Ubisoft has been rather negative in the headlines in the past few weeks. Meinmmo editor Nikolas Hernes also gave up the studio until he was a smaller game from 2024 on Steam made up for.
When I was younger, I loved many games from Ubisoft. I devoured the Assassin’s Creed series to part 3 and I also loved some of the Rayman games.
At some point I lost sight of the studio. I tried Rainbow-Six victory, for Honor or Xdefiant, but nothing really convinced me. Even the new games for Assassin’s Creed could not arouse my interest.
Prince of Persia appeared in early 2024: The Lost Crown. Since I had no points of contact with the series, I ignored the game first. But when several best lists praised this game at the end of the year, I was interested: a game from Ubisoft in current leaderboard?
I had to explore that myself. So I started playing it and quickly realized: it is fantastic and exactly my thing.
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It is one of the best titles of the genre
What kind of game is that? Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has been the first new part of the series since 2010. The game was developed by Ubisoft Montpellier. It is essentially a classic Metroidvania game like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night or more modern: like Hollow Knight.
The Lost Crown is a great representative of the genre. I felt comfortable with the control. The jumps and the movement of the main character Sargon feel precisely and you always have full control. Attacks can be canceled with an alternative role, which also forgives the combat system.
But you shouldn’t be fooled by that. The platforming is demanding and you have to use all skills to move through the corridors peppered by traps.
The combat system is also demanding. One of the most important companions in Persia is parrying. It doesn’t just feel great, it is incredibly useful. You can counter the heavy opponents, provided you understand their movements.
The basic struggle then consists of combos that can be carried out in the air or on the ground. In addition, there are dashes, ranged attacks or charged attacks with which you can break shields.
I was enthusiastic about that alone. As a passionate soul player, I love parry and with the combos I was able to let off steam creatively. As a Jump & Run fan, the precise jump inserts were the perfect addition to the fine playful mix.
But apart from the playful, there is another highlight for me: an absurd, almost anime-inspired staging.
Like an exaggerated anime
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is colorful and sometimes exaggerated, that is also evident in the staging. The story is quite simple. As a warrior, you have to save the prince who has been kidnapped. Instead of grounding forces, there are magical skills.
There are classic anime tropes such as powerful shapes into which the main character can transform. You can also see that in the cutscenes. Working with epic camera trips and the focus on exaggerated gestures and dialogues about honor and betrayal.
In addition, there are combat choreographies with teleportations and sword thieves that only show when the sword is in the vagina again. You also think of video games like Devil May Cry.
This is exactly what makes parring so wonderful. If an opponent lights up yellow, you can do it directly with a successful parry. This is also staged nicely. Sargon then makes impressive jumps on huge scorpion spikes or once kicks opponents in the face. This not only rewards the player, the 2D fights also become more cinematic.
You have to like it, but as an anime fan it is just the right thing.
A great game that was probably not worth it for Ubisoft
Despite the euphoria, I also play The Lost Crown with a crying eye. Although the game on Steam and also on Metacritic received many great ratings, the team was dissolved behind the game, as Eurogamer reported. That was probably due to the expectations that were not fulfilled.
Plans for a sequel were rejected and that makes me incredibly sad, because The Lost Crown shows how much potential is in Ubisoft.
It shows that you don’t always need the gigantic open world, which, often artificial, should captivate one for 100 hours. AAA games are expensive and need an incredible amount of time. Small titles can bridge this and at the same time play with creative ideas.
Metroid vana are a genre that works well, especially in the indie area. But these genres can also be great from great studios.
Ubisoft showed with games like Child of Light, Rayman Legends and now also The Lost Crown how many creative ideas are in the minds of the many developers. And it would be a shame if you don’t use them.
Big games like Assassin’s Creed should not disappear. But big studios should experiment with small games. The fall height is also smaller than with large titles like Skull and Bones.
I hope that Ubisoft is expecting better times in the future and that at some point I may still be able to play a sequel to Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown with bright eyes. The Prince of Persia team: The Lost Crown is dissolved – according to a Leads of Baldur’s Gate 3, the subscription is to blame