Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Immortal Difficulty)
Off the bat this is easily one of the best if not the best metroidvania currently out on the market. I don’t know how Ubisoft of all companies, the company that has an assembly line that pushes out the most smelly dirt chewing Assassin’s Creed titles, managed to make this game or even decided to have a dedicated division work on it with a budget.
As usual I’ll split the game into pros and cons,
(+) Bosses
There are mainline bosses then there are fodder (mini) bosses, and honestly the mini-bosses are just fine. Of all of them Alternate Sargon was the only one I genuinely liked because it really got me to learn how to play more aggressively and utilize launchers (which greatly help in the Menolias fight), others like the Prisoner that swings a pillar and the giant possum (Elrik?) are there to teach how to get behind enemies to maximize your damage.
The funniest one is the crab which is also a boss for a side-quest… why does this boss exist again?
(+) Mainline Bosses
(-) Jahandar is extremely mediocre
(+) Kiana just blew my mind, the fight feels like a dance where you’re constantly making decisions by parrying, dodging, jumping and the like. Kiana is one of the best early game fights I have EVER played
(+) Azdaha follows up with a very similar style to Kiana’s gameplay albeit this fight felt way easier and the switch-ups are very fun to learn, the music of this fight is fucking phenomenal as well
(+) Menolias is the first skill-check in the game where you really need to be fast on your feet, the fight requires you to clear the field and keep Menolias on his toes since he really doesn’t like to stick in one spot but he’s susceptible to launchers which puts the fight greatly in your favor
(+) Orod was the hardest fight in the game for me, the switch-ups threw me SO off, and he hits VERY, VERY hard, with large AoEs.
(+) Vahram was the one I thought I’d have the most trouble with but since he’s also susceptible to some aggressive gameplay it was smooth sailing for me, easily the best fight in the game bar none, not only because it has responsive gameplay elements that are fun to learn but also because the fight IN context is just.. fucking cool
(+) King Darius is the best use of grappling for a boss and even though I got a little frustrated and annoyed at first, given that I played this on the Yuzu Emulator with a keyboard and mouse, his tells are so easily distinguishable from phase to phase that it makes the fight just as enjoyable as Kiana and Azdaha
(---------------) Final Boss, I HATE. THIS. FIGHT. THIS FIGHT DRAGS BEYOND BELIEF. IF I COULD REMOVE ONE THING FROM THIS GAME IT’S THIS FIGHT. HOLY SHIT THIS FIGHT IS ANNOYING TO LEARN. This fight has 4 phases (where the 4th phase is le MC powertrip), so essentially you have to survive 3 phases, if you die you do all the phases over again and its fucking grating. There are switch-ups in this fight I straight up did not care about as it added to my irritation and for each phase you have to hit this random ball to transition to the next phase like are you serious? This is a fucking waste of time. GARBAGE.
(+) Utility
PoP has this utility for exploration where it can explicitly mark the next objective on the map and this is just SUCH a relief I cannot even imagine playing the game without this, additionally you can add pins on the map and even screenshots for certain points-of-interest.
(+/-) The World Design
The way the abilities are used to flesh out a lot of the platforming segments is fantastic, some are better than others (mostly ones that involved the time mechanic), the areas where I truly hated the trial and error platforming is the desert and the snow area which are just ATROCIOUS.
Metroidvanias, by design, are meant to be annoying, the genre insists on walkbacks and opening shortcuts, which can honestly become insanely formulaic and often tedious. The early game is absolutely brutal in this regard since you’re working with a limited health pool and on Immortal if you’re facing two enemies on screen it can turn into a life and death scenario real quick. One important thing I want to mention is how beautifully interconnected the levels are.
What I can honestly say about exploration in PoP, however, is that… it isn’t that rewarding, I feel like I grew more and more exhausted as the game progressed because of the chorelike nature of the traversal, even with an entourage of enemies with carefully telegraphed movesets at best I just hated fighting them most of the time. It isn’t FUN to do additional platforming challenges in PoP, if what awaits me are Xerxes or gems. The collectibles aren’t interesting enough to warrant extra exploration unless you’re a completionist.
