Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is really great. It has solid combat, good metroidvania-style progression, and looks incredible. The story and writing break down hard at the end, but it is otherwise a really excellent experience.
Visually, this game is great, the environments are cool and interesting and even though it is set in this mountain, they manage to go to some really interesting places that are unique and visually stunning. The frozen sea and underground sand caves stand out especially.
Combat is a pretty straightforward side scrolling brawler, but dodge and parry mechanics make things feel fast, engaging, and fun. A couple of the powers you acquire along the way work into the combat, but mainly in the form of movement and repositioning abilities. I never really got sick of fighting enemies and the bosses usually took a couple of tries to learn their patterns and get parrying and countering them down.
Some minor bonuses can also be applied (basically like badges from Hollow Knight) that can change your gameplay in pretty significant ways. I enjoyed this part of the game and like that I could opt into new systems and powers in a fluid way like this.
Along with the combat, the traversal is where this game shines. You only get a few abilities beyond metroidvania staples like double jump and dash, but they are all pretty unique and fun. The shadow especially is cool, which lets you set a shadow of yourself then warp back to it later. The game has a ton of cool navigation puzzles that verge on Celeste levels of complication but (for the most part) are intuitive and readable enough that you can execute on the fly and make it through, which feels really great.
A couple of sections have cheap, kill-you-to-teach-you sections, specifically the sections with the smashing pillars and one particular puzzle where you are avoiding saw blade patterns in a room, but these only slightly mar things overall.
The Narrative starts out fine, if a bit generic, but by about the halfway point ceases to make sense and then just slips farther and farther into unintelligibility. It is written as though the writers are afraid to make anyone actually bad, so every enemy assumes Sargon is evil, is almost comedically unwilling to listen to him, attacks, then has a heel turn immediately upon death as though they had some sort of noble purpose. Other characters just feel like they were forgotten or cut which makes the narrative feel unfinished and rushed.
Most of the end feels like metaphysical nonsense that isn't very motivated or foreshadowed with an ending that barely wraps things up. It is all written like a really bad anime, including an antagonist who basically goes Super Saiyan. A game like this hardly needs a story of any kind, as Hollow Knight proves, and Lost Crown only suffers for what is presented here.
The rest of the game is so solid that the narrative doesn't bring it down too much, so it is still worth playing and is definitely one of the best games in the genre from the past couple of years. The traversal and combat, though not super unique, are so well executed that it is worth playing for that alone.
Visually, this game is great, the environments are cool and interesting and even though it is set in this mountain, they manage to go to some really interesting places that are unique and visually stunning. The frozen sea and underground sand caves stand out especially.
Combat is a pretty straightforward side scrolling brawler, but dodge and parry mechanics make things feel fast, engaging, and fun. A couple of the powers you acquire along the way work into the combat, but mainly in the form of movement and repositioning abilities. I never really got sick of fighting enemies and the bosses usually took a couple of tries to learn their patterns and get parrying and countering them down.
Some minor bonuses can also be applied (basically like badges from Hollow Knight) that can change your gameplay in pretty significant ways. I enjoyed this part of the game and like that I could opt into new systems and powers in a fluid way like this.
Along with the combat, the traversal is where this game shines. You only get a few abilities beyond metroidvania staples like double jump and dash, but they are all pretty unique and fun. The shadow especially is cool, which lets you set a shadow of yourself then warp back to it later. The game has a ton of cool navigation puzzles that verge on Celeste levels of complication but (for the most part) are intuitive and readable enough that you can execute on the fly and make it through, which feels really great.
A couple of sections have cheap, kill-you-to-teach-you sections, specifically the sections with the smashing pillars and one particular puzzle where you are avoiding saw blade patterns in a room, but these only slightly mar things overall.
The Narrative starts out fine, if a bit generic, but by about the halfway point ceases to make sense and then just slips farther and farther into unintelligibility. It is written as though the writers are afraid to make anyone actually bad, so every enemy assumes Sargon is evil, is almost comedically unwilling to listen to him, attacks, then has a heel turn immediately upon death as though they had some sort of noble purpose. Other characters just feel like they were forgotten or cut which makes the narrative feel unfinished and rushed.
Most of the end feels like metaphysical nonsense that isn't very motivated or foreshadowed with an ending that barely wraps things up. It is all written like a really bad anime, including an antagonist who basically goes Super Saiyan. A game like this hardly needs a story of any kind, as Hollow Knight proves, and Lost Crown only suffers for what is presented here.
The rest of the game is so solid that the narrative doesn't bring it down too much, so it is still worth playing and is definitely one of the best games in the genre from the past couple of years. The traversal and combat, though not super unique, are so well executed that it is worth playing for that alone.
