Ubisoft
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a improbable Metroidvania reimagining of the historic collection, however it’s removed from the primary reinvention the franchise has seen beneath Ubisoft. The most iconic one was 2003’s The Sands of Time, which Ubisoft is at the moment remaking. That’s not the one I made a decision to play after beating and adoring The Lost Crown, although. That honor goes to 2008’s Prince of Persia.
I noticed Prince of Persia on sale for about $8 a few months in the past at my native unbiased sport retailer. I knew nothing about it on the time, exterior of the truth that it was a bit controversial for its lack of issue and epilogue DLC on the time of launch, however I made a decision to choose it up in case I had the urge to attempt to play extra Prince of Persia after The Lost Crown. I gave it a shot over a protracted vacation weekend, anticipating a dated puzzle platformer that historical past would have understandably forgotten.
Instead, I found a third-person motion sport that might lay a blueprint that collection like The Last of Us, God of War, and Star Wars Jedi would comply with. In 2008, Ubisoft Montreal predicted the place third-person, narrative-focused motion video games would go over the following decade. It’s time the studio will get some credit score for that.
Spoilers for 2008’s Prince of Persia comply with.
Ahead of its time
Prince of Persia begins with the titular character stumbling right into a battle between a daughter and her father. Princess Elika’s father has succumbed to the affect of Ahriman, the god of darkness, and in pursuit of Elika, he destroys the Tree of Life. To forestall Ahriman from being utterly let out, the Prince decides to assist Elika heal Fertile Grounds round her kingdom so Ahriman might be locked away within the Tree of Life once more. It’s a swashbuckling fantasy premise about dangerous fathers and located household that arrived years earlier than these grew to become extra frequent themes in video games.
In some methods, Prince of Persia can also be the primary Metroidvania sport within the collection. Players have some freedom in selecting which Fertile Grounds to heal. Along the best way, gamers should acquire Light Seeds, that are spent to unlock new powers that allow progress, like what we see in The Lost Crown.
Prince of Persia was launched only a yr after Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Assassin’s Creed, so some climbing and platforming isn’t fairly as easy as in these video games, and it options some eccentricities in how controls are mapped. Still, I might see how the emphasis on free-flowing motion had an affect on future video games like Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi duology. The large drill combat from Star Wars Jedi: Survivor attracts from Prince of Persia’s flight capability. It doesn’t get almost the identical credit score as a trailblazer of fluid, considerably sensible human motion in 3D motion video games as Assassin’s Creed and Uncharted do, however it’s a captivating take a look at a contemporary third-person motion platformer in its nascent stage.
Tomas Franzese / Ubisoft
Also forward of its time is how Elika is integrated into gameplay. Elika is all the time with gamers and might even assist out in a combat. This was lengthy earlier than video games like The Last of Us and God of War would garner popularity of related techniques. More importantly, it’s unimaginable to die in Prince of Persia.
If gamers miss a soar, Elika will seize them and convey them again to the final platform with secure footing. If the participant falls in fight, Elika immediately revives the participant, with the one punishment being that the enemy regains some well being. This strategy to issue was derided in 2008; Wired mentioned the sport “lost something significant” by together with these options. Looking at these mechanics in 2024, this gameplay system feels surprisingly forward-thinking. It makes Prince of Persia a extra approachable sport, even immediately. It makes me want I’d performed this hidden gem when it got here out, as my youthful self would have appreciated its strategy to issue. Sixteen years later, a Prince of Persia sport is as soon as once more being lauded for its strategy to accessibility, which the gaming business takes much more significantly now.
Combat is probably the most dated facet of Prince of Persia. It tries to be very cinematic with easy combos, a scarcity of fail state, and many quick-time occasions with particular digital camera angles. It suffers from repetition as gamers are solely combating the identical 5 or so enemies all through a lot of the sport. If Prince of Persia was made immediately, I think about it could draw upon the Souls collection’ fight, simply as the fashionable God of War and Star Wars Jedi video games have. It represents an period wherein 3D motion video games had been making an attempt to turn into extra participating and cinematic — an experimental midpoint between Devil May Cry and Demon’s Souls.
The first of us
All these components already cement Prince of Persia as a hidden gem in my eyes, one which’s value testing in 2023. But after I thought the sport had no extra to provide, I used to be flabbergasted by its ending.
Ubisoft
The Prince and Elika develop nearer all through the journey, and the Prince ultimately learns that the King succumbed to Ahriman after Elika died. He revived her, which granted Elika the magical powers she makes use of to assist the Prince and heal Fertile Grounds over the course of the sport, however she is now a puppet of Ahriman. The Prince and Elika proceed to work collectively and ultimately cease her father, however Elika understands that to revive the Tree of Life, she has to surrender her personal life and power to it.
She does so, a lot to the Prince’s shock and disappointment. Credits roll over gameplay because the Prince slowly carries Elika out of the temple the place the ultimate combat occurrs. It’s a second not too in contrast to the credit of 2018’s God of War, when Kratos walks again down the mountain on Jotumheim along with his son, realizing his loss of life is doubtlessly inevitable. Believing that Ahriman will ultimately be freed once more ultimately because the god is solely trapped and wanting Elika again, the Prince touches the darkish facet.
In the ultimate post-credits gameplay section of Prince of Persia, gamers should reduce timber across the temple, draining the life from the land that they spent the entire sport restoring. This offers the Prince the facility to revive Elika. however unleashes Ahriman upon the world. If that sounds acquainted, it could be as a result of The Last of Us was lauded for the same ending 5 years later, when Joel murders a bunch of docs who might save the world as a result of he doesn’t need to lose Ellie.
For 2008, it’s a subversive and thought-provoking ending, doubtlessly the primary of its variety in a mainstream AAA motion sport like this. It’s not completely executed — it doesn’t grapple with the fallout of the Prince’s choice fairly as a lot as The Last of Us did with Joel’s — however Prince of Persia was nonetheless daring sufficient to deal with a heavy theme in that memorable second.
SourceSpy91 / Ubisoft
Considering I didn’t find out about this twist after I booted up the sport, I used to be floored when Prince of Persia wrapped up like this. Why don’t individuals discuss this ending extra? Well, it had a popularity for being unfinished on the time of launch. Epilogue DLC was launched a couple of months after launch, providing perception into what occurred subsequent to the Prince and Elika. It doesn’t add a ton to the story, and narratively, the bottom sport wraps up in a satisfying manner as is. That didn’t dispel the concept the sport ends on a cliffhanger as a result of Ubisoft wished to attract out the “true ending” in DLC.
Games can get away with constructing on their endings post-launch these days; Baldur’s Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 each did that. It’s one other manner the online game business wasn’t fairly prepared for Prince of Persia in 2008. It garnered strong critiques at launch and went on to promote hundreds of thousands of copies, however Prince of Persia doesn’t have the legacy it deserves immediately.
Ubisoft
After a Sands of Time follow-up, referred to as The Forgotten Sands, the collection would lay dormant till The Lost Crown’s launch on January 18. Ubisoft determined to pursue extra Assassin’s Creed-style video games slightly than proceed this rebooted Prince of Persia collection. Having not recognized a lot about it after I picked it up, I can’t cease excited about Prince of Persia. I doubt Ubisoft will proceed this story, however I don’t suppose it must. Prince of Persia from 2008 and 2024’s The Lost Crown are each proof that the collection nonetheless has an influential place within the business and might coexist with the likes of Assassin’s Creed. It’s a collection that shouldn’t be misplaced to the sands of time.
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