To compare it with HK’s world design, on the design and the interconnectivity of the layout PoP smokes HK, but HK does more with less complexity, and it also utilizes the world to tell the story of the game. HK’s areas are MEMORABLE, even if you’re in the pits of the abyss, each area has a distinct soundtrack, so walking into something like the City of Tears has a lasting impression. A complaint of HK has always been the grid like nature of the map making every single map feel the same, and while I agree with the reskinned map critique, traversal in HK just doesn’t feel as Trial and Error as PoP on Immortal sometimes.
With a challenging difficulty mode, comes challenging traversal, and I for one think that it tanked my enjoyment outside of the bosses.
(+) Gameplay
All the individual mechanics are fantastic… besides clairvoyance which was strangely never used in a boss fight, the teleportation mechanic is the most unique one and each time the game encouraged me to use it I was just thrilled. The game is also very intuitive so often times if a puzzles involves a certain mechanic its very easy to tell which one. Grappling is another one which I really enjoyed in late game despite hating the area where it is used the most (the ice area).
Athra Surges are just….damage bursts, not much to say about these but they do have different customizability options for levels of surge batteries.
Amulets are honestly great despite many of them being complete garbage (as is with other games). The amulet that I never took off was actually the one that healed me for every parry I did successfully, despite not healing a lot it made it easier to not use the heal for the any of the boss fights since that just instantly recovers 3 bars and you feel like you’re over-rejuvenated.
(+) Story
I like the story! I think its super basic but it works really well and it positions the protagonist in the story quite well, I feel like PoP wasn’t interested in pushing the narrative in any complicated direction which is for the better, and by fighting and besting most of the bosses I actually felt a sense of victory and accomplishment as I laid them to rest, more than any direct story-telling could accomplish.
(+/-) OST
I liked some OSTs
(+) Conclusion
Fantastic bosses except mini-bosses, Jahandar and the final CANCER boss, well worth it to play the game. I’m hot and cold on the exploration but the work they’ve put into carefully connecting multiple branching paths is no joke and I can only respect it. This is a game made with a lot of love for the genre, even though I find it funny the devs said they took inspiration from games like DMC5 which is one of the worst games ever made.
Amazing game. Also I think Vahram is hot.
Off the bat this is easily one of the best if not the best metroidvania currently out on the market. I don’t know how Ubisoft of all companies, the company that has an assembly line that pushes out the most smelly dirt chewing Assassin’s Creed titles, managed to make this game or even decided to have a dedicated division work on it with a budget.
As usual I’ll split the game into pros and cons,
(+) Bosses
There are mainline bosses then there are fodder (mini) bosses, and honestly the mini-bosses are just fine. Of all of them Alternate Sargon was the only one I genuinely liked because it really got me to learn how to play more aggressively and utilize launchers (which greatly help in the Menolias fight), others like the Prisoner that swings a pillar and the giant possum (Elrik?) are there to teach how to get behind enemies to maximize your damage.
The funniest one is the crab which is also a boss for a side-quest… why does this boss exist again?
(+) Mainline Bosses
(-) Jahandar is extremely mediocre
(+) Kiana just blew my mind, the fight feels like a dance where you’re constantly making decisions by parrying, dodging, jumping and the like. Kiana is one of the best early game fights I have EVER played
(+) Azdaha follows up with a very similar style to Kiana’s gameplay albeit this fight felt way easier and the switch-ups are very fun to learn, the music of this fight is fucking phenomenal as well
(+) Menolias is the first skill-check in the game where you really need to be fast on your feet, the fight requires you to clear the field and keep Menolias on his toes since he really doesn’t like to stick in one spot but he’s susceptible to launchers which puts the fight greatly in your favor
(+) Orod was the hardest fight in the game for me, the switch-ups threw me SO off, and he hits VERY, VERY hard, with large AoEs.
