There’s always that one kid in school. All the brains in the world, excels at every subject, aces every test. But there is just one thing… “they ain’t got no common sense!”. In the end, it doesn’t matter. When someone is brilliant, they can get by without common sense, even if it can be frustrating to those around them.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is that genius kid. The platforming, combat, and certain elements of exploration are truly transcendent, even in a genre loaded with great games. There are a few basic things that it misses on that make it fall just short of true greatness, but this is still one hell of a video game.
Top Tier Platforming
The main thing that made me excited for this game is that it was developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, the creators of the incredible 2D platformers Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends. And sure enough, even though this is a Metroidvania game with plenty of combat, the platforming is the star of the show. The game constantly throws one incredible scenario after another at you, testing your reflexes and your ability to improvise as well.
Once you start getting more skills, they really start to flex their muscles, with one challenging sequence after another that utilizes all of the abilities in the game. This is one of those rare games where you might find yourself in awe of the design of an area as you are holding your breath, trying to get through it. Luckily, the absolute hardest sections are totally optional (and often not that rewarding in terms of what you get for completing them), so even if you aren’t that skilled at 2D platformers, you should still be able to get through the main sections of the game, especially since they have great accessibility settings that can allow you to take less damage from platforming miscues.
I also really admire the patience of the developers when rolling out those skills. They hold onto some pretty key ones (like the air dash and the double jump) for a fair amount of time. At first, I didn’t love this, as the game can feel a bit basic early on. But with a pretty long run time, I was shocked at how fresh everything still felt even 30 hours in. As I neared the end, I realized that with the very large scope of the game, that kind of patience was the only reason that I still felt equally engaged as I was in the games opening few hours.
Combat Steps Up Too
Somehow, combat just about reaches the same lofty heights as the platforming. Fighting is fast-paced, feels impactful, and you are given a good amount of options, but not enough for it to feel overwhelming.
The star of the show is a parry that always feels very good to use, especially when you parry a special attack, which leads to an instant kill. There is also a much easier to use slide move that you can use to dodge attacks, you just won’t charge your special attacks as much when you go this route. This adds a nice level of risk-reward to every encounter. Several different combo moves, a bow, and other attacks give you a lot of depth in how you can handle any fight.
This all comes together beautifully for the bosses. The boss fights scale in difficulty very smoothly as the game progresses, and they are all fun and well designed. Some of the later boss fights in particular really have some intense and relentless attack patterns that delighted me even as I would get my ass handed to me.
I knew the platforming in The Lost Crown would rule because of the developers past history, but the excellent combat really surprised me, and is another highlight of a tremendous game.
Simple Design Mistakes
Really, almost all my complaints with The Lost Crown come down to decisions that I think at times hold you back from the maximum amount of fun you can have with the core gameplay. The worst offender is the fast travel points. There are very few fast travel points in the game. There are probably a few with less, but this is about as bad as it gets in the Metroidvania genre. I actually had points after I completed an objective, where the backtracking would be too long and annoying, so I’d just look for an avenue to die and respawn at a rest point instead. If dying is an effective way to travel, you have done something wrong.
I also think they did a poor job at consistently making the exploration feel rewarding (which is in part why backtracking isn’t that much fun). There are a cavalcade of nooks and crannies to find in this game, and dozens of tricky optional platforming sections, but most of them lead to rewards that aren’t that useful. The game loves to dole out “Xerxes coins,” which I just didn’t need to use very often. It is rough losing 15-20 times on a difficult platforming section, only to get to the end and realize it was all basically for nothing. Of course, there are times when you do get an awesome reward that makes your character stronger, but there are just too many times where the game misses there.
In the end, the Metroidvania format may be what holds the game back the most for me. If this was all just a series of linear platforming and combat levels (like, uh, Rayman Legends), I actually think I would have loved the game way more. The Metroidvania elements just aren’t executed well enough to actually enhance the game. Luckily, the core gameplay is so ridiculously good, it is easy enough to overlook in the end, but this is all stuff that feels like it could have very easily been fixed, so I assume their design philosophy just goes against what I myself enjoy in these types of games.
I also wish I liked the art style a bit more. The animations during boss fights in particular are really fun, but otherwise, the game is filled with dark and generic looking biomes that never had me feeling engaged with the world. I also found the game to be a bit buggy in spots. I actually restarted the game after an hour because I suddenly couldn’t open my map anymore. Luckily, I avoided any other game breaking bugs, but there were still the occasional small ones that would pop up.
The story is mostly just OK, but it does have a few decent plot twists and a few big soaring moments. The games score can really fade into the background, but it comes roaring in during big cutscenes and makes its impact known there.
One of the Best of The Genre
My hot take on Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is that it is one of the best Metroidvania games I’ve ever played, despite the fact that I do not think that the game does a great job with its actual Metroidvania elements.
For the occasional navigation and exploration woes, the platforming and combat are both on levels that you do not often see from this genre individually, and especially not combined.
If you like 2D platformers, 2D combat, and yes, if you like Metroidvania games, this is a game you need to give a look.
Score: 9.0/10
Big Nerd Gaming 
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