Absolutely amazing, do not sleep on this, this was an insane amount of fun from beginning to end. The lost crown is a new metroidvania that takes plenty of notes from the likes of hollow knight and the ori games, but it has plenty more to offer and might even set a new standard for fast-paced 2D platforming.
When I say it takes a lot of notes from hollow knight, that’s true in many aspects and I don’t think its a bad thing at all, the best games borrow from other great games and this doesn’t feel overly derivative. In HK’s case (my favourite game ever), its a no brainer, because its a masterclass of design and more games should borrow from it and put their own spin on things. The amulet system is straight up hollow knight’s charms and there’s an innocent npc who hums and gives you maps cheap (and is somehow able to reach impossible locations). Other than that there’s a general feel to the gameplay and the vibe of some areas that feel highly inspired by HK and ori. For the most part, massive portions of this play like the white palace / path of pain but more forgiving. This isn’t to say the game isn’t challenging though, some parts are really tricky to manoeuvre and solve but it all works brilliantly.
Movement is by far this games’ biggest success, I also feel like it has basically no dips in quality, it takes some getting used to because the gamefeel is quite different to other metroidvanias but once it clicks it feels absolutely fantastic. It starts off a little generic but when you stick with it it just gets better and better, I LOVE the fact that it never dips or slows the pace down, many would argue even hollow knight has its weaker moments, this game just doesn’t? At least not in the gameplay, the story and vibe aren’t as gripping. In pure gameplay this is a 10/10 for real, it is addictive, neuron-activating joy with 0 fluff. What’s crazy to me is that it keeps getting better too, just when you think you’ve seen the coolest part of the game, it hits you with a delightful new challenge that satisfied me time and again. This is a decent length for a metroidvania too, taking me about 18 hours to finish with quite a lot of exploration packed in.
In essence, prince of persia: the lost crown is a giant climbing frame that also functions as a interlocking maze. Everything I love about metroidvanias is brought out in full force and then they take it a step further with unique and clever new abilities and intense, punishing combat that takes a lot of practice but delivers outstandingly tight action with dozens of amazing finishers and special moves, it feels almost like what a 2D sekiro would look like and that’s some of the highest praise I can give. There is a focus on ‘juggling’ enemies and maintaining your combo whilst you weave around attacks and projectiles and anticipate your chance for a counter, in some ways it kind of made me think of smash bros too which is an odd comparison but the range of moves sargon has (he basically has ‘tilts’ and different combo routes) combined with the 2D platform fighting and floaty airtime the game allows did not feel all that dissimilar! Attacking an enemy from below a platform with an up air attack and capitalising from that into a punishing air combo, that’s some smash stuff right there, sargon for smash bros?? Then there’s the bosses, taking everything that’s already great about the combat and heightening it further. There’s a really nice range to the bosses in this game, covering all bases and testing your reactions in many different situations, plus their movesets are limited but not too limited and the ‘tells’ feel just right to give you a window to anticipate and react to certain attacks, the devs really did their homework on hollow knight! That’s what this game is really, it is passionate devs demonstrating that they know what makes a great metroidvania since every aspect of the gameplay from exploration to platforming to combat to the power fantasy is delivered.
Now, what I will say is the gameplay and story don’t entirely marry up for me, neither does the overall atmosphere. This is a very pretty game with awesome audio design on the gameplay side, but ‘vibe’ and driving motivations are also important in this genre and this game isn’t bad for that but its not great either. The story feels like a fairly generic fantasy story about royalty and magic powers, complete with quite boring npcs and voice acting that, sadly, left something to be desired. I never found any of it to be terrible but there’s just a lack of convincing drama or compelling characters, but it still has its own sort of appeal in the same way a modern superhero movie does I guess, in terms of quality its in that sort of vein too. The story leads your exploration and moment to moment gameplay nicely enough, giving enough context to your powers and your objectives to make it all feel worth it, but it could have been better.
Must say though, I was incredibly positively surprised by this, I fell in love with it a couple hours in and went from ‘yeah this is good’ to ‘this is one of the best metroidvanias of all time’, plus there really is something for everyone here. While i’m sprinting, dashing, vaulting and grappling my way though the game at 100 miles per hour there’s this massive grin on my face at all times and it just doesn’t let up at any point, its constant, for those with attention span issues: this shit is going to blow your mind and keep you concentrated. On top of all this, it controls flawlessly, has tons of great quality of life features like generous coyote time and near instant load / waiting times (I did play on ps5 though) and notably, there are generous accessibility options like aim assist and objective markers which are often lacking in this genre.
