I really enjoy video games, even if I don’t often have the attention span to keep me gaming for hours on end. What I don’t love is feeling endlessly frustrated when I’m playing, though, which is the experience I’ve had with UBISOFT’s new release, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, which is out this week on consoles.
Dash into a stylish and thrilling action-adventure platformer game set in a mythological Persian world where the boundaries of time and space are yours to manipulate.
Some context before I continue – I don’t think I’ve played a Prince of Persia game in decades, so I walked into this instalment of the franchise with a clean slate and no expectations. Playing on the XBOX Series S, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown looks great right off the bat, though graphically it feels as though it’s not pushing the console to the max. That’s ok though, not every game has to. Your character, Sargon, is nicely set up, a new Immortal on a quest to find a kidnapped prince.
One thing I noticed in the earliest stages of the game, before the main story even begins, was that even playing on the Warrior/Normal mode, which is the the title’s default, I found Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown to be pretty hard! So much so, that after continually losing to the first big boss of the game, I had to adjust my settings to Rookie.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, right?
However, as the game progressed and I found myself combing through the main setting of Mount Qaf, I soon discovered being on the Rookie setting didn’t make the game easy enough. Over and over I found myself dying again and again, without a proper save situation to alleviate my constant feelings of frustrations at my lack of progress. Even with a relatively intuitive control scheme , what went from initially being fun for a casual gamer quickly became a test of patience and endurance I didn’t pass.
I absolutely understand that there are countless Metroidvania-style fans who will read this and jump on my gamer credentials, which is absolutely fine. I’m a casual gamer, 100%. However, I do think that when you’ve got a high profile game heading out to the masses, as Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is as the first big release of 2024, it just shouldn’t be so damn punishing, even on easy.
There’s an audience for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown out there, as anticipation is clearly high. As well, there are lots of reviews out there that have been giving the game glowing notices. If you’re a veteran gamer who loves an impossible challenge, you’re likely going to find a lot to love here. Unfortunately, if you’re more on the casual side, this is not the game for you. You’ll have to do your mountain exploration elsewhere.
