After more than a decade without the series, a new game, “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown,” has been released to join the “Prince of Persia” series. 

Developed by Ubisoft and released Jan. 18, “The Lost Crown” continues with the series’ traditional 2D side-scrolling and platforming style with absolutely stunning transitions between the cutscenes and gameplay. 

The story follows a young man named Sargon as he and his companions, the Immortals, serve Queen Thomyris and defend her kingdom. 

However, one of the Immortals’ own members, General Anahita, betrays them and kidnaps Prince Ghassan for unknown reasons. 

As the remaining members pursue the general to Mount Qaf and separate to cover more ground, the area becomes more and more ominous. 

As Sargon interacts with different characters and gains more insight on what happened in the past, the curse that plagues the mountain and the odd flow of time affecting his teammates both give off a sense of foreboding of what is to come. 

As players traverse through the game, they will need to battle numerous enemies and traverse through various traps and puzzles, unlocking more skills and abilities as they progress. 

Sargon has plenty of different methods for moving around the map. While having the ability to quickly sprint, slide under structures and leap off of walls, he will later unlock a crucial ability called “Rush of the Simurgh” which is as awesome as it is crucial for most parts of the game. 

This move allows him to dash forward or backward through the air in short bursts, which can be used for reaching previously inaccessibly distant areas or evading enemy attacks. 

Some specific areas in the game can’t be accessed without a special ability, so it is important to mark where that location is on the map and return later once Sargon is able to access it. 

His combat style is very combo-friendly, meaning players have a plethora of moves to chain together and inflict devastating damage. 

It might take a while to master them all and develop your own combos, however, once you have, it is so satisfying to comically ragdoll an enemy in the air and stylishly use your special moves mid-combo as a little extra salt in the wound. 

On top of wielding his dual swords, Qays and Layla, Sargon also has the ability to channel “Athra,” a sacred internal energy that can be utilized in battle, to empower his strikes and perform special attacks. 

Athra can be collected by hitting and defeating enemies and can be used after enough has been collected, indicated by the bar in the lower right corner of the screen. Some moves can even be used to deal damage and heal at the same time. 

As players progress through the game, they will also be able to equip more than one “Athra” special attack at a time and unlock more to use. 

Among the options Sargon has as methods of attack, he is also able to parry enemy attacks. Parrying certain enemies’ attacks tends to knock them off balance and leave them wide open for an attack.

Specific attacks called “Reckless Attacks,” which emit a yellow flash from the enemy and, when the parry is timed correctly, trigger cool special cutscenes and deal massive damage. 

Sargon will also unlock more weapons to use, as he explores Mount Qaf. One of which, called the Bow of Menolias, belonged to one of his teammates and serves both as a weapon and a tool for traversing certain puzzles. 

With the various enemies and traps that lay around the area, there are also numerous things called Wak-Wak trees, which act as healing and save points. Players can also customize which special attacks and amulets they wish to equip when near these trees. 

Although, even with all of the platforming and combat options available, the game’s best aspect might, debatably, be it’s absolutely stunning cutscenes and smooth transitions between them and regular gameplay. 

The game’s cutscenes utilize such a beautiful amount of color and the transitions during cutscenes, parry segments and special parts of the game make it difficult to tell the difference between its gameplay and cutscenes. 

While the series may be over a decade old, “The Lost Crown” is quite an attractive game. The game has elements to it that satisfy quite a few demographics of gamers and is more than capable of attracting new and old fans alike.