Days into 2024 and we’ve already acquired a robust contender for Sport of the Yr. Sure, Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown is that good. I need to get again to taking part in as rapidly as attainable so I’ll maintain this transient.
(Editor’s notice: She doesn’t maintain this transient.)
The Misplaced Crown is a 2D sidescrolling metroidvania. You play as Sargon, a member of the Persian military’s elite Immortals squad. After the prince is kidnapped, Sargon and the Immortals journey to Mount Qaf to rescue him. Through the journey, Sargon will purchase an arsenal of instruments, weapons, and trinkets that may assist him overcome the perils of navigating the mysterious (and big) mountain.
That is solely a fraction of the map. It’s large.
This will sound a bit counterintuitive, however the fascinating factor about The Misplaced Crown is that, mechanically, it doesn’t do something significantly new. The powers Sargon acquires to unravel the assorted platforming puzzles are all belongings you’ve in all probability seen elsewhere. There’s an air sprint, a bow and arrow (that transforms right into a boomerang-type weapon that ricochets off surfaces), a dimension-shifting energy that reveals incorporeal platforms, and an imprinting energy that permits Sargon to basically “save” his spot in a location then teleport again to it.
I’m not carried out with the sport simply but so this isn’t a complete record of powers, however Ubisoft isn’t reinventing the platformer wheel right here. What it has carried out is craft a recreation that makes utilizing each considered one of these normal powers ridiculously enjoyable. Shout out to the extent designers as a result of the very best a part of The Misplaced Crown is determining the advanced waltz of buttons I have to press to get from level A to level B, executing that waltz, then basking in my godlike prowess. Sargon’s motion is fluid and the cooldown on powers is permissive, so even when puzzles aren’t simple (and ho-boy they’re not), I don’t really feel annoyed having to repeat a sequence till I get it proper.
One in all my favourite puzzles comes a bit later within the recreation the place you’re locked in a room and the one means out is to make use of ghost doubles of Sargon to gather an out-of-reach key merchandise. The ghosts solely have a restricted period of time to finish one half of a bigger puzzle, like activating a lever that may open a door that may let one other ghost stroll by means of. Throughout three ghost doubles I had 12 seconds to fly down a shaft, make a double, stand on a strain plate, double bounce up a unique shaft, activate a lever, teleport to my double’s spot, then wall-jump my technique to the aim. I hate repetition, it’s probably the most irritating half about taking part in tough video games, however I used to be so locked in, like a sax participant in the midst of a Charlie Parker solo, that I didn’t thoughts that it took upward of 40 tries to not solely determine the puzzle’s resolution however to then execute it.
Fight is equally tough and rewarding. As you progress, every little thing from common enemy fights to boss encounters require you to make use of each energy Sargon has to return by means of unscathed. Identical to the platforming puzzles, you’re memorizing assault patterns, reaching into your expansive arsenal for the proper software, then executing a fancy dance in opposition to a boss that may punish the hell out of you for being too grasping with injury. All through the sport, Sargon will earn new fight talents like a therapeutic wave or a robust thrust however whereas a few of them are helpful for very particular encounters, I discovered that I used to be capable of ignore each new potential past the primary two. They simply didn’t appear consequential or diversified sufficient past “hit more durable than regular” to warrant use.
Due to the complexity of puzzles and boss fights, but the relative ease of utilizing your instruments and weapons to beat these obstacles, The Misplaced Crown jogs my memory extra of a soulslike than a metroidvania. What’s requested of you, whether or not in a combat or a puzzle, by no means feels unfair or tedious, however extra like a progressive evaluation of your progress. It felt like the sport was saying “Okay, you’ve had your air sprint potential for some time now, let’s see how successfully you should use it.” My favourite factor in video video games is when gameplay reinforces narrative, and in the event you mix this concept that the sport is testing your mastery of abilities with the precise narrative of Sargon being a more recent, youthful member of the Immortals wanting to show himself, then The Misplaced Crown turns into a recreation through which you as a participant really feel such as you’re rising together with Sargon.
Past buttery clean platforming and complex fight, probably the most revolutionary facet of the sport is the map. Sure, the map. To start with, it’s huge as hell. There are such a lot of locations to go and secrets and techniques to uncover that even whenever you’re not heading towards the following story aim, wherever you find yourself you’re getting one thing — both forex to purchase hints or improve supplies or necklace charms that improve Sargon’s talents. On high of that, every space has a definite theme that influences what sort of platform shenanigans you’ll be able to anticipate. There’s a sand space that has waterfalls of sand push you thru tight corridors lined with insta-death spikes and within the cursed library part, you’ll should make use of your bow-boomerang to ring bells that’ll reveal hidden platforms.
Metroidvanias as a style can get tedious as hell in the event you don’t know the place to go subsequent with the powers you’ve. In The Misplaced Crown, Ubisoft has applied a signpost system whereby you’ll be able to take screenshots of the place you might be, that are then pinned to their location on the sport’s map. So each time you get a brand new energy, you’ll be able to revisit these screenshots to see in case your new toy unlocks a brand new space. I like these navigation techniques, it actually reveals that Ubisoft is respecting gamers’ time.
After final yr’s glut of expansive, time-consuming, however hella enjoyable blockbusters, I needed one thing smaller and easier to spend my time on. With The Misplaced Crown, Ubisoft has taken a technically and mechanically simplistic formulation — 2D sidescrolling metroidvania — and reinvented it into one thing extraordinary each narratively and in gameplay.
Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown launches on Nintendo Change, Xbox, PlayStation, and PC on January fifteenth.