Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown's full release is right around the corner, but a free demo of Ubisoft Montpellier's new metroidvania is playable now.

Described as a "custom" demo by Ubisoft, it includes "carefully selected" sections from throughout the game. It also features early unlocks of time powers and amulets in order to show off Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown's main gameplay features without spoiling its story, which sees the game's protagonist, Sargon, attempting to rescue the titular Prince of Persia as time itself begins to unravel and monstrous foes appear. Since the demo jumps between different sections of the game, progress made in the demo will not carry over to the full game.

The demo is available to download on nearly every platform Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will be released on: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC via the Epic Games Store or Ubisoft Store. The demo is not, however, available on Amazon Luna, where players will have to wait a little longer to play Ubisoft's latest. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will release on all the platforms mentioned above on January 18, with those who purchase the deluxe edition or subscribe to Ubisoft+ able to play early starting on January 15. Preordering the game will unlock a skin for Sargon inspired by the Prince's look in 2004's Prince of Persia: Warrior Within.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will be the first new game in the franchise since 2010's Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. In GameSpot's Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown review, we called Ubisoft's new metroidvania-inspired take on the series "confident and impeccably crafted" and one that makes it feel "as if the series has found its new genre home."

Once The Lost Crown releases, Ubisoft will still have another Prince of Persia title, a remake of 2003's The Sands of Time, in the works. The game was first announced in 2020 but has since been delayed indefinitely. Development on the project more recently shifted from Ubisoft Pune and Mumbai to Ubisoft Montreal, and no new release date for the game has been announced.