Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown — Release date, story, gameplay, more

Ubisoft’s long-dormant iconic Prince of Persia series will see its return with the release of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Here’s what the return of the once epic series has in store, from release date to gameplay and much more. 

Ever since the Assassin’s Creed series, originally developed as a sequel to Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time, took over the financial charts for Ubisoft, the publisher never dialed back to revisit one of its biggest classics, the Prince of Persia franchise.

To bring back the prince that has been lost in time, Ubisoft announced the remake of the PlayStation 2 classic, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time way back in 2020. It has since been delayed multiple times and currently has no release date in sight.

Time hasn’t been very kind to the series, but finally, a new installment for Prince of Persia is about to absolutely happen, and what better way to do it than to return to its 2D side-scrolling roots with The Lost Crown. 

• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown release date 
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown platforms 
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown story & setting 
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown gameplay
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown trailers 

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown release date

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will be released on January 18, 2024. However, if you’re subscribed to Ubisoft+ subscription or pre-order the Deluxe Edition, you can play the game three days early, starting January 15, 2024. 

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown platforms 

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will be released on PC and all cross-gen consoles—PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. 

Ubisoft says that the current generation of consoles will get a 4K 120 FPS performance (Series S will be 1440p at 60 FPS). All the last generation of consoles will also get 60 FPS performance, even the Nintendo Switch. 

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown story & setting 

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown follows Sargon, who is not a prince but instead the youngest member of a group called “The Immortals,” on a quest to save the prince. Unlike most other titles in the series, the prince in The Lost Crown does have a name, Prince Ghassan, and his mother, Queen Thomyris, is the one who sent us for his rescue. 

But with Sargon being the only playable character confirmed so far, it appears the prince will not be the playable character in The Lost Crown. Rescuing Prince Ghassan won’t be easy regardless, you’ll have to traverse the cursed city of Mount Qaf, filled with spikes and monsters from Persian myths. 

Even though Mount Qof is cursed, it is still a place with plenty of different places to visit; it has sewers, mountains, forests, and, of course, castles. 

Lost Crown isn’t a reboot like 2003’s The Sands of Time or 2008’s The Prince of Persia. It does share elements of time from The Sands of Time as well as some other loose ties with previous PoP games, but it is an entirely different chapter of its own. In an interview with RPS, game director Mounir Radi said, “It could be seen and perceived as a prequel, because we use some specific elements from the previous Prince Of Persia games, but really it’s a whole new chapter.”

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown gameplay

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a 2.5D Metroidvania. In case the word “Metroidvania” is alien to you, it basically means a platformer that has an interconnected world and focuses on exploration, unlike regular level-based platformers that have a set path with start and endpoints. 

Being a Metroidvania, Lost Crown will have all those staples. There is more than one linear path for levels, it is essentially a semi-open world platformer where there are always secrets hidden in corners that can be easily missed. 

What’s hidden besides the many dangers is checkpoints, a place where you can upgrade your abilities. Yes, there are time abilities in Lost Crown although a bit different than the ones in The Sands of Time. There is a fine bit of lite-RPG mechanics like gearing with Amulets and weapon upgrading in the game as well.  

As for the combat itself, it is similar to other sword-based platformers. You can rack combos in Lost Crown, and you also have a meter that, once filled, allows you to perform a burst that does massive damage, all with a neat little 3D animation. Another major weapon that you can use besides the sword is a bow.

With so many things hidden and given how grueling some of the bosses can get in Lost Crown, you do not want to miss on side quests or other activities that’ll help you power up. To make that easier, the game also has a “Guided Mode” where everything will have a marker.

The one other thing without which the Prince of Persia is incomplete is platforming. Sargon is fluid and acrobatic in Lost Crown. He can make tall jumps between walls, dash forward, and use some time abilities to get through the spiked ancient city of Mount Qaf. 

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown trailers 

If you want to see Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown in action or want to know more about the story and the world, here are some of the trailers that’ll give you a full idea of The Lost Crown. 

An overview trailer from Ubisoft that explains all the key details about The Lost Crown: 

A trailer showcasing all the beauty and danger that’ll you come across in the cursed city of Mount Qaf:

Finally, a trailer that highlights the accessibility features, in case you feel intimidated by the difficulty and the Metroidvania aspect of it:

That’s everything about Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Of course, the game will have plenty of surprises up its sleeve—a lot more than what we know or has been revealed so far. For more on other Ubisoft blockbusters, check out: 

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