Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Wow! How did this one fly under the radar? As for Metroidvania’s, it doesn’t get any better than this. It checks all of the boxes, with a wide variety of enemies to fight, epic boss battle, some tricky platforming, huge map, solid story, and great graphics. 10/10. I think the lead character not looking like the traditional prince must have hurt sales. I was hesitant because I thought it was some cheap spin off. Boy, I was wrong. You can even change the skin to make him look more Persian because honestly, he does look like a black dude. Another woke mistake cost Ubisoft. “According to art director Jean-Christophe Alessandri, the team wanted to introduce some "fresh visual design" for the franchise, taking references from "modern culture, urban culture, and fashion".[11] There ya have it. Go woke…. Read they disbanded the team because sales were underwhelming. Shame. Because more people should have played this and a sequel would have been great. Oh well, Ubisoft management strikes again. No wonder Tencenr bought them.

Was war ich erleichtert, als ich nach 25 Stunden endlich den Abspann gesehen habe! Warum? Dass das Spiel eine so lange Spielzeit hat, wusste ich vorher nicht, und es hat mich ehrlich gesagt eher negativ überrascht. Ich dachte, ein Metroidvania dauert im Schnitt maximal 10 Stunden (wenn man alles macht). Nach dem Abschluss der Story stehen bei mir nun gerade einmal 60 % Fortschritt auf der Uhr. ​Die Kritikpunkte im Detail: ​Sammelwahn & Backtracking: Neben der für mich zu langen Spielzeit gibt es – typisch Ubisoft – gefühlt 10.000 Gegenstände zu sammeln, zusätzlich zu den Kristallen, die als Währung dienen. Das ist einfach zu viel des Guten. Dadurch entsteht extrem viel Backtracking; so extrem habe ich das in noch keinem anderen Metroidvania erlebt. ​Die Story: Die Geschichte kommt sehr klischeehaft daher und besteht primär aus Rache und Verrat. Irgendwann gingen mir die Dialoge so auf die Nerven, dass ich sie nur noch weggedrückt habe. Solche Storys kenne ich zur Genüge; da hätte man sich etwas Originelleres einfallen lassen können. So blieb die Handlung für mich nur ein Mittel zum Zweck, um **** Grunde ist es gut vertont aber standbilder sind in der heutigen zeit nicht mehr repräsentativ das ist nicht immer der fall aber zu 50 Prozent. ​Gameplay & Steuerung: Das Gameplay bietet das typische Erkunden und Backtracking nach dem Erwerb neuer Fähigkeiten. Die Kämpfe sind zwar gelungen, stechen aber nicht wirklich heraus. Zudem empfand ich die Steuerung im Kampf oft als unpräzise und schwammig. ​Plattforming: Wie es sich für Prince of Persia gehört, gibt es viele herausfordernde Sprungpassagen, die mal gut, mal schlecht bis hin zu übertrieben ausfallen. Ich bin erfahren in diesem Genre, aber hier waren die Passagen teils überzogen. Das lag nicht am mangelnden Skill, sondern an der überladenen Steuerung sowie der Platzierung von Fallen und Gegnern. Das Original hatte auch schwere Hindernisse, aber diese waren stets fair und keine Abschnitte zum Ausflippen ohne Checkpoint. ​Grafik: Optisch ist das Ganze okay, aber der Cel-Shading-Look holt mich einfach nicht mehr ab. Die technische Umsetzung geht jedoch in Ordnung. ​Fazit ​Im Grunde bekommt man hier einen soliden Genre-Vertreter, allerdings mit einer lahmen Story. Von mir gibt es nur 7 von 10 Punkten, da sich das Spiel mit anderen Vertretern messen muss, die in fast allen Belangen besser sind und mehr Einzigartigkeit besitzen. Ich bin zwar froh, dass Ubisoft dem Prinzen noch eine Chance gibt, aber schade ist es trotzdem, dass es kein vollwertiger 3D-Ableger wurde.

