Prince of Persia The Lost Crown 
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Steam Deck VerifiedDec 19, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsExciting news! Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is now fully verified for Steam Deck! If this is the moment you were waiting to play on the Steam deck, now you can go ahead and explore Mount Qaf and save the Persian Empire from wherever your Steam Deck takes you. 💖 Your Prince of Persia Community TeamThe Mask of Darkness Story DLC is available now!Sep 17, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsPrince of Persia™: The Lost Crown - Mask of Darkness is now officially available! Time to find out who or what is hiding behind that mask. https://store.steampowered.com/sub/1102652/ More information on this new story DLC and the Complete Edition can be found here. Please enjoy! Your Prince of Persia Community TeamPrince of Persia™: The Lost Crown Patch 1.4.0 | Mask of DarknessSep 16, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsPrince of Persia™: The Lost Crown Update 1.4.0 was deployed on all supported platforms on the 12th of September 2024. It was pushed ahead of the DLC release to ensure that all players who purchase Mask of Darkness will be able to play the new adventure on release. This update contained a list of changes and new additions to the base game , but most notably laid the groundwork for the new integrated story DLC Mask of Darkness. If this latest update was not automatically applied before starting the game, see to manually update your game using the dedicated platform service. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/0930af3cd11bc46442a750e2e6e69b975ecdbd48.jpg 1.4.0 - UPDATE DETAILS NEW CONTENT 1 new, free outfit inspired by The Rogue Prince of Persia – automatically unlocked for all players. GAMEPLAY Addressed: The game gets stuck on invoked map if map button is spammed after exiting any of the Divine Trials challenges.² In a rare incident, the damage zone of an Ice Boulder gets stuck in a place in front of a sand jar in Tower of Silence, rendering the player impossible to collect it. At times when fighting Menolias, players can accidentally slip out of the boss arena by sliding under Menolias’ Magic Barrier.² Using the ‘Fabric of Time’ ability from a distance on a bridge in the Tower of Silence doesn't remove the one way icon on the map. ACCESSIBILITY AND OPTIONS Addressed: “Legend” input prompt shows up in menu when “High Contrast Mode” is enabled. ²Addressed with the help of player feedback or notification. UPDATE SIZE PC (Steam): 5.68GB PC (Ubisoft Connect): 6.33GB Nintendo Switch: 1.10 GB PlayStation®5: 2.48GB PlayStation®4: 4.63G Xbox One: 4.33GB Xbox Series X|S: 11.25 GB Luna: 6.33GB {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/5c8190543ab75627dd64b296a5c995ea6c1a5fec.png DLC & Complete Edition The new story DLC Mask of Darkness will be available September 17 at a recommended price of 4.99 EUR/USD. Alongside this DLC, the Complete Edition and Complete Edition Upgrade will be available for purchase to all players of the Standard and Deluxe Edition. The Complete Edition (Upgrade) includes the Mask of Darkness DLC, the two new outfits inspired by Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones and all content previously exclusive to the Deluxe Edition. The Deluxe Edition and upgrade will ultimately be replaced by the Complete Edition and upgrade following September 17. The new DLC and Add-Ons will also be available for individual purchase. DLC A whole new story line accessible from The Haven 3 new biomes (Radjen’s Mind Palace ) 1 new, main villain & 3 new bosses 3 new Amulets 5 new enemy types, >10 new gameplay elements for fresh puzzle & platform experiences ADD-ON 1 new outfit inspired by the Prince of Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones 1 new outfit inspired by the Dark Prince of Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones DLC SIZE & RELEASE 📅Playable 17th Sept 5PM UTC PC (Steam): included in 1.4.0 Update 📅Playable 17th Sept 9AM UTC PC (Ubisoft Connect): included in 1.4.0 Update 📅Playable 17th Sep...The Mask of Darkness DLC: A look at what's coming for youSep 12, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsPrince of Persia: The Lost Crown's tale of monsters, mythology, and Immortals left one conspicuous thread unresolved: the fate of the mysterious masked Immortal, Radjen. In the Mask of Darkness DLC, you will discover a new chapter of Sargon's story as you confront the myriad dangers of Radjen's Mind Palace. But the new DLC is much more than a story expansion, opening up a whole new biome filled with fresh traversal elements, traps, enemies, and more. To give you a taste of what's ahead, here are the four biggest things to watch out for: Bring Your Skills, Leave Your Powers Available once players have escaped the Depths and acquired the Shadow of the Simurgh time power, Radjen's Mind Palace is a sizable new area that players can teleport to from a hidden room in Mount Qaf's Lower City. This means two things: this DLC seamlessly integrates into your new or ongoing playthrough and it can even be played after having finished the main story. