Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown review — impressive craft, constrained enjoyment

Mobile: a thoughtful port

I completed the game on both PC and mobile. The mobile optimization deserves particular praise: among the PC-to-mobile ports I have played, this is the most accomplished.

The virtual controls are highly customizable, and swipe controls help overcome some of the limitations of touch input. The mobile version also offers auto-parrying, game-speed adjustments from 75% to 100%, a wider custom-difficulty adjustment range of 0.1 to 6, and platforming assists such as extra dashes and a temporary protective shield after failure.

These details make it clear that the mobile team put considerable thought into the experience. It feels like much more than a PC game dropped onto a touchscreen. Eventually, I found myself playing mainly on my phone.

The overall feeling: accomplished, yet not quite satisfying

After finishing The Lost Crown, I struggle to point to a fatal flaw. Some platforming stretches are punishing, but they generally remain reasonable, and almost every kind of challenge puts a newly acquired ability to extensive use.

In the moment, those sections can be frustrating. Once they are over, though, I find that I do not resent them as much as I expected. Yet I also struggle to say what makes the game truly exceptional among its peers, even though I would place it above most games in the genre.

The problem is not that it is unenjoyable. Nearly every component is well made, but the overall experience rarely feels as satisfying as it should.

Combat: many moves, limited room to use them

A rich moveset and fluid attack animations are among the game’s major attractions. Individual actions branch into different combinations, which should make this an ideal playground for stylish combat.

In my experience, however, most enemies have hyperarmor, and many attacks are red, unparryable attacks. That makes much of the moveset difficult to use in real encounters. Often I can only sneak in two hits; committing to a third risks being caught during recovery.

Instead of thinking, “That combo looked incredible,” I am more often asking how many more hits a basic enemy needs, why an enemy that just staggered is already flashing red, or why the same enemy can dodge, block and resist interruption.

The result is a constant calculation of risks rather than the straightforward satisfaction I want from an action game.

Enemy death animations also feel almost identical, setting executions aside: fall, roll, then dissolve into ash. That repetition weakens the impact of landing the finishing blow. I wish the feedback were more immediate or varied; sometimes it feels less like I defeated an enemy and more like it completed a ritual of release.

The map: excellent structure, an underpopulated world

The map is one of the game’s strongest achievements. Its scale, interconnected regions and environmental interactions show considerable care. Compared with room-based structures in many Metroidvanias, it feels more cohesive and gives me more reason to explore. Moving between regions can feel like traveling through a real place.

The visual staging is less consistent. Some areas are genuinely striking, particularly the western Upper City before the archer boss. The atmosphere and scale are excellent. But traversal platforms sometimes feel disconnected from their surroundings, like boards placed in front of an impressive backdrop rather than natural parts of the world.

Enemy variety and density are another issue for me. I would estimate only twenty-something distinct ground-enemy types if flying creatures and recolors are excluded; that is my impression rather than a formal count. Large stretches can feel sparsely populated.

I spend a lot of time running, then running some more. When I finally find something to try a combo on, it can turn out to be another hyperarmored enemy with red attacks.

The world has an excellent underlying structure, but I do not feel it has enough life within it. Too often it feels like an abandoned ruin rather than a place with its own communities.

Traversal abilities: brilliant tools that arrive too late

I count eight main small abilities. Aside from the vision ability, I think almost all of them are exceptionally designed.

The vision ability feels narrowly useful in combat. Beyond the invisible possessing enemy in the Depths, I found little use for it outside platforming. Giving it an enemy-highlighting function could make it more useful; the game already has a high-contrast mode that highlights enemies.

The grappling ability and the upgraded Chakram shadow ability are my favorites. Air-dashing also deserves special mention: its light, fluid, relaxed movement feels unusually good compared with other Metroidvanias I have played.

The grapple lets me close on airborne enemies while refreshing my dash and double jump. Chaining targets can create extraordinary aerial movement. On mobile, the strong aim assistance makes it feel like an entirely different style of play: I can zip between targets almost like Spider-Man, reaching enemies on high platforms or following evasive opponents.

However, the grapple arrives very late, and many hyperarmored enemies cannot simply be launched or pulled. It is a remarkable tool, but the game gives me too little time to enjoy it.

Shadow of the Simurgh, and its later Chakram-based upgrade, are also excellent. They offer powerful repositioning in boss fights, when surrounded, and during platforming. One practical warning from my experience: using teleportation during a Xerxes-coin challenge can make you drop the coin.

The Chakram upgrade follows the late-game archer boss, and the grapple comes after the second encounter with the captain. By that point the ending is close. These abilities change the game so dramatically that I kept wondering what I had been doing for the preceding hours. Opening them earlier could have made the whole adventure much more enjoyable.

Athra Surges: inventive skills with too many restrictions

The large-scale skills, Athra Surges, cover an impressive range: aerial and grounded attacks, crowd control and single-target damage, counters and healing. There is real imagination in the selection.

Yet I found some hit detection difficult to understand. The move that teleports above an enemy before attacking, for example, rarely seemed to connect when I used it.

The resource economy creates further restrictions. Attacking and successfully parrying build Athra, which should encourage aggressive play. In practice, I found the gains limited, while many attacks could not be parried and my preferred skills required higher levels of energy.

The costs and waits made using them feel laborious. I would spend a long time building a powerful attack, miss with it, then have to wait and rebuild. This is a description of how the pacing felt to me, not a measured five-minute cooldown.

A skill system with this much invention should be something I can enjoy more freely. Instead, the effort required to use it often dilutes the payoff.

Bosses: pressure, but often another kind of platforming puzzle

I find the bosses competent overall, with ideas drawn from other action games. But to me they often resemble another form of platforming challenge.

Many attacks seem to demand advance knowledge and preparation with Shadow of the Simurgh rather than a reaction after the attack begins. I need to know where to leave a shadow and when to return to it. Attack windows are also short.

On a first attempt, I often do not know where the intended opening is or what preparation the next sequence requires. The experience becomes learning the mechanism and executing its answer, rather than finding my own solution through combat.

I consequently relied heavily on Athra Surges for damage rather than ordinary attacks. The bosses create real pressure, but I found less space for improvisation than the moveset initially suggested.

Story: something I could skip

I was disappointed by the story. Beyond the Prince of Persia name, I struggled to feel a strong connection with the series. The history, character motivations and values often felt inexplicable to me, and the eventual resurrections did little to change that.

The narrative did not provide much emotional momentum. For someone playing mainly for combat and exploration, I think it is entirely reasonable to skip it.

Conclusion: I can see the quality, and still feel the missed opportunity

The Lost Crown is a contradictory game. I would put its moveset, branching attacks and movement feel among the best in the genre. But I rarely felt those strengths were fully realized in ordinary combat; the practice area can offer more freedom to enjoy them than the adventure itself. Highly skilled players may get much more out of the system.

The map structure, exploration routes and environmental interactions are excellent, yet the world does not feel alive enough. Individual enemies have several mechanics, but the limited variety, sparse population and repetitive death feedback reduce the overall effect.

Its best abilities—the grapple and the Chakram shadow upgrade in particular—are outstanding, but arrive too late. Athra Surges are inventive but demanding to use. Boss fights are imposing, yet can feel like tests with predetermined answers. The story gave me little reason to stay invested.

I can feel the effort invested in every system, including the mobile port. But enemies restrict the moveset, the timing of unlocks restricts the most enjoyable abilities, the resource economy restricts skill use, and boss mechanics restrict improvisation.

It feels like a carefully painted picture surrounded by too many frames. I can see its quality and appreciate the care behind it, but I keep wishing the experience had been allowed to breathe.