FA gigantic statue, frozen at the moment of destruction, is fixed above the entrance to Mount Kahu. In mid-autumn, fragments of shattered granite heads hang. In the castle’s intricate, trap-filled hallways, some characters haven’t aged a day in 100 years, while characters who arrived hours before you have already died of old age. Time does not follow normal rules in the Fortress’ cursed halls. If you want to complete Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, you’d better learn that lesson quickly.

These quirks of time lend themselves well to a game that reimagines and combines multiple generations of a series dating back to 1989. Developer Jordan Mechner’s original Prince of Persia was his 2D platformer that had you navigating a castle filled with fake floors, guillotines, and swords. -Swirl the guards around to fight the Grand Vizier. Meanwhile, in the hands of developer Ubisoft, later reimaginings of the series saw the titular hero gain the ability to control time, suspending and reversing time to solve puzzles in 3D worlds, and more. I was able to avoid the trap. With The Lost Crown, Ubisoft returns to the side-view perspective of early games while incorporating the time-lapse powers of later titles, creating a vast labyrinthine world littered with enemies and traps to overcome. is created.

You play Sargon, one of Persia’s legendary defenders, as you hunt down Prince Ghassan and his captors. You follow the group up to Cuff Mountain. The kidnappers aim to force the prince to abdicate there. You must reach the prince before they do. Sargon can jump through holes, swing from pillar to pillar, and jump between the walls of narrow shafts to climb the levels of the Calf, but even this athletic ability only allows him access to a small portion of the fortress. In many cases, you will be faced with gaps that are too large. Ledges too high to jump, ledges too high to grab, locked doors too far to attack with your sword. But as you discover the secrets of the mountain and defeat more bosses, you learn how to run through the air, double jump, and fix your body to a point in space from which you can teleport back. Combine these powers and you’ll be able to perform intricate aerial acrobatics and explore all-new districts of Calf.

The Lost Crown is a reimagining of Prince of Persia as a Metroidvania, and the series feels at home in the genre’s ever-expanding universe. You repeat the same areas of the map over and over again, discovering new secrets in old rooms thanks to the powers you acquire. Treasure chests that were previously out of reach will fall into your hands, locked doors will open before your eyes, and bosses that were too fast or too strong will also become vulnerable to your attacks.

That said, The Lost Crown has a tough difficulty curve, with later platforming sections and bosses requiring you to memorize tough attack patterns and develop the reflexes to pull off complex combinations of jumps, dodges, and parries. is required. Hitting these skill walls can be a frustrating experience, especially in a game where the joy comes from putting together uninterrupted acrobatics and combos of attacks.

However, the moment you encounter a frustrating blocker, you can explore other parts of the calf. Finding new power usually opens up opportunities across the mountain, not just one area. You can also upgrade Sargon’s weapons to make them more powerful, purchase health potion upgrades, and change the configuration of your amulet. These unlockable items allow you to enhance your hero’s abilities, for example increasing his health when he is at low health or reducing the damage he takes from poison attacks. If you find a boss that you can’t defeat, it’s comforting to know that you can make the fight easier by replacing some of the amulets you bring into battle.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is not a sequel or prequel to other games, but a new journey for the series, and its first step is a leap of faith. Not only are the most notable elements of the series’ various iterations (setting, traps, time forces, combat) all naturalized in this new form, but they are also the best of the newly selected games. That means you can play it like one of the games. This genre is as good a game as Metroid Dread or Hollow Knight, not an imitation of them. It’s been 13 years since the last completely new Prince of Persia game. If this is a new direction, I’m excited to see where it lands.