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/0930af3cd11bc46442a750e2e6e69b975ecdbd48.jpg While he's in Radjen's palace, Sargon plays by Radjen's rules - and her rules are unfriendly. On entering, Sargon is stripped of all time powers except the Rush of the Simurgh air-dash and Shadow of the Simurgh, which creates copies of Sargon he can teleport to. All of his amulets and healing potions will disappear as well, along with most of his health and quiver upgrades. Don't worry - you'll get everything back when you teleport back to Mount Qaf, which you can do from the palace's central hub room following a brief intro level. More than that, you'll however be able to keep any new amulets you find while exploring the Mind Palace (including Vampiric Chakram, a new amulet that adds a health-stealing area-of-effect attack to Sargon's chakram). The Mind Palace also has its own potions and Soma Tree flowers (which add to Sargon's health bar) to discover and earn, so Sargon won't stay fragile for long - although you won't get to keep these while exploring the rest of Mount Qaf. Nimble New Threats The Mind Palace is a surreal landscape of floating blocks and caverns lit by ghostly white flames, where ashen statues and clumps of dark webbing hide undead soldiers, nimble wraiths, and flying mechanical "saw birds" that spin like buzzsaws with their bladed wings. The dark wraiths attack with rapid lunges and kicks that can knock Sargon backward - and one of their favorite moves is to vanish and reappear either behind Sargon, or above him to execute an unblockable dropping attack. Several areas of Radjen's palace are dominated by a very unique creature - a big, spiderlike mechanical monstrosity known as the Sentinel, with two fearsome demon masks for a head and a huge blade in each of its four hands. It's not a true boss encounter, but it sure feels like one. New Ways to Get Around (and Die) Each of Mount Qaf's diverse biomes features new environmental hazards and traversal methods, and the Mind Palace introduces a dozen (about half of which we've s...A first little tease of upcoming story DLC Mask of DarknessSep 5, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsOnly a little over two weeks away, we wanted to share a first quick look at what will await you in the upcoming story DLC “Mask of Darkness”. Pretty e̶͎̓̋͜͝e̵̬̤̲͖̘̊̌̄͗̀ř̴̡̬̖̮̮͇͗̆̓̓͋̑ͅi̸̳̭͚͎̯̿̑̑̓é̴̛̘͇̞̥̿̽͒̒͘, eh? Your Prince of Persia Community Team P.S. Does anyone here have an idea of who you might encounter yet?An introductory guide on AmuletsAug 30, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsDid you ever think, how can I customize my playstyle more? How can I survive a killing blow and come back to get that last itty bit of health off the boss left instead of restarting the whole fight? Well, that my friends, is where amulets come into play. Amulets are a way to change your playstyle in the game. Want to build for health and survivability? You can do that! Want to explore a long-ranged combat focus? You can do that too! Want those beautiful swords to do even more damage? Yup, you guessed it you can do that too. There are 41 total amulets in the game, 37 in the main game, and 4 from the latest Divine Trials update. Sadly, you cannot equip them all at once; you will have to be selective in choosing which amulets you want to equip and when. The limiting factor, outside of Sargon’s neck muscles, are amulet holders. Starting with three, you’ll find up to nine more on your journey through Mount Qaf, allowing for more combinations. Important to note is that some amulets require more amulet holders than others. For example, “Dragon King” will cost you three slots (this is my absolute must-have because it protects you against a killing blow and brings you back to life). But, “Blessing” only costs one slot which increases your max health. Let’s stay on “Dragon King” for a moment, since it’s my favorite. This wonderful amulet can be found by the Moon Gatherer in the Sacred Archives when accepting his side quest. Or, another favorite of mine “Hardiness” which decreases environmental damage. This one you can buy from the handy dandy Mage in the Haven! You can find amulets and amulet holders all throughout your journey through Mount Qaf. Some might just be hidden a bit more or protected better than others. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/11c5b933b3ff36c4fba761a911aae9c958c48681.png Here is my current early to mid-game build I use for survivability and collecting time crystals. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/754cdcd9ba39c1adc24d3003339ffd768f05c15c.png My build consists of: Blessing: For an increase to Max Health Dragon King: One-time protection from a killing blow by restoring a GREAT amount of health (we will talk about upgrades in a second) Ard’s Fortune: Slightly increases the Time Crystals dropped from defeating enemies Ecbatana Seal: Collect Time Crystals from a distance For me and my play style I like to have a lot of health, and some help with collecting Time Crystals to later upgrade and unlock more amulets. However, before I fight a boss (trust me you’ll be able to start to pick up on where a boss fight will be) I will stop by the Wak-Wak tree and switch out my Time Crystal amulets for damage amulets. Like, Divine Spear which creates a laser beam dealing damage while using the Shadow teleport. The Ayyar Amulet can be found on the second story of the vertical passage in the Catacombs that's lined with spitting doors. This area can also be identified by the three vertical Medusa-like heads on your map. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/11c5b933b3ff36c4f...Playing Offline – A Quick How toAug 26, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsYou may have been wondering if and how you can play this wonderful game offline. Well, first things first: Yes, you can totally play this game offline. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/3134a4edbb75d52710abd65fcc48e9dfbd08905d.png This means yes to playing Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown at your gram-gram’s house with that fancy gaming laptop of yours, yes to playing while waiting for your ISP to plug that internet cable back in and double yes to playing on your Steam Deck while in a car, airplane or what have you. