothic beings working a lava-fueled forge, bands of floating scripture weaving through sand-filled caves, and broken statues frozen in mid-air, bound by Mount Qaf's temporal curse.

Sargon explores Mount Qaf in the way of every modern metroidvania: moving through environments that make up larger areas of an interconnected world, offering plenty of scope for exploration, shortcuts, and secrets. Traversing around the world feels fun and effortless--an obvious result of Ubisoft Montpellier's 2D platforming heritage--and each area feels like the product of a team with expertise in crafting instantly legible, flow-inducing platforming playgrounds. Subtle navigational aids gently nudge you in the right direction, with trails of golden light leading to a nearby Wak-Wak Tree, which function as the game's checkpoints. Many rooms have multiple exits, however, teasing undiscovered challenges and rewards.

Our demo didn't include the game's tutorial, but that was hardly an issue as every move you expect from a modern platformer is present and correct, from an air dash to a wall jump, and it all feels natural. The process of getting from A-to-B is a constant delight, and the series' infamous traps make a welcome return in the form of platforming puzzles--an isolated section from later in the game showcased a challenging run that hinted at the kind of twitchy, pixel-perfect platforming pleasures found in Hollow Knight.

For combat encounters, Sargon has a pair of swords at his disposal, as well as a quickfire bow that can transform into a chakram-esque boomerang. Dodging and parrying is fundamental to success--there is no blocking--creating a high-risk, high-reward combat system, with enemies dishing out significant punishment for poorly timed moves. Sargon also has a variety of combat powers that seem drawn from the catalog of generic 2D video game special moves. In our demo, these included a powerful wave attack, a lunging thrust, and an area-of-effect healing spell.

Certain enemy attacks, indicated by flashing eyes, trigger special counter moves if successfully parried, and function as an instant kill against grunts or an opportunity to take a sizable chunk from a boss' health bar. Thankfully, for a game that rewards parrying, The Lost Crown appears to run at 60fps--even on Nintendo Switch--and its slick presentation makes combat feel fluid and responsive, and look spectacular, too.

Sargon's actions and movements throughout the world are underpinned by prominent anime-inspired visual flourishes. Dash moves trigger a flash of abstract color, and instant kill parries include dynamic 3D camera moves, dramatic color shifts, and super-satisfying animations. It looks impressive and it's much more than mere window dressing. Rather, everything is designed to be in service of how the game feels--much like special moves and counters in 2D fighting games, a successful parry is as much an aesthetic reward as a mechanical one.

Sargon has time powers at his disposal thanks to Simurgh, a mythical bird and god of time and knowledge drawn from real Persian legend. In our preview, these abilities were limited to an air dash and a kind of teleporting power known as the Shadow of Simurgh. Players can crystallize a 'shadow' of Sargon in a particular place, and then teleport back into it at the press of a button, warping through hazards and enemies as they do so. Though the move is accompanied by a satisfying rewind sound, unlike The Sands Of Time the power only affects Sargon and not the world around him, meaning that with some creative thinking on the part of the player, Sargon can navigate past mobile hazards or pop up behind enemies. As the shadow can be crystallized at any point, including in mid-air or during a combo, it opens up many tantalizing opportunities for combat and exploration.

Simurgh is one of a number of creatures, friends, and foes drawn directly from Persian folklore, and for the development team, ensuring an accurate, sensitive representation of Persian mythology was key. "From the beginning we've been trying to be very respectful," said Elguess. "We worked with experts in specific areas to bring information we have to work with, and one of our composers [Iranian avant-garde musician Mentrix] is from Persian cultures. We want to bring some light to a mythology that maybe should be better known."

Ubisoft Montpellier also sees the game as an opportunity to show the influence Persian culture has had on wider mythology from around the world. One boss battle sees players fight a fearsome Manticore, a creature widely seen across Greek, Egyptian, and Medieval art, but the team was keen to highlight its roots in Persian mythology. "We consider that Persian mythology is something really universal and I think we'll be able to show people that this mythology in fact has influenced other mythologies," added Elguess.

There is a sense that the team is keen to acknowledge the franchise's own mythology, too. Animations frequently reference past entries, such as a finisher that directly quotes the iconic acrobatic vault from The Sands Of Time trilogy, and one miniboss is lifted directly from the 1989 original, albeit reworked into a much more traditional combat encounter. But for director Mounir Radi, The Lost Crown is not a reboot of the franchise, but a love letter: "It's a new chapter, and I have to be humble there. For sure, we have a lot of things to tell after this game, because we want to create a world, we want to create a saga, but I think the players will have the chance to give us this opportunity or not."

Though they were not yet ready to be shown at our preview event, Ubisoft Montpellier promises a suite of features that will open up The Lost Crown to players of all needs. According to producer Abdelhak Elguess, the team plans to include several approachability features such as options to tailor the overall difficulty, as well as the ability to fine-tune granular details like parry windows to make combat suited for any player. In terms of accessibility, the game will include contrast modes to cater for color-blind gamers, the ability to change the text size for legibility, and a guidance system to help those who require assistance navigating through Mount Qaf's labyrinthine world.

With all that said, there is a caveat: If this short preview is anything to go by, The Lost Crown feels an awful lot like a case of familiar notes being played well. Sargon can equip power-bestowing amulets, just like Hollow Knight's charms; the invincible Jailers that stalk the halls of the Sacred Archives are functionally identical to Metroid Dread's EMMIs; even the in-game NPC conversations strongly evoke the anime-style portraits of Hades.

Much like Immortals: Fenyx Rising appeared to be a distinctly post-Breath Of The Wild creation, it's hard to play The Lost Crown without constantly being reminded of the modern greats of the metroidvania genre and beyond. This isn't necessarily a bad thing--I like Immortals, I love Hollow Knight, and I enjoyed what I played of The Lost Crown, too, but it remains to be seen whether it offers anything truly innovative, or simply stands on the shoulders of greatness.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is slated for release on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S in January 2024.