Prince of Persia The Lost Crown

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown may not be a typical Prince of Persia title, but it doesn’t really matter because it’s one of the best metroidvanias I’ve ever played. Combat is fast and fluid, with a dual-sword fighting style mixed with a bow, fast combos, parrying, and dodging. It is very satisfying. Platforming has tight controls, and it gradually expands as you unlock new abilities. It even features some puzzle-solving sections from time to time. The map is beautiful and a joy to explore, with plenty of interconnected areas offering decent variety. It’s also bigger than I initially thought, with plenty of optional collectibles. The story is decent, but it isn’t a highlight. The characters, however, are pretty good. The main bosses are also a highlight—they’re a lot of fun to fight and learn. It also features one of the best quality-of-life features in the genre, allowing you to take a screenshot that gets pinned to the map, making it easy to mark places you can’t quite reach yet. However, you’re limited in the number of markers you can have at once, which cripples this feature a bit. There are also plenty of accessibility features. The graphics have a great stylized art style, but they lack some detail. They reminded me of portable titles. I didn’t find the soundtrack particularly memorable either. Updates added permadeath and speedrun modes, boss rush and boss replay, and 22 curated challenges with a mix of platforming, puzzles, and combat that truly test your skills. A story DLC was also released that adds a new area, and it’s mostly separate from the main progression. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but that’s fine because it sticks to what works well. This is what Ubisoft is capable of when it gives its developers the freedom to create something original instead of sticking to its usual AAA formula, and I personally prefer titles like this. It kind of reminded me of Immortals Fenyx Rising in that sense. So overall, this is an easy recommendation, especially on sale. It’s simply one of the best metroidvanias available. You’ll have to deal with the Ubisoft Launcher, but it wasn’t that bad for me.