Excellent combat and traversal mechanics that would have been more enjoyable in a linear game rather than a Metroidvania in which there is too much backtracking and getting lost.

You can just spam the attack button through the map and just not die. Game is not very fun imo but maybe I was just spoiled by Hollow Knight.

Overpriced, overhyped, overtuned, and poorly optimized. Playing on PS5, there is infrequent but consistent frame hitching that can severely impact gameplay. The game requires very precise timing and spacing for both platforming and combat and these things can be adversely affected by an inopportune hitch. Post release of the DLC, the additional content is made available within the core game far too early and can result in the player being waylaid into an area where abilities and upgrades are completely independent from the main game and very little carries over when returning to the campaign. The gameplay content of the DLC area is significantly more difficult than the main game and can lead to undue frustration by funneling players away from the experience they were enjoying only to present them with with lengthy, overly complicated puzzle-platforming challenges for virtually no discernible reward. It’s an absolutely mind boggling decision on the part of the developers to, for all intents and purposes, force relatively new players into this content that was clearly intended for players looking for a more hardcore challenge. This mode does include some additional storytelling but it revolves around a character that, at the point the mode becomes available, has appeared for perhaps a total of two minutes and uttered three sentences. Again, why the developers thought it was wise to position a lengthy, frustrating mode about a character the player knows nothing about and therefore cares little for so early into the game is baffling. I’m continually convinced that the art of game design is concept that is all but lost on today’s developers. Once, game design revolved around finding ingenious ways to create new and exciting experiences within the limitations of the hardware. Now, the only limitation (excluding time and money) is that we still can’t quite achieve truly believable, photo realistic human characters. With so few limitations, most developers don’t have the restraint to achieve what I’d call elegant game design. Because they can do everything, they will. The Lost Crown’s combat noticeably suffers from this failure of conceptualization. The most basic fodder enemies have numerous attacks, counters, and evasive maneuvers. This is true of all enemies in the game, including the very first that you encounter. Basic enemies that have projectile attacks can hurl them in any direction they choose. Tools that make implementing these actions simple means that they’re included with little consideration for why they’re being included. Because they can, they will. Almost all enemies are overtuned in this way, with the even lowliest grunts having nearly as many offensive and defensive options available to them as the player themselves. This means that combat can always be fun and exciting… or frustrating. Running around, exploring and platforming can be brought to a halt in an instant by a single, stubborn enemy grunt. It affects the game’s pacing in a way that, while not ruinous, is not ideal. This unnecessary complexity, incorporated without consideration for how it affects other aspects of gameplay, is mirrored in the DLC’s tediously lengthy and complicated platforming challenges. In the DLC, your playtime will be padded with lengthy treks and numerous difficult jumps and dashes from a faraway checkpoint to the spot where failed by the slightest mistake, only to fail again a few steps past that. These puzzle-platforming challenges are designed in such a way that you can never see what’s ahead so your progress is limited to extremely small gains that you only achieve by doing the preceding segments countless times. I found it maddeningly unfun. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown retails for $39.99. ($49.99 for the Complete Edition) While Metroid Dread might have justified its $60 price tag, I do not feel that PoP:TLC justifies its asking price. The core game is competently made aside from the poor optimization on my platform of choice but it lacks some of the polish and charm of better games in the genre. I believe that it also loses sight of what makes a truly compelling Metroidvania; atmosphere. The map layouts and design are fine but lack the character to be truly memorable or immersive. The backgrounds look decent but they’re just kind of there and don’t really draw you into the fantasy as much as they could and fail to create any real intrigue. I paid $15 for The Lost Crown new on disc and an additional $5 for the DLC at a 50% discount, which was a savings of $30 from the initial asking price and still $5 cheaper than the current sale price of buying both as digital copies. I think this range of $20-$25 if a fair price for anyone interested in playing this title. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND postponing the start of the DLC until some time after it becomes available as attempting it that early greatly diminished my enjoyment of the game and irrevocably damaged my opinion of the game as a whole.