“We knew from the start thꦗat some players would criticize us for the new approach, but we were betting on quality,” Abdelhak Elguess, senior producer on tells me.

“Our approach was cꦆompletely focused on making a quality - we knew we had to be patient to convince the players. In the same way that there are and in 3D and 2D, Prince of Persia has a history that allows it to consider diffꦏerent formats.”

Much like a story told by an unreliable narrator in control of the sands of time, it’s hard to believe that Ubisoft Montpellier ever had to worry about Pri🦩nce of Persia: The Lost Crown’s reception, especially now that it sits as one of the highest-rated games in the series. But as much of a hit as Sargon’s debut adventure has become in the past few weeks, it certainly wasn’t always guaranteed.

, jus🎃t a few points below The Sands of Time’s score of 92.

The team behind Rayman Origins and Legends handling another one of Ubisoft’s most beloved properties should have been an instantly exciting prospect for starving Prince of Persia fans but, as Elguess and the rest of his team predicted, the same community that spent the last decade begging fไor anything to happen to the series didn’t take kindly t𓃲o the 2D perspective, Metroidvania insp🐼irations, and change in protagonist to someone who wasn’t the titular prince we all know and love.

Despite being a clear homage to the original Prince of Persia games that started it all, The Lost Crown’s deviation from the 3D formula that The Sands of Time popularised is one of the big reasons why fans were so put off at the start, especially with that game's remake stuck in development hell. The pressure from the community to, ironically enough, repeat the past and live up to the series’ more well-known legacy is something that Elguess and his team were aware of, but not influenced by.

“We decided to approach things humbly and to delve into the heritage of the brand, but also to bring a personal vision and frank choices to make it a unique product,” Elguess says. “Our approach was sincere and the regular internal feedback was ve🐎ry positive, and we were impressed but also determined to deliver a high-quality project.”

Elguess reveals that The Lost Crown was pitched by Ubisoft Montpellier since a few people on the team wanted to mℱake a new game in the series. Once they’d got together to “define a vision and direction”, Ubisoft approved the project, and the rest is history.

Beyond payin💜g tribute to Jordan Mechner’s original Prince of Persia games, the switch to a 2D perspective was also done because it felt like a “natural decision” for Ubisoft Montpellier, whose most recent Rayman games are widely considered to be some of the best side-scrolling platformers of all time. Elguess says that the team’s 2D camera know-how allowed it to construct more interesting platforming, combat, and puzzle sequences which✤, along with not wanting a linear structure, led to The L🏅ost Crown being both the studio and series’ first Metroidvania.

Whether in the second or third dimensions, Prince of Persia has always focused on tight movement around an environment, which makes it a great fit for a genre that slowly has you gaining access to a map and exploring every corner of it. The Lost Crown even manages to innovate on a genre that’s been around for a long time with the introduction🔥 of Memory Shards, which let players snapshot areas of the map so they can remember to revisit later.

“On the Metroidvania exploration, we knew it would be a challenge and we had many iterations before finding our formula for guided mode and the feature of Memory Shards,” Elguess tells me. “It was complicated because even if we wanted to help the player, we also wanted to respect their i🐬ntelligence and give them pleasure in exploring, not provide them with a GPS.”

The introduction of this feature is something that surprised a lot of long-time Metroidvania fans who haven’t seen somethin🐼g like it in the genre (and are calling for it to be a mainstay), but one thing that came as less of a surprise is how great The Lost Crown’s platforming is. Just like Rayman in Ubisoft Montpellier’s previous games, Sargon’s movement is as smooth as butter, making the game’s many challenging sections a joy to play through.

That similarity to Rayman in responsiveness and level of control is purposeful, as Elguess says that t𓆉he team’s know-how on Rayman is what allowed it to make such intricate and detailed platforming gauntlets, and that Montpellier aimed to “push the pleasure of platforming much further” than it ever had before. Anyone who has attempted the Secret Floor challenge will definitely agree that the team surpassed its previous work.

The Lost Crown having excellent platforming may not have been a surprise considering the team’s pedigree, but what does stand out as a shocking highlight is its combat mechanics. Sargon starts off with some basic attacks and parries, but as he goes on he gains access to a wealth of powerful abilities that let hღim mess with enemies and mechanics in compelling mechanical ways, like sending them into another dimension and then hurtling them at their friends.

One thing that unites the combat and platforming is that both are deservingly difficult. Just 𒉰like with the 2D perspective, Elguess says this was done to “respect the requirement of the 1989 Prince”.

“This is the first time that we have developed a combat system and, in particular, such an advanced one,” Elguess says. “Our game director [Mounir Radi] is very knowledgeable about fighting games, and very quickly he wanted to push the player's abilities far on this subject. For him in reality, what brings together platforming and combat is the rhythm and the music that it represents for the player, so it was a fairly natural marriage in philosophy.”

For a team whose combat experience has previously consisted of head jumping and slaps, it’s a big achievement, and one that Elg🦩uess says is down to the work of the talented programmers and animators who are passionate about fighting games, with Street Fighter being mentioned as something with a presence in the office.

The final piece of The Lost Crown’s puzzle is its exploration and respect for Persian and Zoroastrian culture. While The Sands of Time used it as a backdrop and didn’t delve into it too much, The Lost Crown embraces it in 🌄a big way, from its environments and world to the characters and creatures that inhabit it.

Considering Ubisoft Montpellier is a French studio that is far from Persia, the game’s cultural representation required a consultant and plenty of research from the team, something that Elguess says was worth it so that players could learn and explore a setting so core to the seri✨es.

“When we delved into Persian mythology to explore the possibilities, we discovered an incredible wealth [of ]inspiration,” Elguess says. “It was a lot of reading, museum visits, and discussions with a consultant. We didn't want to develop something realistic but rather make players want to know more because it was a great learning experience for us to discover this civilization, and I think many players may be interested to learn about it too.”

Thꦗe level of backlash that Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown received when it was first revealed might have looked like a death blow but, like Sargon and the unnamed Prince before it, Lost Crown has happily managed to redefine its fate and come out on top as 🍌one of the most beloved Prince of Persia games.

Only time will tell if we ever see Sargon return in future Prince of Persia games, but The Lost Crown’s journey from backlashℱ to best-in-class is an important lesson in not judging a book by its cover. A new Metroidvania has made a claim for the crown because a developer was able to try new things.