This review contains spoilers
This was my group's game of the month for April this year. I got to what felt like the third major act, after a reptilian boss, and played another boss or two after that.
This game is fine! It's solidly built, has a couple of neat abiliities, and the mostly whatever visual design and eye-rolly boring story are quite polished. When i sat down to play it, I genuinely enjoyed it until I got tired and put it down. Once I stopped, I didn't really feel any pull to come back. The backgrounds were the best part aesthetically, and one ocean themed area in particular was really impressive.
The combat is both interesting and a little off - the soulsy parry/dodge stuff is fun, but not always super clear when you can do what, and I was never able to get a firm grasp on where any hitboxes are or predict where they might be on a new enemy. Bosses had a nice soulslike thing of "this is impossible" pretty quickly giving way to "I can see exactly how I'll beat this." Normal enemy encounters were pretty solid, though some really tediously avoid the player and you end up just kind of jumping around after them. Others you can just cheese a bit by juggling.
The platforming and ability stuff is where the game shines the most I think, though occasionally I felt similar issues with like, where are the hitboxes? Why was I safe for 99% of that dash but there's one invisible outcropping on a corner here? But that stuff was rare, and there are some later platforming areas where you really need to mix and match your abilities and plan your path really deliberately, and that stuff mostly feels really fun, if occasionally a little bit too frustrating.
Definitely worth playing if you're into metrodivania/platformers. You'll see a lot that you've already seen in hollow knight, celeste, dead cells, whatever - but it's put together in a really nicely crafted package gameplay wise. Just don't expect to care about the characters, there's no real story here, just the suggestion of a marvel movie plot.
This game is fine! It's solidly built, has a couple of neat abiliities, and the mostly whatever visual design and eye-rolly boring story are quite polished. When i sat down to play it, I genuinely enjoyed it until I got tired and put it down. Once I stopped, I didn't really feel any pull to come back. The backgrounds were the best part aesthetically, and one ocean themed area in particular was really impressive.
The combat is both interesting and a little off - the soulsy parry/dodge stuff is fun, but not always super clear when you can do what, and I was never able to get a firm grasp on where any hitboxes are or predict where they might be on a new enemy. Bosses had a nice soulslike thing of "this is impossible" pretty quickly giving way to "I can see exactly how I'll beat this." Normal enemy encounters were pretty solid, though some really tediously avoid the player and you end up just kind of jumping around after them. Others you can just cheese a bit by juggling.
The platforming and ability stuff is where the game shines the most I think, though occasionally I felt similar issues with like, where are the hitboxes? Why was I safe for 99% of that dash but there's one invisible outcropping on a corner here? But that stuff was rare, and there are some later platforming areas where you really need to mix and match your abilities and plan your path really deliberately, and that stuff mostly feels really fun, if occasionally a little bit too frustrating.
Definitely worth playing if you're into metrodivania/platformers. You'll see a lot that you've already seen in hollow knight, celeste, dead cells, whatever - but it's put together in a really nicely crafted package gameplay wise. Just don't expect to care about the characters, there's no real story here, just the suggestion of a marvel movie plot.
GREAT combat and level design carries this game in a huge way. I am actively looking forward to getting back into it once the DLCs come out.
Feel kinda crazy that I didn't like this as much as everyone else. It's solid! Not a huge fan of the combat (but there's lots of accessibility options to fine tune it to your liking) and the story never grabbed me.
But the exploration and traversal are really great. The environments are varied and while I don't think the game always looks amazing, I do appreciate the work that was put into the art style of it. So many fun abilities too!
While I don't love it, it's definitely worth checking out.
But the exploration and traversal are really great. The environments are varied and while I don't think the game always looks amazing, I do appreciate the work that was put into the art style of it. So many fun abilities too!
While I don't love it, it's definitely worth checking out.
It's alright. I started skipping the story an hour in.
doesn't add anything new to the metroidvania genre but does everything really good. It can lean on the hard side on some bosses or combat sections, but nothing impossible. The story is good enough, the game looks gorgeous a,d the combat and movement feels super responsive. Definitely a recommandation if you like metroidvanias
Good metroidvania with a satisfying playtime. Story is whatever and powers are not enough, also I didn't like the boss fights or fights in general. But the exploration and backtracking is really fun and map is full of stuff to do/find/discover.
It was very good but something didn't catch me entirely, maybe the visuals and colors that are a bit flat.
But it's a good game and I would recommend it if you like metroidvania games !
But it's a good game and I would recommend it if you like metroidvania games !
"(...) And bravery is what makes us Immortals"