Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown marks a daring reinvention for the sequence as a contemporary, AAA metroidvania. Because the sequence’ first try on the style, it packs some good new concepts, together with some that different exploration-based video games ought to be taught from. Chief amongst these is Reminiscence Shards, an elegantly easy concept that would (and may) be a game-changer for the style.
Within the Lost Crown, Reminiscence Shards are a restricted however reusable useful resource that assigns a single button press to taking a screenshot and pinning it to your map. Those that have performed metroidvania video games like Castlevania: Symphony of the Evening or Metroid Dread know {that a} core a part of the style revolves round unlocking new skills after which going again to beforehand explored areas to succeed in locations you could not earlier than. Reminiscence Shards are a straightforward, intuitive approach to maintain monitor of doorways you possibly can’t unlock and chasms you possibly can’t cross but. And because it’s saved as a screenshot, you possibly can view the precise impediment with none guesswork or pointless backtracking.
After you’ve got gone again to re-explore an space marked with a Reminiscence Shard, you possibly can clear it out of your map and get that again to mark one other spot. You begin with 10 Reminiscence Shards however increase your stock of them as you progress via the marketing campaign. In my expertise with the overview, I at all times had a minimum of just a few spares, so the sport appears to need you to have a wholesome inventory of shards at any time.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is filled with good quality-of-life options, from a Guided mode to a number of problem sliders. All of them allow you to use them, or not, as a lot as you need. In case you’d choose an old-school metroidvania expertise you possibly can at all times merely select to not have interaction with these methods. However Reminiscence Shards are the one which stand out essentially the most, as a result of they seem to be a eureka second for the metroidvania genre–a discovery that needs to be copied by others trying to make their video games extra partaking and approachable.
“Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown seems like a sea change for the long-running sequence, and nearly as dramatic a shift as Sands of Time was when it took the basic platformer sequence into 3D,” says our Prince of Persia: The Lost crown overview. “This new style debut is so assured and impeccably crafted that this could merely be the id of Prince of Persia for the foreseeable future.”
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown releases on Nintendo Swap, PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Collection X|S on January 18, with early entry on January 15 for many who buy the deluxe version or subscribe to Ubisoft+. A free demo is out there now.