I will be sincere: Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown sounded simply wonderful on paper, however what I actually needed was the long-gestating remake of the best Prince of Persia recreation of all of them, The Sands of Time. That 2003 gem channeled the spirit of the traditional authentic recreation 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 recreation for the reason that 2008 reboot is its personal recreation – a Metroidvania – and it is such an amazing match that I am scratching my head questioning how this franchise and style by no means received 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 would say that Ubisoft seemingly is not exaggerating; this must be a reasonably meaty journey. And the largest factor that grew to become shortly and unexpectedly obvious throughout my quest was that I used to be going to need to mud off a few of my outdated action-game abilities, cast by Ninja Gaiden on Xbox across the identical time The Sands of Time got here out.
The Misplaced Crown isn’t any joke within the fight division.
Put one other means, The Misplaced Crown isn’t any joke within the fight division. It harkens again to the unique Prince of Persia in that regard. Proper from the soar, the unhealthy guys right here come out swinging – swords, polearms, and loads of different weapons – and you will should be fast to parry assaults (those with a yellow indicator), lest they take a bit chew 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 will have to keep away from these altogether. I most popular to try this by sliding beneath them so I may counterattack from behind.
On this notice, 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 correct mixture of difficult with out reaching the purpose of frustration. On this huge monstrosity, for instance, I spent means 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 a great three-and-a-half minutes on account of his huge well being bar.
However that is nonetheless a Prince of Persia recreation, 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 prompt demise (and as a substitute only one phase of your well being bar), however traversal isn’t any stroll within the park. In truth, one factor I did not particularly look after within the first few hours was getting across the map. It is a Metroidvania, and as such you will go up, down, left, and proper on the map, and you will have to return to locations you have already been. Touring lengthy distances, which you’ll need 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 further well being potion capability, which I can promise you’ll need – in addition to upgrades like further amulet slots. Amulets are passive upgrades you’ll find all over the world or buy, and so they supply 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’ll run at 60fps on all platforms (together with Nintendo Swap).
Visually, The Misplaced Crown is not horrible but it surely’s not nice both, although Ubisoft guarantees it’ll run at 60fps on all platforms (together with Nintendo Swap). I performed on PC and solely had a pair moments of slowdown that I will not maintain in opposition to it, contemplating that the staff remains to be sharpening the sport. Odds are these minor annoyances can be smoothed out by the point it launches in mid-January.
One criticism I would levy so far that is unlikely to be fastened, nevertheless, is the onboarding course of. For my style, The Misplaced Crown takes means too lengthy to get going from a fight mechanics perspective. It took many of the preliminary three hours of the marketing campaign that I performed earlier than I had sufficient tips in my bag to start out holding my very own in fight. And whereas sure, this can be a Metroidvania that is meant to peel again further onion layers as you progress, I would nonetheless argue that this Prince of Persia doles out its fight fundamentals means 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 a great begin.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s government 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.