Four Ways Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown Gets The Genre Right

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The revival of this long-dormant franchise moves into the gear-and-power-gated family of games colloquially termed Metroidvanias, thanks to its similarity to early classics like Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. It’s a genre that has been gaining traction in recent years, but Ubisoft’s return to the Prince of Persia franchise is one of the best we’ve seen in a long time. It's even managed to make a spot for itself on our list of the Best Metroidvania Games you should make a point to play. 

The Lost Crown is also notable for the way it advances this game style with novel ideas and mechanics. While not everything on this list is brand new, these features combine to make Ubisoft’s new adventure one of the most rewarding, approachable, and satisfying releases in the genre, and an early standout release at the beginning of 2024.

Early games like Super Metroid offered a large map for exploration, but much of it was unavailable until you had additional capabilities. That defining feature of the genre is present in The Lost Crown, but it allows clever players to leverage several in-game systems to reduce aimless wandering and instead keep the focus on interesting encounters and puzzles.

The most significant way it does that is through Memory Shards, which let players capture a screenshot of a specific location they’re standing in, and that screen then appears on the main map, viewable just by scrolling over it. It’s a simple but extremely helpful tool that resembles common jigsaw puzzle techniques. When you find a puzzle piece with an unusual or notable shape or image, you set it aside and wait to find its match. Here, you locate a particular insurmountable obstacle and set it aside until you have the matching power to surmount it.

On top of that, The Lost Crown’s map supports thoughtful and customizable navigation, such as distinct markers a player can put down to indicate different targets, as well as a choice between exploration and guided mode. The