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/5c8190543ab75627dd64b296a5c995ea6c1a5fec.png Prepare for offline play So, in order to play Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown offline on the device of your choice, you need to do the following: Launch the game at least once connected to the internet on the device you plan to play offline on and don’t close it until you’ve seen the in-game menu. If you require guidance on how to enter your information on the Steam Deck, have a look at our First Launch Info article. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/5c8190543ab75627dd64b296a5c995ea6c1a5fec.png Recommendation And to make your life easier with follow-up sessions be sure to Tick the ‘Remember Me’ box when logging into your Ubisoft Connect Account and Link your Ubisoft Connect and Steam accounts. That’s it, now you can save the Prince offline too! Isn’t that something. Helpful Resources And just in case, here are some additional resources that can serve helpful: The on-Steam tech support forum Full FAQ of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Steam Deck – First Launch Info Information on Steam’s Offline Mode and how to use it Kindly, Your Prince of Persia Community TeamReturn to the HavenAug 22, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsYou’ve gone to the Haven and met The Mage, Fariba, unlocked the Wak-Wak tree, you saw Artaban, and met Kaheva, then you unlocked the fast travel point, so why would you want to return? Well, there are many reasons to return to the Haven. Especially since you can pop right back to your adventures once you’ve had your break. 1. The Mage The Mage is a shopkeeper, and you can find her market at the trading post. From her you can purchase more health potions slots, new amulets, and increase your max health by purchasing a Soma leaf petal just to name a few things. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/4891cf83a81197c4fbbb065262baae9b4cd1aead.png 2. Fariba Fariba can help you along your journey. Did you get stuck on the main story? Don’t know where to go? You get a hint from Fariba to help you with what to do! 3. Kaheva Kaheva is a blacksmith for the Gods, but she is willing to help you upgrade your gear, for more damage among other boosts. She will also help you make your amulets more powerful and offers an interesting side quest. Visit her to get important upgrades to help you in Mount Qaf. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/0af7755298ba77c2ef77ad7eae0e3d6ac9511078.png 4. Artaban Artaban is in the Haven to help you train. Try his challenges and he will reward you with time crystals! Learn about new moves, different ways to use your time powers, and different ways to defend yourself, which will become very useful as you encounter new enemies. (He may also have some fun challenges like boss rush and boss attack) 5. Divine Trials As you progress throughout your journey in Mount Qaf you can unlock the Divine Trials The Trials are a selection of expert challenges, in platforming, puzzle and combat. Defeating several of them grants you new outfits and amulets! You can find the glowing ethereal door below Kaheva's to the Divine Trials in the Haven. The Haven is your central location to get stronger, get upgrades, speak to friends along the way, and help you greatly along your journey through Mount Qaf. So, don't forget to visit your new found friends in the Haven! Okay, byeee, Your Prince of Persia Community TeamThe First HoursAug 21, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsYou know your mission; enter Mount Qaf and save Prince Ghassan. Now that you are here, how do you survive this perilous place to complete your mission? Upon entering Mount Qaf you will be met with enemies to teach you how to use your abilities along your journey. Be sure to pay attention to the skills and techniques that will be shown to you. Some tips to help you along your journey: 1. Parry and Dodge! The art of parrying requires good timing, (trust me I would know) but it negates the damage and leaves the enemy open for a counterattack. Note that the parry can also deflect projectiles. Some enemies can perform a Reckless Attack, indicated by a yellow light flashing up in their eyes. If you get the timing right and parry these attacks, the enemy takes significant damage during an exciting and powerful counterattack animation. Don't miss the chance There are some attacks that you cannot parry, and they hurt! Dodge out of the way when you see the eyes of your enemies light up in red to avoid getting hit. 2. Use your Time Powers. As you journey along Mount Qaf you will gain more Time Powers to aid you in your path. So, fret not if you see a blocked path or seemingly untraversable terrain. Future time powers might be just the key to pass them. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/9924d96a2642f0d5abecfa76971e9a579af999e9.jpg 3. Adjust the Difficulty. There are plenty of features that enable you to adapt the game’s difficulty to your playstyle in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown If you feel out of breath or overwhelmed with your initially chosen difficulty, rest assured that you can adjust them at any point on your journey. In the settings, you can select a Combat Difficulty among 4 different presets: Rookie / Warrior / Hero / Immortal. These presets have different effects on enemy health bars or damage dealt, but also the parry reaction time, the dodge window, the Athra gauge gain and depletion rate, and even the damage received from environmental hazards. In addition to the predefined options, all these parameters can also be set separately in the Custom Difficulty setting. Don’t hesitate to look there. 