I never got overPrince of Persia’sunceremonious death. Way back in the early ‘00s,The Sands of Timecreative director Patrice Desilets was tired of the protagonist always being part of the monarchy, so he wanted to take the rebooted 3D series in a new direction with a different type of main character.
He had read a book about secret societies, which inspired him to loosely adapt the idea of the Asaiyun. We would play as the Prince’s bodyguard in a far more open world capable of showing off the parkour system like never before. But this spin-off took on a life of its own, becoming the even more iconicAssassin’s Creedin 2008, leaving Prince of Persia scrambling in the sand to keep up in the shadow of its successor until it simply couldn’t hold on anymore.
But itfinally returned after 14 years with January’s The Lost Crown, a phenomenal 2D Metroidvania that doesn’t just stand out from Assassin’s Creed, but surpasses its own Prince of Persia legacy. It’s hard to imagine such a monumental feat being made any better, but that’s exactly what the Mask of Darkness pulls off.
Set during the events of the base game, Sargon is pulled into an alternate dimension after being tricked by a faux Simurgh Feather. This other world is crumbling at the seams, and so we must climb through a void in the hopes of getting home, all while flashbacks detail the plot to kidnap the Prince.
As we’re pulled into this other reality, we’re also stripped of most of our powers. you’re able to dash, but you can’t double jump or teleport to yourChakram. Your potions also ripped from you as your health diminishes to just three bars, leaving you incredibly vulnerable. The expansion is a nice compliment to the story, but it’s also an added challenge that pushes you to your limits and makes you truly prove the skills you’ve learned throughout the base game.
The focus is almost entirely on platforming, which is where The Lost Crown truly excels. But the new elements added are what bring Mask of Darkness up a notch. There are beams that you’re able to flip to the other side of, platforms which appear one at a time and vanish after you’ve jumped off them, objects that you can hit to launch in the air, and saw blades that appear from nowhere to catch you off guard.
These flow together extremely well, pushing you to always move forward at breakneck speed. Going backwards to safety is rarely an option, and so these platforming challenges demand rapid-fire reactions. Piling DLC onto a Metroidvania is a difficult task when the beauty of games like these is the intricacies of their worlds, but taking us to another reality that shifts the focus to platforming only serves to elevate the crisp, fluid movement that Lost Crown thrives under.
Some of these segments even feature a giant, unkillable eyeball that stays hot on your heels. If it catches up, you’re plummeted back to the checkpoint, further encouraging you to keep moving.
It’s still a hack ‘n slash game, so there are enemies, but they are far sparser than in the base game. Most can be instantly killed with a perfectly-timed parry, and are there to add flow to the parkour as you must dispatch them mid-jump before landing on the next platform. This tight focus is what makes Mask of Darkness feel every bit as intricate as the base game.
But there is a boss fight waiting at the very end, once you’ve completed all three paths and conquered the hardest platforming Ubisoft has to throw at us. True to the expansion’s ethos, they are a gauntlet demanding near-perfection. Having stolen some of Sargon’s abilities, they use familiar moves against you, placing you in the position of all the enemies you’ve slain thus far. It’s an interesting shift in dynamic, and with the reduced health and potions — even after finding power-ups throughout each path — even more of a trial.
Lower health makes failed dodges and parries unbelievably punishing. This isn’t a boss you may brute force, youhaveto flow with them. But it doesn’t feel unfair or horribly grueling, it’s one of the most rewarding fights in the game after some of the most satisfying platforming. Conquering the DLC feels like true mastery of The Lost Crown in a way even the final fight of the base game didn’t.
However, with platforming the focus, the Metroidvania side takes a backseat. There aren’t power-ups that open new paths, in fact there isn’t much backtracking at all. You’re not going to uncover secrets in old areas with new tools, the focus is squarely on moving forward. It makes forgreatplatforming, but it’s a bit of a shame to see one of the strongest aspects of The Lost Crown left behind.
And with us in an alternate reality that has Sargon’s powers stripped away, nothing in this expansion influences on the base game. You won’t return with some newfound weapon or ability, making it feel somewhat disjointed from the rest of the narrative. Playing through the game and diving into the DLC as and when you encounter it, rather than after beating the game and hungry for more, would feel more out of place than additive.
It was always hard to imagine how Prince of Persia could fit into the new world carved out by Assassin’s Creed all those years ago, a sentiment Ubisoft clearly shared when it shelved the series for over a decade. But The Lost Crown finally found its place, standing tall as one of, if notthebest Prince of Persia game — a GOTY contender and a Metroidvania all-timer. The expansion takes those elements and brings them up to the next level, making one of Ubisoft’s strongest outings even stronger.
