Brutal. When you're a gamer who regularly tries to sink or swim in the deep end of difficulties, like I do, that word is one of the most complimentary you can use. And I've got to say it: after a 3-hour blind run into the Immortal difficulty of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, it has all the makings of being deliciously, refreshingly brutal.
My growing fondness for this reboot isn't just rooted in a weird masochistic kick, either. At 10 years of age on an Amiga 500, I cut my teeth (and the protagonist regularly in half by chomper traps) on a Prince of Persia surprisingly not unlike today's offering. It's a nostalgic thrill for me to be both side-scrolling again and to witness just how far we've come in crazy attention to detail and slick 2.5D animation. Ubisoft is not only on track to meet my high expectation mark of what a PoP ought to be; they're poised to wall-run up and over it with some clever modern mechanics.
I'm going to detail all that in a second. For now, I'll outlay some purchasing options for the diehards who clicked in with a “mind’s made-up already” mentality. If that's not you—and it's certainly not me—just bypass all the window shopping by skip clicking here.
Table of Contents
- Cheapest Prince of Persia: TLC preorders
- Prince of Persia: TLC hands on
- Prince of Persia: TLC trailers
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Deals
Standard Edition
PS4/5
- Preorder at Mighty Ape - $59
- Preorder at JB Hi-Fi - $69
- Get it digital on PS Store - $79.95
XSX
- Preorder at Mighty Ape - $59
- Preorder at JB Hi-Fi - $69
- Get it digital on MS Store - $79.45
Switch
- Preorder at Mighty Ape - $59
- Preorder at JB Hi-Fi - $69
- Get it digital on eShop - $79.95
PC
- Get it digital on Epic - $79.95
- Get it digital on Ubi Store - $79.95
Deluxe Edition
PS4/5
- Get it digital on PS Store - $89.95
XSX
- Get it digital on MS Store - $89.95
Switch
- Get it digital on eShop - $89.95
PC
- Get it digital on Epic - $79.95
- Get it digital on Ubi Store - $89.95
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown hands-on
Before I take you into the belly of the beast and detail my torment at the hands of Immortal difficulty, I should probably set the scene and explain a few switch-ups to the PoP formula. For starters, our protagonist, Sargon, isn't the titular royalty. And that's despite his design being an amalgam of the OG Prince's fashion sense in 2003's The Sands of Time dressed over the edgier visage he took in the follow-up, 2004's Warrior Within.
Sargon is surly yet likeable. He also comes with an impressive vault of default skills that seem to be the opening antechamber of a cavernous Ali Baba's cave of greater upgrades and unlockable techniques. Bottom line: I like him, but it's early days yet.
Another break from tradition is that Sargon's not alone. When fate conspires to lock him into the Middle Eastern version of Castlevania's mind-bending B&B, he's trapped with a handful of his Avengers-esque super pals. That means some occasional drama and dialogue whenever you cross paths with them because, yes, of course, they all split up, like idiot teenagers at the start of a horror film.
Not surprisingly, when you do catch up with these individuals, they facilitate the ol' Metroidvania power-up moment by teaching you “their particular shtick.” Early-hours examples: I was handed a bow (to directionally fire at out-of-reach switches with a finite stash of arrows) and a charge-throw chakram (think: an offensive reach-enhancing boomerang). Cue: the means to open new pathways and explore this death trap further.
Now that you're up to speed, let's define Immortal difficulty, a challenge Ubisoft self-describes as “intensity that leaves no room for mistakes in combat.” It's a pretty spot-on assessment.
Ordinarily, the game defaults to Warrior, difficulty number two of four, and the difference between the shallow end of this pool and “drown town” is quantified in sharper detail than most games. Enemy Damage, Enemy Health and Environmental Damage all effectively double. Perhaps more worryingly, Parrying Difficulty, Dodge Windows and the depletion of your Athra (read: super ability fueling magic) switch to unfair levels.
Oh, and it's worth noting that you have three save file slots available; you fence-sitters can choose to run a secondary Immortal Save File on the side. Better yet, you are allowed to admit defeat and dial the diff down mid-run. Basically, you're given plenty of rope to hang yourself, but also a pair of scissors.
Though I know it's becoming a tired comparison, there's more than a dash of Dark Souls going on here. The second you show a grunt enemy disrespect, just one of their hits will either shred your non-recovering lifebar by 80% or you're deader than dubstep. If it's the former, you have a dpad-access potion to recoup (probably not enough) life to absorb another hit.
A full understanding of Sargon's attack range, pattern memorisation of everybody else's attacks, and being a dab hand at parrying are your only true resorts. And the latter technique is hamstrung by some really, really nasty animations designed to trip you up with overt wind-ups with last-second delays.
Control-wise, this new hero may not be the heir to any throne, but he sure does handle in a princely fashion. When you're not spamming his lovely (L + RT) slide-dodge, you'll be belting out his flashy and satisfying three-hit combo that can lock multiple foes into a singular beatdown.
If a new enemy tries to disrupt that by winding up outside of your reach, you can create space by launching your current prey upwards and then follow them skyward into the safety of a "second-story" juggle that would put a smile on Peter Parker's dial.
Alternatively, you could solve the problem by halting your combo, timing a parry on this new interruptor, and then adding them to your existing pain party. You can even employ quick RT pulls to facilitate sprint attacks; they collectively punch everybody to the edge of the screen in a low-damage, space-making move.
When you weave in hold-button heavy attacks, showy downward slams and the weird attack vectors you can get from wall-jumps, even an early hours Sargon feels like he's bursting with tactical naunce. Obviously, this is a far cry from the “you've got one attack, one parry, and no block” Prince of Persia I was raised on.
As you'd expect, the final pillar of this reboot relates to platforming around lethal traps. So far as I can tell, Immortal difficulty doesn't add in some sort of extra layer of spikes, acid pools, or fireballs; it just makes your slipups that much more swear-inducing.
And what does death mean exactly? A Game Over screen, followed by a super-quick load to whatever “golden save tree” you touched last. Though I must say that the opening slog to find the first of these can set you back to a checkpoint roughly five to ten minutes distant. Clearly, it's a deliberate hurdle designed to turn back all but the most stubborn of individuals.
And on the topic of finding blessed safety, there's some extra masochism to be had when you're selecting your navigation modes. The first, Exploration, lets you snoop about the world with vague icons on your map. Conversely, Guided Mode incorporates big, obvious Next Objective iconography and paints blocked paths, trees, etc.
When my time with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown came to a close, my ego and I limped away from it with a newfound sense of respect. There's a lot to like about this. It looks and handles great. It's brimming with mystery, and what could have been an eye-rolling refresh on the protagonist actually doesn't overload the coolness meter by cranking up to too many Mega Fonzies.
All told, I entered my demo thinking, “Flashback 2 just broke my heart recently, and we really don't need to butcher another classic,” to enthusiastically checking what the release date will be. January 19th—in case you're wondering. That's known as the dead part of the gaming calendar. And if you have a mind to stroll into Immortal difficulty, well, it's going to be an especially cadaverous period for you indeed.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown trailers
Adam Mathew has clocked every Prince of Persia. He likes the original and Sands of Time best. The one with "Elika magic" platforming, less so.
