I will be trustworthy: Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown sounded simply effective on paper, however what I actually wished was the long-gestating remake of the best Prince of Persia sport of all of them, The Sands of Time. That 2003 gem channeled the spirit of the basic unique sport whereas brilliantly modernizing it. The franchise has arguably been chasing that prime ever since. However that remake remains to be MIA.
So after I sat right down to play the primary few hours of The Misplaced Crown, then, I used to be pleasantly shocked to see that this wasn’t some low-budget, 2.5D try and recapture that early Twenty first-century glory. As an alternative, Ubisoft’s first correctly new Prince of Persia sport for the reason that 2008 reboot is its personal sport – a Metroidvania – and it is such an amazing match that I am scratching my head questioning how this franchise and style by no means acquired collectively earlier than.
Taking part in as Sargon, one of many not-literal Immortals who safeguard Persia, The Misplaced Crown guarantees to be a 20-25 hour romp set largely within the chrono-cursed Mount Qaf following a betrayal of the best order. Based mostly on the preliminary few hours I skilled, I might say that Ubisoft doubtless is not exaggerating; this ought to be a reasonably meaty journey. And the most important factor that grew to become rapidly and unexpectedly obvious throughout my quest was that I used to be going to need to mud off a few of my outdated action-game abilities, cast by Ninja Gaiden on Xbox across the similar time The Sands of Time got here out.
The Misplaced Crown is not any joke within the fight division.
Put one other approach, The Misplaced Crown is not any joke within the fight division. It harkens again to the unique Prince of Persia in that regard. Proper from the bounce, the unhealthy guys right here come out swinging – swords, polearms, and loads of different weapons – and you may have to be fast to parry assaults (those with a yellow indicator), lest they take a bit chunk out of the three measly well being bars you begin with in the event that they join. Unblockable assaults, marked by a purple glimmer, cannot be parried, so you may must keep away from these altogether. I most well-liked to try this by sliding beneath them so I might counterattack from behind.
On this observe, The Misplaced Crown additionally wastes no time in throwing you into one-on-one battles with bosses! I fought a number of of them within the opening hours, and I discovered these fights to be simply the suitable mixture of difficult with out reaching the purpose of frustration. On this huge monstrosity, for instance, I spent approach too lengthy attempting to brute-force him earlier than lastly settling down, studying his assault patterns, and rising victorious in a white-knuckle battle. That tussle nonetheless took three-and-a-half minutes on account of his huge well being bar.
However that is nonetheless a Prince of Persia sport, and so there’s loads of precision platforming to do as effectively. Fortunately, the penalty for failing to clear that mattress of spikes is not instantaneous loss of life (and as a substitute only one section of your well being bar), however traversal is not any stroll within the park. Actually, one factor I did not particularly take care of within the first few hours was getting across the map. It is a Metroidvania, and as such you may go up, down, left, and proper on the map, and you may must return to locations you’ve got already been. Touring lengthy distances, which you will want to do, is considerably cumbersome, notably within the first couple of hours earlier than you unlock fast-travel stations.
One other layer of The Misplaced Crown I did like was the upgrades. You should purchase gadgets – like extra well being potion capability, which I can promise you will want – in addition to upgrades like extra amulet slots. Amulets are passive upgrades you could find around the globe or buy, and so they provide issues like further well being, further harm, and many others. I get the sense that I will welcome the flexibility to tailor my construct the deeper into this journey I get.
Ubisoft guarantees it is going to run at 60fps on all platforms (together with Nintendo Change).
Visually, The Misplaced Crown is not horrible however it’s not nice both, although Ubisoft guarantees it is going to run at 60fps on all platforms (together with Nintendo Change). I performed on PC and solely had a pair moments of slowdown that I will not maintain towards it, contemplating that the group remains to be sprucing the sport. Odds are these minor annoyances will probably be smoothed out by the point it launches in mid-January.
One criticism I might levy up to now that is unlikely to be mounted, nonetheless, is the onboarding course of. For my style, The Misplaced Crown takes approach too lengthy to get going from a fight mechanics perspective. It took a lot of the preliminary three hours of the marketing campaign that I performed earlier than I had sufficient methods in my bag to start out holding my very own in fight. And whereas sure, it is a Metroidvania that is meant to peel again extra onion layers as you progress, I might nonetheless argue that this Prince of Persia doles out its fight fundamentals approach too slowly.
Nonetheless, Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown is a surprisingly deep, no-nonsense Metroidvania that appears set to get our gaming yr of 2024 off to begin.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s govt editor of previews and host of each IGN’s weekly Xbox present, Podcast Unlocked, in addition to our month-to-month(-ish) interview present, IGN Unfiltered. He is a North Jersey man, so it is “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.