Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is pure pleasure

polygon.com:

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is the rare video game that has me excitedly Googling and ending up in research rabbit holes because of the world’s lore and the inspirations it’s pulling from. Did you know, for instance, that the Immortals — which you may know from the movie 300 — were a real-life heavy infantry unit in ancient Persia, made up of fighters trained from the age of 5? I didn’t, until Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s fusion of history and mythology engulfed me and didn’t let go. The game’s protagonist, Sargon, is one of the Immortals, and dozens of times across the 10 hours I’ve spent playing this game so far, I’ve put down my Nintendo Switch in order to learn more about the nooks and crannies of this layered world.

I began this review with erudite praise for The Lost Crown because everything else I have to say about this game will be infused with simplistic, childlike glee. It feels so damn good to just swing Sargon’s swords in this game; maybe it’s the animation of light glinting off the blades’ silver surfaces, maybe it’s the slick rhythm of connecting multiple swings into a full combo. But because The Lost Crown is actually a Metroidvania — meaning the emphasis here is on exploration and discovering power-ups and abilities that will facilitate more exploration — Sargon’s blades are merely the tip of an extraordinary iceberg of combat techniques.

If you don’t want to hear about the rest of Sargon’s abilities and all you need to know is that The Lost Crown is the perfect package — an excellent Metroidvania with gorgeous environments, challenging but intuitive puzzles, beautiful music and even better voice acting, plus those history-meets-myth lore entries that may capture your imagination and curiosity