It took fourteen years for Ubisoft to unearth Prince of Persia from the sands of time. It is surprising that such a remembered and iconic game, a title whose mere pronunciation already generates nostalgia, has remained forgotten for such a long period. So, one of the great founding adventures of the video game returns – the first installment came out in 1989 – and it does so with more than just a change of look for its protagonist.
To begin with, the player no longer controls the prince of Persia, but one of his protectors, an immortal warrior named Sargon who is armed with two swords, a bow and a multitude of amazing abilities and powers to discover. But it doesn’t end there, and if 35 years of evolution of the interactive medium have been useful for anything, it is so that the stories are not reduced to saving the Sultan’s daughter from the clutches of an evil vizier. The series’ roots may still be tied to those Arabian Nights stories that inspired designer Jordan Mechner, but above all, The Lost Crown is a game of its time.
The new adventure maintains the two classic dimensions, but leaves behind the limitations of the titles of yesteryear to embrace a non-linear structure, which imposes its labyrinthine world, a gigantic setting to explore freely and in which to get lost for more than twenty hours. Gone are also those sword duels that seemed straight out of an Errol Flynn movie, since the combats of this new iteration are wild, demanding and quite a spectacle.
Mechanics such as the so-called parry, which would be a counterattack, have a great role and give excitement to each encounter. And although it may seem like a minor detail, it is also worth highlighting how polished the game is as a product, for its good performance on all platforms and for having a range of accessibility options that will allow many more people to enjoy it. This revival of Prince of Persia invents nothing, but embroiders everything it does.
Ubisoft should take note of what its Montpellier division has achieved, since its is the first essential of 2024.
