With E3 quickly becoming a thing of the past, it's up to other events to fill the absence that it's left. Summer Game Fest was a significant point in the season's gaming calendar, and it gave a glimpse at plenty of new titles that are coming to consoles and PC in the near future. The show opened with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, a new entry in the long-standing Ubisoft series that has been eerily quiet for well over a decade. A remake of the 2003 classic The Sands of Time was announced in September 2020, but so far nothing has materialized, which has left fans wondering what's next.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is the answer, and it looks remarkably different from the third-person action-adventure format that fans have become accustomed to in recent iterations. Adopting a 2D design, it looks to be returning to the franchise's roots since the 1989 original used the same perspective. This could give Ubisoft the perfect excuse to return to the first game in the series for a remake, as the rapid rise of quality re-releases has proved to be a worthy way to get people invested—and re-invested—into a property.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Goes Back to 2D
With Assassin's Creed still leading the charge at Ubisoft, there's more of a need for Prince of Persia to adopt a philosophy all its own. The former franchise took a lot of cues from the latter, and over time Assassin's Creed has become known for its fluid third-person parkour mechanics, more so even than Prince of Persia. There is still a desire for more games in the franchise, though, and while the much-anticipated remake of The Sands of Time seems to be stuck in development limbo, the reveal of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has given fans something to get excited about, despite its 2D design hearkening back to the series' roots rather than its PS2 heyday.
The first Prince of Persia was released 34 years ago, and though it's far from what the series would become, there's a lot to like about it. That, too, uses a side-scrolling perspective, and does well to keep players entertained while using its (admittedly simple) mechanics. Should The Lost Crown release in January 2024 to critical and commercial acclaim, it implies that there is a market for 2D games in the series, and the 1989 debut provides the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the popularity of remakes, while also adhering to the Prince's new direction.
Remakes are All the Rage in 2023
With games like Dead Space, Resident Evil 4, and System Shock all receiving comprehensive remakes in 2023, it's clear that improving on past successes is a viable way to bring a game to new audiences. Prince of Persia needs a hit, as the last all-new release came in 2010 with The Forgotten Sands, and doing something completely from scratch would, naturally, bring a higher risk of failure than building on top of something that already provides a blueprint, no matter how basic.
Ubisoft could, and probably should, take artistic license as there's not a lot to go on, but something as simple as using a similar art style or color palette could go a long way to bringing a sense of nostalgia to older players. The Sands of Time remake was confirmed to not be ready for a 2023 release, and in the meantime the series could build a healthy rapport with gamers by returning to the original, starting from the bottom to forge a new legacy.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown launches on January 18, 2024, for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
