REVIEW: Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a magnificent new chapter in the series

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown arrived to give new life to the franchise that many players were missing. It brings a lot of quality in terms of gameplay and fun factor, not to mention the many challenges that will leave your hair on end.

The first Prince of Persia in almost two decades

It's difficult to imagine a video game franchise more influential than Prince of Persia. From its beginnings, thanks to the programming mastery of a young Jordan Mechner in the 1980s, this series has been shaking up the gaming world, bringing new innovations with each new release, without leaving aside the fun factor. 

Whether with the original game and its revolutionary use of animation techniques hitherto unheard of in the area, or with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which in 2003 changed narrative action and adventure games forever, there is no denying the milestones that are each of the releases in this celebrated series.

Now, exactly 14 years since its last chapter, Prince of Persia is back. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown carries the responsibility of continuing a sequence of successes and, at the same time, paying homage to its predecessors. To do this, he borrows elements from the genre Metroidvania – in other words, it has a huge map that is explored little by little, as you acquire new skills and weapons – resulting in an unmissable journey, full of dangerous traps and a lot of excitement.

Forget the imitators, this is the real deal 

As Sargon, the youngest member of the squad of powerful Persian warriors known as Immortals, it is up to you to unravel the mystery behind the prince's kidnapping and the reason for his former master's betrayal. While exploring the dangerous and enigmatic Mount Qaf, Sargon and his companions find themselves in a race against time, because there mere hours spent in the outside world equal decades and past and future merge in a chaotic way.

Unlike the most current games in the series, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown takes place in two dimensions and has a gameplay style very close to titles in the Rayman series, such as Rayman Legends e Rayman Origins, where the speed and fluidity of the character's movement reign supreme. And this is no mere coincidence, as the same development team is responsible for the new Prince of Persia.

The end result is a game in which there is a high level of challenge at all times when it comes to the obstacles that the main character faces, always evolving in terms of skills that, with each new addition, expands the range of movement options in the same game. pace at which everything becomes more complex, but no less fun and rewarding. 

Lots of flexibility in combat

Perhaps, therefore, the part that Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown If you should make a mistake it would be in combat, after all, Rayman games are extremely simple in this regard, so as not to disturb your frenetic pace. That's where you're wrong: the new adventure in the Prince of Persia series is also excellent when it comes to the many fights fought, offering a wide range of movements to the protagonist and a lot of style, with obvious anime influences. 

These strikes and dodges also become increasingly varied as his repertoire grows, as all new equipment has applications both for moving around the world and for combat. Moving from dual swords to a powerful chakram, which share space with the flexible bow and arrow, they can all be upgraded by spending ore that is found in the form of treasure, making them even stronger and more useful.

And there will be a need to update them, because even on standard difficulty Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown It's extremely challenging, making you rethink the way you play and actually master its entire fighting system in order to defeat huge bosses at all times. 

The best thing, however, is that there are several ways to do this, as the game features many tools with all types of effects, giving you many specialization options, through amulets and special moves that can be changed depending on the situation. need arises throughout the story.

Speaking of which, the story, there is a lot to praise Ubisoft for the clever plot to Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Friends and enemies change places all the time and the world as a whole serves as a storyteller through objects and murals, not only narrating the hero's comings and goings, but also painting a backdrop for the rich and long-lived kingdom. of Persia, which is at once recognizable and fanciful.

Hardware requirements

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown It is a very beautiful game, full of saturated colors and charismatic, well-animated characters. Despite so many details and gameplay fluidity, it is not a game that has very demanding technical requirements for PC players.

We tested the game on a reasonably old machine, with a 3GHz quad-core processor, 24GB of DDR3 RAM and a GeForce 3060 graphics card, and we were able to run it in ultra mode without even a drop in frames. end to end.

For those who want to make sure what the minimum hardware specifications published by the game manufacturer are, they are:

• Operational system: Windows 10
• Processor: Intel Core i5 4460 3.4GHz, AMD Ryzen3 1200 3.1GHz
• Memory: 8GB
• Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (2 GB VRAM) or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (4 GB VRAM)
• Free space: 30GB

Price and availability

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will be available from the 18th, with the price varying between platforms. On PC, you can purchase it digitally from the Epic Games Store or through the Ubisoft Store, in the Ubisoft Connect app, for R$209,99 for the normal version, or the deluxe version for R$299,99, which brings special costumes and items to be used by the hero, as well as a digital guide and three-day early access.

On consoles, it is possible to buy the game both digitally and on physical media for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. In the virtual stores for each device, the price tag is R$239,99 , while the disc version purchased at retail costs R$259,99 (normal version) and R$299,99 (deluxe version). 

Purchasing any of the pre-order versions of the game will guarantee a special look for Sargon, based on the Prince from the PlayStation 2 classic, Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within, originally released in 2004. 

Conclusion

We were surprised by the result delivered by Ubisoft with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. This is a game that at the same time manages to be a new chapter in the series full of more than welcome news and a recovery of many of the elements that characterized the previous chapters, such as the right level of challenge and a full story of twists and turns, that never ceases to surprise you.

The new Prince of Persia is the first big request for 2024, a year that already promises a lot when it comes to games. It is a huge gift for us, players and is a clear shot made by its developers, who did not feel trapped within the presupposed limits of the game. Metroidvania. The end result is a game with little fuss and plenty of quality content for those who like to hit 100%.

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Source: Official Game Site

Text proofread by: Pedro Bomfim