Highlights

  • Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown pays tribute to the original 1989 game by referencing its elements and modernizing them in new and exciting ways.
  • The gameplay of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown evolves from the original's methodical and deliberate platforming to a faster and more stylish experience, with the addition of special abilities like air dash and reality shifting.
  • The combat in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown builds on the rudimentary combat of the original game, introducing parries, dodges, combos, and special abilities to add complexity and depth to the fights.

The Prince of Persia franchise has endured for 35 years now, though it hasn't stayed in fans' good books for nearly as long. Debuting all the way back in 1989, Prince of Persia became an immediate success, mostly due to its more realistic approach to platforming that was achieved through rotoscoped animations. Since then, the original Prince of Persia has been ported, remastered, and remade more than any fan would initially think possible. It's clear that the original 1989 Prince of Persia was truly one of a kind, and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown does its best to honor that.

The first mainline entry in 14 years, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is the return to form for the series that fans have been pleading for. And while Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown goes out of its way to establish a brand-new identity for the long-running action/adventure franchise, it isn't afraid to hearken back to its beloved roots, delivering a game that not only references the original 1989 title, but modernizes it in some big ways.

Prince of Persia x Visions of Mana
Related
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Is in the Same Boat as Visions of Mana

While the two couldn't be any more different on paper, beneath the surface, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Visions of Mana are in the same boat.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a Love Letter to the 1989 Original

How Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown's Gameplay Modernizes the Original

The original 1989 Prince of Persia was a 2D side-scrolling adventure game that heavily revolved around realistic platforming. One of the first to do it, Prince of Persia didn't have the same floaty controls as Super Mario Bros. or other contemporary platformers, but instead used rotoscoped character animations to deliver a more visceral platforming experience, where every jump could mean the difference between life and death.

Most of the original Prince of Persia sees players slowly make their way through the underground labyrinths of the royal palace, leaping over cascading platforms and instant-killing spikes that reside below them. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown carries a lot of this forward, with many of its opening areas containing similar-looking spike pits and crumbling platforms. But while the original Prince of Persia encouraged a very methodical, deliberate type of platforming, The Lost Crown is all about speed and style, evoking those same classic franchise elements but giving them all a modern gameplay makeover.

This is especially apparent with the addition of special abilities in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. At the start of the game, players are tasked with simply jumping over spike pits and leaping off platforms just like the good old days, but The Lost Crown quickly starts adding more and more depth to its platforming experience. First, players will unlock an air dash that lets them reach platforms and walls a bit further away, then they receive a ranged weapon that allows for some satisfying midair platforming, and then they unlock the ability to shift reality, making platforms appear and disappear at will. With these abilities, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown recognizes its roots and how important they were to the franchise, but also understands that it needs to evolve with the times and offer something new.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown's combat offers a similar story. In the original Prince of Persia, combat was extremely rudimentary, with it often boiling down to just waiting for an enemy to step closer before running them through with a single sword attack - though a parry mechanic does play a key part in Prince of Persia's tougher fights. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown carries this combat forward as well, but modernizes it heavily again, with parries, dodges, combos, and special abilities all adding necessary layers of complexity to the experience.