4. Check the accessibility settings. There are many accessibility features and settings to help you progress through Mount Qaf. The Eye of the Wanderer – the memory shards are an in-game tool that allows you to pin screenshots to the map. This is automatically enabled in your game Guided mode - optional icons marking objectives and available/blocked paths. Reminder of important controls** is shown on-screen during gameplay. You can find this option in your settings under system > options > gameplay Practice area with no consequences of failure, and tutorials. You can find the practice area in the Haven with Artaban. Platforming assist – optional portal to skip past challenging sections of platforming. This option will only be available on the main path. You can find this option in your settings under system > options > gameplay High contrast settings – remov...Hotfix: Save SynchronizationAug 19, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsAs planned last week, a new hotfix was just rolled out earlier today. With this 167.94MB hotfix, a major issue resulting in the loss of progress should be resolved. Again, thank you for raising this issue and sharing all the details and specificities with our support teams on all platforms. It helped us greatly in identifying the cause of the problem. What was happening? The automatic upload of the save into the cloud had a chance to fail in some cases, causing synchronization issues. This could lead to conflicting save states, resulting in a loss of progression. Now, with this latest hotfix, Auto save upload has been disabled to avoid further issues. In case you would need it, manual saving into the cloud is still possible via the in-game Save Management menu. You can copy your save into the "Cloud save slot". Just don't forget to upload your save before closing the game. 💡Please be mindful that if this latest hotfix was not automatically applied before starting the game, see to manually update your game. Thank you so much for your help, patience, and confidence. Your Prince of Persia Community TeamHotfix: Saving the game & visual indicatorAug 13, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsWith this 163.7MB hotfix, a major issue resulting in the loss of progress should be resolved. Thanks to all of you flagging the issue, but also sharing details and specificities on it with our support teams. It’s because of your input that our developers were able to publish this hotfix as early as today. About the issue In some rare cases a game could be stuck in an endless attempt to save the game and indicating that it succeeded in doing so, when in fact it was stuck in an ongoing loop of attempts. Closing the game while the loop was ongoing would result in the loss of progress. Now, the following issues were addressed with this latest hotfix: Game stuck in endless loop, attempting to save the game at a Wak-Wak Tree. Visual “saving in progress”-indicator disappearing while the process was not actually finished. 💡Please be mindful that if this latest hotfix was not automatically applied before starting the game, see to manually update your game. Full transparency While this fix resolves the mentioned issues, delivering a solution to the vast majority of reported cases where progression was lost, it does not solve them all. To address other known, but less frequent cases where progress is lost, our teams continue their work on a fix planned to be published next week. So, please keep your eyes open for future updates to the game. Thank you so much for your help, patience and confidence. Your Prince of Persia Community Team Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown available NOWAug 8, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsIt’s heeeeeeere! Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has now OFFICIALLY launched on Steam! I know, I know, I’m hype too. (obviously) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/5c8190543ab75627dd64b296a5c995ea6c1a5fec.png https://store.steampowered.com/app/2751000/Prince_of_Persia_The_Lost_Crown/ {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/5c8190543ab75627dd64b296a5c995ea6c1a5fec.png Now, the time is here to begin your journey through the perilous yet beautiful Mount Qaf as Sargon, the youngest member of the elite, superhero-like Immortals. Armed with acrobatic combat skills and an ever-growing arsenal of time powers, Sargon explores the mythical Mount Qaf in search of the kidnapped Prince Ghassan, and gradually unravels the dark secret at the heart of the mountain’s time curse. Inspired by Metroidvanias, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown invites you to explore a vast citadel and its alluring biomes. “Prince of Persia has always been about time, and what we wanted to do differently from other Prince of Persia games is to have time affect every element, every aspect of the game, ” Abdelhak Elguess, Senior Producer This game was developed by Ubisoft Montpellier – the studio that also produced Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends, and it delivers performance to match, with all platforms targeting at least 60 frames per second. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown makes combat a top priority; inspired by the likes of Street Fighter and Super Smash Bros., its controls are straightforward and streamlined, enabling you to gracefully execute single-button sword combos and extend them by juggling, dashing, and using Sargon’s bow and arrow to keep enemies stunned. It also pays to keep a close eye on enemy movements; if a yellow flare appears when an enemy is about to strike, that means parrying will flow into a counterattack, letting you execute a finisher for potentially massive damage. