Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

The Good
Fantastic MetroidVania * Some cool powers * Super smooth gameplay * Healthy mix of combat and puzzle-platforming

The Bad
Can get rather frustrating, but luckily mostly in the optional content. * Switch couldn't keep a stable framerate in all areas.

The Bottom Line
The game starts a bit more story heavy and linear before it manages to open up and shine. Once it does it becomes a fantastic, but mostly by-the-book MetroidVania game. The world is quite big and looks great. You unlock mostly typical powers like a hook-shot, double jump, something to by-pass a door etc. But for a bunch of the powers there are additional ways to use them both in combat and puzzle areas which adds another level of depth. A bunch of bosses need to be fought to show you got your unlocked powers under control.

The game adds some character customization. The charms seem interesting at first, but most just aren't that interesting except in very specific situations. Some add cool abilities, but in the end I just ended up picking those that flat out make me more powerful in combat. Athra Surges all seemed quite similar and more often activated by accident than intentionally. So in the end the customization wasn't all that rewarding for me.

Controls are super smooth as you'd expect/hope from a MetroidVania and it's cool to explore all the locations, which all have their own twist. The game has some cool throwbacks to older games in the series. But at other times I felt like I ended up in a Rayman level instead. Where the game tries to establish a believable gameworld at the start, mid-game it lets go of all pretense and focuses fully on the gameplay with very silly premises. Luckily I love Rayman. The silliness also extends to the story which tries to be serious at the start, but at some points revolves around murdering the entire cast to convince them you are being framed. And each of them realizes you must have been right since you could defeat them in their dying breath? What?

That brings us to the platforming. There's quite a lot of intense platforming sections. If you keep on the main path they become quite tough, but remain fair. For some of the optional treasures and a specific challenge section the fairness is debatable. In any case I didn't find enjoyment in learning movement patterns lasting several minutes and gave up on some of them. For the challenge rooms especially they also dictate which powers you can or cannot use, so you can't even come back later when you are more powerful, which is kind of one of the great things about MetroidVanias... Guess I won't get this to 100% completion.

Some frustrations aside, in the end I'd rank this right beside my favourite MetroidVanias Ori and Hollow Knight. What it lacks in coherent world building it makes up with super smooth gameplay.