Ahead of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown's full release on January 18, Ubisoft Montpellier has provided Game ZXC with some exclusive concept arts that offer a deeper look into the game's development. What's perhaps most striking is how dark these are compared to the more colorful anime-like approach of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown's art style.

Of course, concept art is meant to conceptualize a product, and none of these locations or creatures may appear in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown exactly like this. It's still some incredibly exciting insight, however, and they may be meant to conceptualize more than they immediately appear to.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Concept Art

Game ZXC Advance Exclusive

The first two pieces of concept art, titled Raging Sea and Sunken Harbor, obviously depict some locations on the coast of Persia (or at least nearby). They are much darker than the locations fans may find in the game, but that's because of their art style. However, that's not to say Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is all sunshine and rainbows. Ubisoft told us that there are some "Shadowy areas" of new protagonist Sargon's past, and these may be somehow tied to that. Either way, it'll be interesting to see how these translate to that.

Meanwhile, the third piece of concept art depicts the mythological Simurgh. This creature can be compared to the Phoenix, as it is often depicted as a dog-like bird that plunges itself into flame to be reborn anew every 1700 years. Ubisoft conceived of it as a large bird, however, seemingly dropping the canine elements. While fans haven't gotten a clean look at the Simurgh in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown quite yet, the few glances fans may have seen of it depict it to be more spiritual in nature and with a stronger emphasis on blue than this concept art. As such, it's an interesting evolution from mythology to concept to final product. It's also fitting because Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is inspired by these mythologies but does not confine itself to their context.

Finally, the last piece of concept art is titled The Collector, depicting a spider-like creature approaching Sargon. It's not like humanoid spiders are uncommon in gaming, but this is perhaps the most interesting because there's not a lot of spider representation in Persian mythology. The closest may be known as the Khrafstra, which are evil spirits who destroy lives and remain hidden unless they want to be seen. They were believed to take on the forms of wasps, ants, rodents, spiders, and similar animals in the real world, and this may be a spider-like Khrafstra. At the same time, it could be something completely different, but luckily, the wait for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown's release date is quickly winding down.