The Lost Crown: How a Great Prince of Persia Game Emerged From Another Great Prince of Persia Game
So, a while ago, Ubisoft teamed up with Jordan Mechner to create Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, a remarkable 3D adventure filled with puzzles galore, along with satisfying, stylish combat and a good story to boot. And the game was heralded for years, even ending up on the Xbox Series X backward compatibility list. (You can also get it for cheap.)
Well, a few years later, Ubisoft opted to celebrate this title by giving it a full-on remake, announcing it to the masses and working on its development. But then, like other suspect developments by the studio (cough hack Beyond Good and Evil 2 cough hack), it…vanished.
Ubisoft didn’t really have too many updates on how the game was going, or when we could expect it. However, something interesting emerged from the ashes — Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
Announced last year, the game takes a much different approach to the series than its predecessors, with a young new hero and a side-scrolling approach akin to the Klonoa games, as well as other Metroidvania types.
Of course, it was met with initial skepticism, because, well, it doesn’t precisely look like Prince of Persia. But then gameplay started to pop out and, well, we’ll be damned if it didn’t hook us.
This week, The Lost Crown finally arrives, and, thus far, the reviews look absolutely stellar. A lot of people are calling this a fantastic start to the 2024 gaming season (and they’d be right), with its stylish visuals, fun gameplay and challenging platforming sections.
And it’s interesting, really. The fact we didn’t get one great platforming adventure means that we actually got opened up to another. It’s funny how the industry takes us sometimes, with something rising from the ashes.
Will we see Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake down the road? Eh, who knows? Ubisoft projects have a way of falling off the map sometimes, only to re-emerge at the last possible moment (Skull and Bones ring a bell?). But we’re glad that Lost Crown stuck around for the long haul, as it’ll be quite the pleasure to play this over the course of the week. I suggest checking it out.
Have a great week, everyone! And thanks as always for reading and subscribing!