(+) Vahram was the one I thought I’d have the most trouble with but since he’s also susceptible to some aggressive gameplay it was smooth sailing for me, easily the best fight in the game bar none, not only because it has responsive gameplay elements that are fun to learn but also because the fight IN context is just.. fucking cool
(+) King Darius is the best use of grappling for a boss and even though I got a little frustrated and annoyed at first, given that I played this on the Yuzu Emulator with a keyboard and mouse, his tells are so easily distinguishable from phase to phase that it makes the fight just as enjoyable as Kiana and Azdaha
(---------------) Final Boss, I HATE. THIS. FIGHT. THIS FIGHT DRAGS BEYOND BELIEF. IF I COULD REMOVE ONE THING FROM THIS GAME IT’S THIS FIGHT. HOLY SHIT THIS FIGHT IS ANNOYING TO LEARN. This fight has 4 phases (where the 4th phase is le MC powertrip), so essentially you have to survive 3 phases, if you die you do all the phases over again and its fucking grating. There are switch-ups in this fight I straight up did not care about as it added to my irritation and for each phase you have to hit this random ball to transition to the next phase like are you serious? This is a fucking waste of time. GARBAGE.
(+) Utility
PoP has this utility for exploration where it can explicitly mark the next objective on the map and this is just SUCH a relief I cannot even imagine playing the game without this, additionally you can add pins on the map and even screenshots for certain points-of-interest.
(+/-) The World Design
The way the abilities are used to flesh out a lot of the platforming segments is fantastic, some are better than others (mostly ones that involved the time mechanic), the areas where I truly hated the trial and error platforming is the desert and the snow area which are just ATROCIOUS.
Metroidvanias, by design, are meant to be annoying, the genre insists on walkbacks and opening shortcuts, which can honestly become insanely formulaic and often tedious. The early game is absolutely brutal in this regard since you’re working with a limited health pool and on Immortal if you’re facing two enemies on screen it can turn into a life and death scenario real quick. One important thing I want to mention is how beautifully interconnected the levels are.
What I can honestly say about exploration in PoP, however, is that… it isn’t that rewarding, I feel like I grew more and more exhausted as the game progressed because of the chorelike nature of the traversal, even with an entourage of enemies with carefully telegraphed movesets at best I just hated fighting them most of the time. It isn’t FUN to do additional platforming challenges in PoP, if what awaits me are Xerxes or gems. The collectibles aren’t interesting enough to warrant extra exploration unless you’re a completionist.
To compare it with HK’s world design, on the design and the interconnectivity of the layout PoP smokes HK, but HK does more with less complexity, and it also utilizes the world to tell the story of the game. HK’s areas are MEMORABLE, even if you’re in the pits of the abyss, each area has a distinct soundtrack, so walking into something like the City of Tears has a lasting impression. A complaint of HK has always been the grid like nature of the map making every single map feel the same, and while I agree with the reskinned map critique, traversal in HK just doesn’t feel as Trial and Error as PoP on Immortal sometimes.
With a challenging difficulty mode, comes challenging traversal, and I for one think that it tanked my enjoyment outside of the bosses.
(+) Gameplay
All the individual mechanics are fantastic… besides clairvoyance which was strangely never used in a boss fight, the teleportation mechanic is the most unique one and each time the game encouraged me to use it I was just thrilled. The game is also very intuitive so often times if a puzzles involves a certain mechanic its very easy to tell which one. Grappling is another one which I really enjoyed in late game despite hating the area where it is used the most (the ice area).
Athra Surges are just….damage bursts, not much to say about these but they do have different customizability options for levels of surge batteries.
Amulets are honestly great despite many of them being complete garbage (as is with other games). The amulet that I never took off was actually the one that healed me for every parry I did successfully, despite not healing a lot it made it easier to not use the heal for the any of the boss fights since that just instantly recovers 3 bars and you feel like you’re over-rejuvenated.
(+) Story
I like the story! I think its super basic but it works really well and it positions the protagonist in the story quite well, I feel like PoP wasn’t interested in pushing the narrative in any complicated direction which is for the better, and by fighting and besting most of the bosses I actually felt a sense of victory and accomplishment as I laid them to rest, more than any direct story-telling could accomplish.
(+/-) OST
I liked some OSTs
(+) Conclusion
Fantastic bosses except mini-bosses, Jahandar and the final CANCER boss, well worth it to play the game. I’m hot and cold on the exploration but the work they’ve put into carefully connecting multiple branching paths is no joke and I can only respect it. This is a game made with a lot of love for the genre, even though I find it funny the devs said they took inspiration from games like DMC5 which is one of the worst games ever made.
Amazing game. Also I think Vahram is hot.