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/e4dfd410041c6b8067586bc171d05b3d50cc3554.png “Prince of Persia has always been about time, and what we wanted to do differently from other Prince of Persia games is to have time affect every element, every aspect of the game,” says Producer Abdelhak Elguess. “We wanted to use it in combat, with Sargon’s time powers, and we wanted the narrative to be warped by time. The puzzles and the world itself are completely warped by time. So we have the combat, the puzzles, and the narration as game pillars, but they are all linked by one strong theme, which is time.” {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/5c8190543ab75627dd64b296a5c995ea6c1a5fec.png Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown re-imagines the franchise in another important way: by embracing its Persian setting in a way that’s unprecedented for the series. Sargon’s adventure blends Persian history and mythology with anime and superhero influences; Mount Qaf is a place where larger-than-life Immortals demolish huge monsters with impossibly flashy techniques, and where the mysterious bird-like deity known as the Simurgh is present everywhere, both figurati...System Requirements & Steam DeckAug 7, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsWith Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown releasing tomorrow, you may have been wondering... “Will my system even run this game?” Well, you’ve come to the right place! But before we jump right into those system specs, let’s just say that Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is fully playable on the Steam Deck. And now, let’s take a look at those mentioned specs, shall we? {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/eb97839e4f9ba5c315114a4a02598568db88f531.png MINIMUM 1920x1080, minimum 60 FPS, Graphics Quality Normal CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.4 GHz, AMD Ryzen3 1200 3.1 GHz GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (2GB VRAM) or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (4GB VRAM) RAM: 8GB (Dual-channel setup) Hard disk space: 30GB DirectX version: DirectX 11 OS: Windows 10/11 (64-bit only) RECOMMENDED 2560x1440 , minimum 60 FPS, Graphics Quality High CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4 GHz, AMD Ryzen5 1600 3.2 GHz GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (4GB VRAM) or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (4GB VRAM) RAM: 8GB (Dual-channel setup) Hard disk space: 30GB DirectX version: DirectX 11 OS: Windows 10/11 (64-bit only) ULTRA 3840x2160 , minimum 60 FPS, Graphics Quality Ultra CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4 GHz, AMD Ryzen5 1600 3.2 GHz GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB VRAM) or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (8GB VRAM) RAM: 8GB (Dual-channel setup) Hard disk space: 30GB DirectX version: DirectX 11 OS: Windows 10/11 (64-bit only) The framerate on PC is not locked and can be extended beyond 120 FPS if the hardware allows for it. Find additional information on the game in our FAQ and on your first time setup Steam Deck start up here. And, there it is! Hardware requirements & information for the Steam Deck. Kindly, Your Prince of Persia Community Team IT'S LAUNCH WEEKAug 6, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsOh.my.gosh. It’s OFFICIALLY launch week! Today, we are only two short days away from the official launch of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown on Steam! To be more concrete, it will launch this Thursday August 8th at 7 PM CEST (3 PM EST). And, to celebrate this exciting time we are going to be hosting live broadcasts right here on Steam! Join us this week as we stream Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, enjoy the show, meet some developers and get a taste of what this fantastic game has to offer you. 💖 Wednesday, August 7 Gameplay & Dev Talks 10 am CEST / 4 am EST (Tuesday) / 4 pm CST 2:30 pm CEST / 8:30 am EST / 8:30 pm CST Thursday, August 8 Exclusive, launch celebration Streamathon 6 pm CEST / 12 pm EST / 12 am CST (Friday) from Montpellier, France 9:30 pm CEST /3:30 pm EST / 3:30 am CST (Friday) from Cary, USA**Cancelled due to severe tornado and flood warnings in the area. Friday, August 9 Ongoing Streamathon + Gameplay & Dev Talks 8 am CEST / 2 am EST / 2 pm CST / from Shanghai, China 10 am CEST / 4 am EST (Tuesday) / 4 pm CST 2:30 pm CEST / 8:30 am EST / 8:30 pm CST Saturday, August 10 Gameplay & Dev Talks 8 am CEST / 2 am EST / 2 pm CST https://store.steampowered.com/app/2751000/Prince_of_Persia_The_Lost_Crown/ Hope to see you all there!🥰 Happy official launch week! Your Prince of Persia Community TeamAccessibility SpotlightAug 1, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsThe game offers up challenging combat and platforming, but the development team wanted to make sure that anyone who wants to get their hands on this game can play it and have fun. To learn more about how Ubisoft Montpellier is making Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown accessible, we spoke to Senior Game Designer Rémi Boutin. What was your approach to accessibility on Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown? Rémi Boutin: Accessibility was an early consideration for us. We integrated it into the creative vision for the game and approached it from several angles. We applied design thinking around the specific barriers and opportunities that our genre and game presents, referenced existing good practices and guidance, and worked in close collaboration with the internal accessibility team at Ubisoft. Learning directly from the audience though user research has been very important as well, and is something that we plan to continue during the rest of development to help to refine our feature set. Does the game’s genre bring any unique challenges? RB: Games with similar mechanics to Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown are not always known