I'll start this one with a disclaimer.
I don't like metroidvanias. I've tried many games, but Super Metroid was the only one that got me. Much more for its atmosphere
than its core design.
I love the Prince of Persia franchise. The PS2 trilogy and
POP 2008 were some of my favorite games.
I had to try this new take on the series, and I'm fairly surprised with how good it is!
The most impressive thing about Lost Crown is just how well they managed to get the soul of its gameplay mechanics. Everything works nearly perfectly. Combat, traversal and skills, they're all very tight.
Controlling Sargon through each of the rooms and its challenges feels great, even when you have to be PERFECT to get it just right. They can be frustrating at first, but the satisfaction of finishing some of Lost Crown's puzzles is amazing!
Fighting is extremely satisfying! Tricky at times, but fast and challenging to the right degree. Enemy variety and placement helps a lot, as well. Not to mention how incredible EVERY boss in this game is.
The skills you get are also insane! Not all of them are always super useful, but they keep throwing new things at you all the time. It keeps the pacing fresh! The double jump, for example, brought a whole new life to the second half of the game.
Lost Crown is definitely good for a metroidvania as well. I hate the sense of feeling lost, aggressive backtracking and progression gatekeeping that comes with the genre, but the map here is VERY useful. Props to the design team. Neat level design brings things to another level! Oh, and the skins you unlock are amazing! I played with the Warrior Within outfit through the whole game.
A few things kept pushing this game back from being as great as it seems, though. The problem is that this doesn't feel like POP. I'm not sure if it's just its metroidvania cloak, but I feel like, although this can bring newcomers to the franchise, it also does little to excite old ones.
The story, for example, might be the worst thing about Lost Crown. It tries to thrill with a couple of fair plot twists, but they felt predictable. The writing is nothing more than dull and I didn't like a single character. Not even Sargon. I miss the Prince! The conclusion felt kinda ineffective as well. It doesn't help that I did not gel with how the game looks and how generic its OST sounds.
And although I LOVE the core gameplay, it was frustrating to deal with some of its new aspects. One thing that kept popping up in my head was how BRUTAL this game can be! Not every reward is actually "rewarding", I didn't enjoy the amulet mechanic, some challenge rooms take longer than they should, which can get very annoying (especially optional ones, and I'm looking straight at that goddamn room with 2 xerxes coins!), lore collectibles suck, I miss the "darker" nature of past entries, and checkpoint placement didn't always seem smart.
Prince of Persia Lost Crown is a GOOD game! For real! It's the second metroidvania that made me want to see it to the end. I highly recommend this, especially if you're a fan of the genre.
Now, as a Prince of Persia fan, I hope this isn't the direction they're going with. At least not the only direction. It can be fun, but I prefer this as a spin-off, rather than a mainline entry.
I don't like metroidvanias. I've tried many games, but Super Metroid was the only one that got me. Much more for its atmosphere
than its core design.
I love the Prince of Persia franchise. The PS2 trilogy and
POP 2008 were some of my favorite games.
I had to try this new take on the series, and I'm fairly surprised with how good it is!
The most impressive thing about Lost Crown is just how well they managed to get the soul of its gameplay mechanics. Everything works nearly perfectly. Combat, traversal and skills, they're all very tight.
Controlling Sargon through each of the rooms and its challenges feels great, even when you have to be PERFECT to get it just right. They can be frustrating at first, but the satisfaction of finishing some of Lost Crown's puzzles is amazing!
Fighting is extremely satisfying! Tricky at times, but fast and challenging to the right degree. Enemy variety and placement helps a lot, as well. Not to mention how incredible EVERY boss in this game is.
The skills you get are also insane! Not all of them are always super useful, but they keep throwing new things at you all the time. It keeps the pacing fresh! The double jump, for example, brought a whole new life to the second half of the game.
Lost Crown is definitely good for a metroidvania as well. I hate the sense of feeling lost, aggressive backtracking and progression gatekeeping that comes with the genre, but the map here is VERY useful. Props to the design team. Neat level design brings things to another level! Oh, and the skins you unlock are amazing! I played with the Warrior Within outfit through the whole game.
A few things kept pushing this game back from being as great as it seems, though. The problem is that this doesn't feel like POP. I'm not sure if it's just its metroidvania cloak, but I feel like, although this can bring newcomers to the franchise, it also does little to excite old ones.
The story, for example, might be the worst thing about Lost Crown. It tries to thrill with a couple of fair plot twists, but they felt predictable. The writing is nothing more than dull and I didn't like a single character. Not even Sargon. I miss the Prince! The conclusion felt kinda ineffective as well. It doesn't help that I did not gel with how the game looks and how generic its OST sounds.
And although I LOVE the core gameplay, it was frustrating to deal with some of its new aspects. One thing that kept popping up in my head was how BRUTAL this game can be! Not every reward is actually "rewarding", I didn't enjoy the amulet mechanic, some challenge rooms take longer than they should, which can get very annoying (especially optional ones, and I'm looking straight at that goddamn room with 2 xerxes coins!), lore collectibles suck, I miss the "darker" nature of past entries, and checkpoint placement didn't always seem smart.
Prince of Persia Lost Crown is a GOOD game! For real! It's the second metroidvania that made me want to see it to the end. I highly recommend this, especially if you're a fan of the genre.
Now, as a Prince of Persia fan, I hope this isn't the direction they're going with. At least not the only direction. It can be fun, but I prefer this as a spin-off, rather than a mainline entry.