Prince of Persia The Lost Crown review: "It gets so much right, but falls short of greatness"

GamesRadar+ Verdict GamesRadar+ Verdict PS4 Deals2 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆7 deals available$19.99View$41.92$25.96ViewFreetrial$49.99$30.14View PS4 Deals2 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆7 deals available PS4 Deals2 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆7 deals available PS4 Deals 2 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆ 2 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆ ☆☆☆☆☆ 7 deals available $19.99View$41.92$25.96ViewFreetrial$49.99$30.14View $19.99View$41.92$25.96ViewFreetrial$49.99$30.14View $19.99View $19.99View $19.99View $19.99 $19.99 $41.92$25.96View $41.92$25.96View $41.92$25.96View $41.92$25.96 $25.96 Freetrial$49.99$30.14View Freetrial$49.99$30.14View Freetrial Freetrial Freetrial $49.99$30.14View $49.99$30.14 $30.14 Show More Deals Show More Deals We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices Pros+Looks absolutely stunning+Boss battles are larger than life+Level design and environmental puzzles are brilliant Looks absolutely stunning Boss battles are larger than life Level design and environmental puzzles are brilliant Cons-Story is needlessly complicated and convoluted-Pacing occasionally suffers as a result Story is needlessly complicated and convoluted Pacing occasionally suffers as a result Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy. Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy. Jump to:Mapped outTalking dead Jump to:Mapped outTalking dead Fast Facts: Prince of Persia: The Lost CrownRelease date:January 15, 2024Platform(s):PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo SwitchDeveloper:Ubisoft MontpellierPublisher:Ubisoft Fast Facts: Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Release date:January 15, 2024Platform(s):PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo SwitchDeveloper:Ubisoft MontpellierPublisher:Ubisoft Release date:January 15, 2024Platform(s):PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo SwitchDeveloper:Ubisoft MontpellierPublisher:Ubisoft I’ll address the game’s story in greater detail later, but the skinny here is: Prince Ghassan has been kidnapped, you fill the nimble shoes of a young warrior named Sargon, and, alongside your like-minded band of soldier buddies named The Immortals, it’s up to you to save the prince and thus save the day. A series of events that I won’t spoil here inevitably complicate things along the way, and while striving to overcome the antagonists of the hour, young Sargon learns a series of super-charged abilities that allow him to access new areas and overcome once impenetrable obstacles. Mapped out (Image credit: Ubisoft) These level-set, physics-meets-mental conundrums were over and above my favorite thing about Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, offering a shrewd understanding of what drives the Metroidvania genre beneath the facade of cool superpowers and larger than life boss battles. I’ve played too many games of this ilk who fail to grasp the importance of balancing intrigue in both downtime and at full speed simultaneously, but in mechanical terms The Lost Crown is bang on the money. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll send Sargon into battle against more ancient gods than you can shake his twin-blades at, but the journey getting there is often punctuated with masterful and intelligent platforming puzzle work. (Image credit: Ubisoft) “All of which makes Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown a bit of a conundrum in itself.” “All of which makes Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown a bit of a conundrum in itself.” Talking dead (Image credit: Ubisoft) Feature perfect(Image credit: Ubisoft)One of The Lost Crown’s most endearing features is ‘Memory Shards’, which let you take screenshots of real-time locations, allowing you to easily annotate the map and pinpoint key areas to re-explore once tooled up with new powers. I’m sure many Metroidvania players can relate to losing their place or forgetting exactly where new pathways can be unlocked amidst an ever-expanding map, and therefore Memory Shards make staying on track so much easier and ensure things continue moving forward at a nice pace. Feature perfect (Image credit: Ubisoft)One of The Lost Crown’s most endearing features is ‘Memory Shards’, which let you take screenshots of real-time locations, allowing you to easily annotate the map and pinpoint key areas to re-explore once tooled up with new powers. I’m sure many Metroidvania players can relate to losing their place or forgetting exactly where new pathways can be unlocked amidst an ever-expanding map, and therefore Memory Shards make staying on track so much easier and ensure things continue moving forward at a nice pace. (Image credit: Ubisoft) One of The Lost Crown’s most endearing features is ‘Memory Shards’, which let you take screenshots of real-time locations, allowing you to easily annotate the map and pinpoint key areas to re-explore once tooled up with new powers. I’m sure many Metroidvania players can relate to losing their place or forgetting exactly where new pathways can be unlocked amidst an ever-expanding map, and therefore Memory Shards make staying on track so much easier and ensure things continue moving forward at a nice pace. As excellent as so much of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is, it does have a tendency to stumble into pitfalls because of its story. Given how well the game understands the importance of linking its quieter moments to its loudest, for me it totally misses the mark with its narrative interjections. Dealing with themes of time and space and the manipulation of both, The Lost Crown’s story is complicated from the outset, but it also does little to make us care about the characters in question – barely building our relationship with protagonist Sargon from the outset, and doing very little to make us care about the satellite stars who aid and obstruct his path over the course. Worse still, I too often felt like Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was forcing its story on me, interrupting everything it does so well to share something about Sargon or someone else that rarely felt integral to my progression. I’m always careful when comparing genre stablemates to each other, but where the likes of Hollow Knight or the Blasphemous series tell much of their stories through exploration, on-the-ground discovery, and how players might interpret the things they uncover, The Lost Crown is too often determined to talk at you, and pacing suffers as a result. All of this said, I’d still recommend Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown to the Metroidvania heads among us, as well as longstanding Prince of Persia fans whose experience with the series stretches back to the late ’80s/early ’90s. For those wanting more in the same vein as 3D adventures like The Sands of Time, this ain’t it. But it is a return to relative form for a series whose last mainline outing landed 14 years ago – it’s just disappointing that this very good game was held back from true greatness. Disclaimer PS4 Deals2 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆7 deals available$19.99View$41.92$25.96ViewFreetrial$49.99$30.14View$33.99ViewLow Stock$34.99View PS4 Deals2 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆7 deals available PS4 Deals2 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆7 deals available PS4 Deals 2 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆ 2 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆ ☆☆☆☆☆ 7 deals available $19.99View$41.92$25.96ViewFreetrial$49.99$30.14View$33.99ViewLow Stock$34.99View $19.99View$41.92$25.96ViewFreetrial$49.99$30.14View$33.99ViewLow Stock$34.99View $19.99View $19.99View $19.99View $19.99 $19.99 $41.92$25.96View $41.92$25.96View $41.92$25.96View $41.92$25.96 $25.96 Freetrial$49.99$30.14View Freetrial$49.99$30.14View Freetrial Freetrial Freetrial $49.99$30.14View $49.99$30.14 $30.14 $33.99ViewLow Stock $33.99View $33.99View $33.99 $33.99 Low Stock Low Stock Low Stock Low Stock Low Stock $34.99View $34.99View $34.99View $34.99 $34.99 Show More DealsShow less Show More Deals Show less We check over 250 million products 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