for accessibility, so we wanted to explore ways to make our game enjoyable by the greatest number of players. We identified exploration as a key part of this. Ensuring players can feel the thrill of free exploration without the frustration of feeling lost was a strong area of focus for us from the very start of development. We have an optional guided mode to help with this, which shows objectives and blocked/available paths. But we also approached it through design, in particular with a feature that we hope our players will enjoy - Eye of the Wanderer. The genre is quite dependent on being able to "take mental notes"; remembering and visualizing things like blocked paths, or situations that need tools or powers that you don't have. We know that can be a barrier for some players, so to assist with this the Eye of the Wanderer feature allows you to take a screenshot and pin it to the map as a visual reminder. Our game offers combat depth, and we're aiming for a challenging game, for players to experience the satisfaction of overcoming dangerous enemies. But we know that people are varied and that challenging means different things to different people. So, we are providing both difficulty presets and a range of individual parameters, so that more people can experience a challenge that fits their capabilities. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/324e74a06c7709b8c11c7c0ed52f8828c342928b.png Did working as a smaller team affect the approach to accessibility? RB: Being a smaller team doesn't need to get in the way of considering accessibility. Smaller teams even have some advantages, like agility. Rather than accessibility being handled by certain people on the team, everyone is involved to ensure that the features that they're personally working on are accessible, as well as looking out for potential accessibility issues across the game in gener...Developer Insights: Music & SoundJul 30, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsGuess who’s back? Back Again? The Community Team is back, this time to talk about how our sound designers built an immersive world using music and sound. (tell a friend) To Bring a World to Life For Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, the sound designers wanted a fresh hot take on the music and sound, but with a touch of legacy. To do this, they immersed themselves with sounds and soundtracks of earlier titles for inspiration, while working on their own way to support the beautiful and fantastic game direction, specifically for those awesome time powers and monsters. Just wait until you hear those bangers playing while you are fighting a boss. You’ll know what I mean soon. SFX & Soundscape {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/5c8190543ab75627dd64b296a5c995ea6c1a5fec.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/85aa72a7fe9b154d8f70fd8e29fff56ea0b0c258.jpg They say ‘you eat with your eyes’, and well, we say ‘you play with your ears’. So, let’s quickly agree that the ambience and world in a video game just won’t work the same way without sound. I mean, everyone that played a horror game before knows that seeing the monster, is most often not the most stressful part about it. Hearing it roar, stomp and breathe is what makes the hair on your arm stand up stiff. To create such an effect, for a monster in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, the designers would at times use multiple real life sounds and layer them to create something truly out of this world. Even if the sounds themselves come from real-life sources like alligators, birds, and lions. Crazier than that, using and mixing sound elements that you might have heard somewhere else in the real world before creates something more believable in your brain, even if it’s not real. (We are pretty sure most of the monsters depicted in the game don’t exist) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/a65b75394a64b2421b6a85727688e499a5164e66.png When creating the sounds behind the biomes the sound team took inspiration from mood boards and concept arts provided by the creative team. The goal was to create a mythological fantasy Persia. SOUNDTRACK{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/5c8190543ab75627dd64b296a5c995ea6c1a5fec.png For the original soundtrack (OST in short) we partnered with two amazing composers: Mentrix and Gareth Coker. Metrix's game music is subtle, with a lot of movement creating something eerie and ambient. When creating her music, she blends traditional Persian instruments with some modern production techniques. Her music was used a lot for the exploration tracks. However, this game tells a story about bigger than life characters that fight together for what they think is right, and so the music had to be very dramatic and bigger than life at times as well. And that’s where Gareth Coker comes into play. He wrote music with very big, orchestrated pieces while blending in modern and rock elements at the same time. When you are on your first playthrough you may notice that each main character has their own musical theme which you can hear ...Dev Art: Discover Your AlliesJul 26, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsFrom reading all of our insights here on Steam, you know by now: Your journey with Sargon will surely be eventful, and to lift that time curse, you’ll need brains, brawn, and endurance. Good thing you don’t have to do it all by your lonesome and you’ll meet allies, friends you can rely on in tough times, old mentors, or just… trees and children. Yes, trees! Moving on. To counterbalance the vast array of creepy crawlies and fiery fiends that inhabit Mount Qaf, the dev team created a rich cast of friendly NPCs to help you along the way. NEITH & ARTABAN {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/11c5b933b3ff36c4fba761a911aae9c958c48681.png Neith is a member of the Immortals. To most, her past is a mystery. Rumors suggest that she could be originally from the kingdom of Kush, far into the south. Along with Sargon, she’s one of the youngest of the Immortals. With her temper and her spear, she can keep everyone at a distance – however, it seems she sees more in Sargon than what meets the eye. Meet the Master: Artaban. An essential member of the Immortals, he’s as strong with his two-handed sword as he’s wise with his mind. With his way of talking as though he’s reciting whole books from memory, some people wonder if he isn’t a wandering scholar instead of a warrior. Always looking after Sargon, he’ll wait for him in the Haven to teach him some useful lessons. