Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown looks like the best way to reboot the series

Prince of Persia’s unexpected return to his side-scrolling, platforming roots continues to impress. After the announcement Thursday at Summer Game Fest, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown got an extended gameplay reveal on Monday that could even make it the sleeper hit of the Ubisoft Forward showcase.

Serious! And yes, Star Wars, Avatar, and Assassin’s Creed open-world themes were all shown in the same 90-minute span. But Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown‘s gameplay captivates. It’s a slick mix of modern 2D platforming with cinematic super attacks and fully acted cutscenes.

The combos, juggling, wall-jumping, and jump-dashing all have their traditions in gameplay that are now over 30 years old, and the “semi-open world” built here honors them appropriately, rather than trying to interpret that in a new game. room.

Honestly, I dig it all. Stay here with me, but I remember the enthusiasm back then Bionic Commando: Re-armed hit, oh my lord, 15 years ago. It was the perfect reboot for the time, not only evoking nostalgia for the original – again, side-scroller – but also making the gameplay sing with distinction on new hardware. And the 3D, third-person action-adventure that followed landed with a meaty splat.

After an indefinite delay in 2021, Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeThe remake of the game has since been handed out to Ubisoft Montreal, which literally went back to the drawing board with the idea. So maybe The Lost Crown stealing the show is a good thing. This does not need to be considered; sometimes what appears to be the simplest implementation is actually the most correct.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will launch on January 18, 2024 on Amazon Luna, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.