Summary
Breathing new life into the franchise once again,Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownis both a throwback to the franchise’s simpler 2D roots, and a bold leap into the modern age of gaming. Adopting a new Metroidvania gameplay style,Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownisn’t afraid of experimenting with some new features for the long-running adventure series, many of which seem to be inspired by the greats of the genre.
ThoughPrince of Persia: The Lost Crownis an incredibly original game filled with its own unique enemy designs, boss encounters, puzzles, and platforming mechanics, it’s also a game that’s looked closely at what the best of the best do and isn’t afraid to borrow from them when it’s in service of its overall gameplay or narrative. There’s one enemy inPrince of Persia: The Lost Crownthat exemplifies this theory, taking two of the best moments fromBloodborneandMetroid Dread, and putting a fresh new spin on them.
A good few hours intoPrince of Persia: The Lost Crown, players will make their way to the Sacred Archives, located in the top left ofThe Lost Crown’s map. Here, players will encounter scholars who lost their sanity, and undead soldiers, and one enemy will immediately strike fear into the hearts of anyMetroid DreadorBloodbornefan. Simply named The Jailer, thisPrince of Persia: The Lost Crownenemy bears a fairly simple design, but his effect on the usual gameplay loop is very notable.
First encountered in a large room inPrince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s Sacred Archives, The Jailer has a large circle that encompasses his character model. This circle signifies The Jailer’s hearing range, and the second the player steps foot into its radius, The Jailer barrels towards them at full speed. In the hours leading up to this moment,Prince of Persiahas players zipping through platforming sections, taking down enemies with frenetic combos, and solving puzzles within seconds. But The Jailer puts a sudden stop to all that, forcing the player to take things slowly and carefully plan out their stealthy route past him.
Fans ofMetroid Dreadwill understand this sudden shift in gameplay pacing all too well, with its own E.M.M.I.’s functioning in a very similar way toPrince of Persia’s Jailer. To make matters even more interesting, when The Jailer does get their hands on the player, they’re hit with an unblockable attack that sends them to prison, located at the bottom of the Sacred Archives. This unavoidable and surprising attack might remindBloodbornefans of that game’s Death Dealers, an enemy that hits absurdly hard and teleports players toYahar’Gul Unseen Villageupon their death.
Getting Revenge on Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s Jailer Feels Great
After climbing their way out of prison, players will encounterPrince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s Jailera few more times during their ascension to the Sacred Archives, with each encounter being just as intense as the last. All that sneaking around ends up paying off, though, as once players gain access to their new reality-shifting powers, it’s finally time to finish The Jailer once and for all. One of the toughest boss fights in the game,Prince of Persia’s Jailer spawns in some tough enemies as backup, but delivering that final blow feels incredibly satisfying.