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/f2a8eb2c225532e123a4ba91e7167a94c667b58f.jpg FARIBA {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/11c5b933b3ff36c4fba761a911aae9c958c48681.png Fariba travels around Mount Qaf and knows most of its secrets. Even though she looks like a child, with the Time Curse afflicting the place, who knows how old she really is. What’s for sure however, is that she’s unimpressed by Sargon despite him insisting on being an “Immortal”. Maybe, she’s heard this story before? Time doesn’t flow like a river here afterall... Growing hopeful for Sargon as he continues along his journey, she decides to help him. How you ask? Well, with trusty map pieces to ease navigation through Mount Qaf. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/44a5fdbc0f8e610c8522fb290db13ba2fdbfe907.jpg THE WAK-WAK TREES {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/11c5b933b3ff36c4fba761a911aae9c958c48681.png The Wak-wak trees offer a peaceful resting place throughout Mount Qaf. They all seem to be related and somehow linked to the ancient Soma Tree at the center of Mount Qaf. Oftentimes you can hear whispers near these trees, from creatures who have taken refuge in their branches. Talk to them to gather some useful gossip! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/cd74f7e63393554f12ab9d1945aff908782f4708.jpg With this little showcase, we’ve only but scratched the surface of the vast panorama of characters, friends and allies that you’ll meet on your adventure. And don’t worry, you’ll be able to meet them and the others as soon as the game is released. So, in only two tiny weeks. That’s it for now, so see you next time for more details on the dangers of Mount Qaf: the hordes of enemies standing i...Developer Insights: StoryJul 24, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsIt’s time for another mini-dev dive, we’ve talked about Sargon, controls, world-building , and platforming. Now it’s time to talk about the beautiful story and all the elements the dev team had to consider when crafting their story for a Prince of Persia Metriodvania. 🎥 All this talk about story reminds me, come watch the live stream tomorrow, July 25, 2024 at 11 AM EST 6PM CEST, where I will go through some of the story in the upper citadel. To Tell a Story {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/5c8190543ab75627dd64b296a5c995ea6c1a5fec.png The most important aspect for any story is that the emotions need to be real. And, making a strong story in a Metriodvania did not come without its difficulties. Since, ya know, you can go left, right, up, down, skip some sections, and jump around. So, when writing the narration, the dev team had to think about the many options that players may take and consider other ways to tell the story than through cinematics and dialogue. And, we learned from previous PoP titles that time in fact does not flow like a river; and Mount Qaf is no exception. Sometimes the past can happen after the future and change the very fabric of time. (Looking at you back to the future) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/623de88282217ae7759fa1b2d03961d840ece214.jpg First and foremost, though, this is a game, and a lot of the narration comes from the gameplay itself. So, from finding Menolias’s bow to use as your own, to finding Sand Jars to unveil a mural. In their eyes, the player should not constantly have their controls taken away for story elements to be presented. However, the narration does also not only come through the gameplay, it comes through the animation, the type of sync animations you have, and how it feels when fighting or fleeing enemies (or both at the same time). These elements concerning the dev team are the first tools to deliver narration in a video game. They say that simple things like the way Sargon moves and NPC’s are designed are a part of the narration. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/62711ec0be695ab2a771f87c13ebe0167921735f.jpg All in all, the team had to think about the story and narration from many different avenues and lenses. So, when it comes to telling the story for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, they did not limit themselves to the obvious cinematic cut scenes and dialogue you hear throughout the game, but they instead considered how the gameplay, the biomes, the NPC’s, the combat, all played into making the story in the game. 🎥 Be sure to check out our more in-depth video on To Design Smooth Platforming right here. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/5a76c229e2a97b4a1594c589f23a9728a4fcdd58.jpg That wraps up this mini-dev dive on the making of the story behind Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. We hope you enjoyed it! See you in Mount Qaf very soon. 