Outstanding, play this asap.
When I say it takes a lot of notes from hollow knight, that’s true in many aspects and I don’t think its a bad thing at all, the best games borrow from other great games and this doesn’t feel overly derivative. In HK’s case (my favourite game ever), its a no brainer, because its a masterclass of design and more games should borrow from it and put their own spin on things. The amulet system is straight up hollow knight’s charms and there’s an innocent npc who hums and gives you maps cheap (and is somehow able to reach impossible locations). Other than that there’s a general feel to the gameplay and the vibe of some areas that feel highly inspired by HK and ori. For the most part, massive portions of this play like the white palace / path of pain but more forgiving. This isn’t to say the game isn’t challenging though, some parts are really tricky to manoeuvre and solve but it all works brilliantly.
Movement is by far this games’ biggest success, I also feel like it has basically no dips in quality, it takes some getting used to because the gamefeel is quite different to other metroidvanias but once it clicks it feels absolutely fantastic. It starts off a little generic but when you stick with it it just gets better and better, I LOVE the fact that it never dips or slows the pace down, many would argue even hollow knight has its weaker moments, this game just doesn’t? At least not in the gameplay, the story and vibe aren’t as gripping. In pure gameplay this is a 10/10 for real, it is addictive, neuron-activating joy with 0 fluff. What’s crazy to me is that it keeps getting better too, just when you think you’ve seen the coolest part of the game, it hits you with a delightful new challenge that satisfied me time and again. This is a decent length for a metroidvania too, taking me about 18 hours to finish with quite a lot of exploration packed in.
In essence, prince of persia: the lost crown is a giant climbing frame that also functions as a interlocking maze. Everything I love about metroidvanias is brought out in full force and then they take it a step further with unique and clever new abilities and intense, punishing combat that takes a lot of practice but delivers outstandingly tight action with dozens of amazing finishers and special moves, it feels almost like what a 2D sekiro would look like and that’s some of the highest praise I can give. There is a focus on ‘juggling’ enemies and maintaining your combo whilst you weave around attacks and projectiles and anticipate your chance for a counter, in some ways it kind of made me think of smash bros too which is an odd comparison but the range of moves sargon has (he basically has ‘tilts’ and different combo routes) combined with the 2D platform fighting and floaty airtime the game allows did not feel all that dissimilar! Attacking an enemy from below a platform with an up air attack and capitalising from that into a punishing air combo, that’s some smash stuff right there, sargon for smash bros?? Then there’s the bosses, taking everything that’s already great about the combat and heightening it further. There’s a really nice range to the bosses in this game, covering all bases and testing your reactions in many different situations, plus their movesets are limited but not too limited and the ‘tells’ feel just right to give you a window to anticipate and react to certain attacks, the devs really did their homework on hollow knight! That’s what this game is really, it is passionate devs demonstrating that they know what makes a great metroidvania since every aspect of the gameplay from exploration to platforming to combat to the power fantasy is delivered.
Now, what I will say is the gameplay and story don’t entirely marry up for me, neither does the overall atmosphere. This is a very pretty game with awesome audio design on the gameplay side, but ‘vibe’ and driving motivations are also important in this genre and this game isn’t bad for that but its not great either. The story feels like a fairly generic fantasy story about royalty and magic powers, complete with quite boring npcs and voice acting that, sadly, left something to be desired. I never found any of it to be terrible but there’s just a lack of convincing drama or compelling characters, but it still has its own sort of appeal in the same way a modern superhero movie does I guess, in terms of quality its in that sort of vein too. The story leads your exploration and moment to moment gameplay nicely enough, giving enough context to your powers and your objectives to make it all feel worth it, but it could have been better.
Must say though, I was incredibly positively surprised by this, I fell in love with it a couple hours in and went from ‘yeah this is good’ to ‘this is one of the best metroidvanias of all time’, plus there really is something for everyone here. While i’m sprinting, dashing, vaulting and grappling my way though the game at 100 miles per hour there’s this massive grin on my face at all times and it just doesn’t let up at any point, its constant, for those with attention span issues: this shit is going to blow your mind and keep you concentrated. On top of all this, it controls flawlessly, has tons of great quality of life features like generous coyote time and near instant load / waiting times (I did play on ps5 though) and notably, there are generous accessibility options like aim assist and objective markers which are often lacking in this genre.
Outstanding, play this asap.