Prince of Persia The Lost Crown is the latest installment in the franchise, which is coming out January 15, 2024. The studio calls it “not a reboot…a whole new chapter,” meaning it is either a standalone title or a sequel. The game doesn’t focus on the Prince, the character that has been the recurring protagonist, but Sargon, who is tasked with rescuing Prince Ghassan.
The game is a Metroidvania, unlike any other title in the series. Apart from the original, released in 1989, most of the games have been three-dimensional action-adventure titles with a linear narrative. A recent update from the studio has shared that the game will have an innovative and valuable feature for fans new to the genre.
Prince of Persia The Lost Crown Teases “Memory Shards”
A new trailer for the upcoming title by Ubisoft has introduced various additions in the accessibility domain with an accessibility-specific trailer. The trailer is titled “Prince of Persia The Lost Crown – Accessibility Deep Dive”.
The game starts with one of the team members stating that there are no Quick-Time-Events in the title to make it more accessible for everyone. There is also no color-based or color-sensitive feedback. The features discussed in the video are also present because Metroidvania titles tend to have a higher difficulty than other genres.
The standout feature, however, remains the Memory Shards that the game will offer. The feature concerns how a place indicated in the minimap looks in the game’s world. In traditional Metroidvania titles, one must take mental notes and memorize the present paths as they need to be revisited later. This occurs when one tries to access blocked passages using a power acquired later in the title or something similar.
What Prince of Persia The Lost Crown does for this is it allows players to capture a snapshot of where the protagonist is located. This is done by taking a screenshot of the game world and placing a beacon on the position of that exact spot on the minimap to know that they have visited the place already.
Now, when one opens the minimap and places their cursor over a memory shard, it shows the captured snapshot to refresh one’s memory of the place and simplifies things. The team explained that the Memory Shard placed on the map using one platform, will reflect on others, since the title is cross-platform. The team also tested the feature thoroughly to ensure that it wasn’t redundant.
The devs stated that this naturally pushes boundaries for the genre, as no other Metroidvania games to date have this. It is most certainly a helpful one since Metroidvania titles have levels that need to be revisited.
The feature ensures that players not only reach blocked passages and levels once they acquire the means to go past the blockade, but it also helps them get more loot in the game. It is certainly an addition that will be appreciated as a quality-of-life feature, and may stick around or be adopted by Metroidvania titles in the future.
There were tonnes of other accessibility features talked about in the title, like fine-tuning the smallest of details regarding the game’s challenge to the player. One can toggle the damage from opponents, the environment, enemies’ maximum health, and even the window for dodging. They can also turn on certain assists, which are more or less invisible on the screen, but make platforming much more accessible for individuals who find them a little too complex.
There are also high contrast modes, which is a first for any first-party Ubisoft title ever released. And there is even a guided mode to ensure that the game is accessible to individuals regardless of their exposure to the genre.
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