😎 Bye for now, Your Prince of Persia Community Team Dev Art: Discover The InhabitantsJul 19, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsMetroidvanias are built on the promise of a rich and interconnected world – but this world has to be filled with captivating, unique, and sometimes mysterious characters. To honor this tradition, the concept artists of the dev team created a rich cast of NPCs for the player to interact with in Mount Qaf. All of them have a history with the place’s Time Curse, yet not all of them are willing to help our hero. Let’s take a look at some of them. THE MAGE & ALKARA The Mage is a mysterious person – seemingly old, but due to the time curse it’s impossible to be sure. What’s for sure is that she’s a great person to visit in your journey, because she sells all sorts of useful items, such as amulets and potions that can come in handy for any traveler. But none is more mysterious than Alkara. The old man seems to be able to travel freely throughout Mount Qaf, hopping here and there in search of a fellow traveler to help. But one has to decipher his mysterious clues. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/111b3e477779f4e6f0a0f3336d2d50b80dd2f2d4.jpg KAHEVA & THE COLLECTOR Kaheva forges the gods’ weapons. Her creations are the most beautiful any mortal has ever seen – and any human would dream of owning one of her works. But only less than a handful were ever that fortunate. The late King Darius was one of them. While Kaheva is a god, the Collector is… something else. He lives in the Depths, the long-forgotten area below Mount Qaf. If you ever lose anything, go and see him and there’s a chance he’s already found it! He can find everything. The only problem is, he’ll probably try and negotiate a high price for it. Besides money, there are only two other things he cares about in life: unusual items and… gossip. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/6d73714994094facb4bad2b2bb555057636e271f.jpg THE FISHERMAN & THE LOST WARRIOR Mount Qaf is however not only inhabited by gods and monsters, mages and mysterious old men. There are also poor souls, mere humans trapped there by the time curse. The Fisherman is one of them, desperately trying to fish anything in a sea frozen in time. As for the Lost Warrior, you might encounter him trapped in the Hyrcanian Forest. Far from his army fellows, Ardashir’s men, he’s now lost in the lush woods. When you find him, lend him a hand, will you? {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/e870f3e05eebe471b336acf6244ac10223903431.jpg This was just a glimpse of some of the characters you’ll encounter on your journey through Mount Qaf. There’s also the Moon Gatherer, the Crawler, The Architect, the Pirate Captain, a mysterious Hermit, and so many more! 💡 Only three tiny weeks to wait now. See you next time for more details on some more friendly characters: the allies that will help Sargon on his journey through Mount Qaf. Talk to you soon, Your Prince of Persia Community Team.Developer Insights: PlatformingJul 18, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsWhen thinking about platforming in Metroidvanias it can bring up a lot of feelings: joy, excitement, exhilaration, rage, and sometimes, only sometimes, pure and utter despair. But no matter how much some of the countless platforming sections in games made me want to throw the controller through my screen over the years, something in this game just challenges and hits you differently. There is simply no arguing on how tight and smooth they play. I’d go that far to call them fair and perfectly balanced – as all things should be. And so, in this mini-dev dive we want to find out how our developers were able to design the smooth and buttery platforming of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. (Not exactly in those words, but you get it.) To Design Smooth Platforming {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/5c8190543ab75627dd64b296a5c995ea6c1a5fec.png To our devs, flow is the most important aspect when designing platforming sequences. With Sargon being a superhero in legendary Persia the team wanted to be sure that his ability to control space and gravity could be felt. In other words, the devs wanted players to feel that traversal is super fluid and light. (and they did a fantastic job at it, if I do say so myself) And it was important to the devs that you feel in control at any moment in the game. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/342037dd0cf358663fd635972fec70d086db23f4.jpg Making a side-scroller means very precise gameplay and platforming. In the way it's built, and in its legibility, the construction of a side-scroller is completely different from making a 3D game. Legibility and readability are vitally important when making platforming sequences and ensuring all ingredients featured are cohesive. Part of this is making sure that all the actions and all the elements that are shown on your screen push you forward without actively thinking about the controls. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45058788/9924d96a2642f0d5abecfa76971e9a579af999e9.jpg To make the world of Mount Qaf enjoyable, it’s mainly a question of pacing. By creating variations in the navigation throughout the game; between short jumps, high jumps, wall jumps, you can create patterns that feel great when you are executing them. To create variety, the devs tried to give each biome a unique gameplay flavor with new challenges and obstacles based on the environment. And, also on the specific abilities that you have at that time. You may recognize some sequences and some mechanisms that are very iconic to the Prince of Persia franchise. Like, moving saws, death spikes, and other deadly traps! 🎥 Be sure to check out our more in-depth video on To Design Smooth Platforming right here. Well, that wraps up this mini-dev dive on platforming! See ya next time, Your Prince of Persia Community Team
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