Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownis an action-packed Metroidvania driven by an engaging story and colorful cast of characters. Though the Metroidvania genre can often feel a bit daunting for newcomers, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown actually offers the most accessible Metroidvania experience I’ve ever played.
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Accessibility aside, there are a ton of hidden mechanics and things you’ll want to know to get the most out of your time with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. This list will dig into some of the more obscure things you should be doing over the course of your ~25 hours with the game. Some of these tips serve to reinforce the importance of easily forgotten mechanics, while others might shine a light on something you didn’t even consider.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
10Wak-Wak Trees & Fast Travel Altars
Watch For Golden Wind
As you navigate the labyrinthine levels and biomes in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, always keep an eye out for a new Wak-Wak Tree. These gorgeous, golden trees offer you a resting spot for your adventures. Resting at a Wak-Wak Tree will fully refill your health and arrows, reset all enemies in the world, and it will become your new respawn point should you meet an untimely end in the trials ahead.
You will see golden wind and leaves when you’re near a Wak-Wak Tree, and they are always blowing in the direction of the nearest Wak-Wak Tree. Follow the golden wind!
Whenever you find a Wak-Wake Tree, make sure to also check the surroundings for a Travel Altar as well. You won’t find one near every Wak-Wak Tree, but they’re almost always found near a Wak-Wak Tree. Interacting with these will allow you to fast travel to any other Altars through Mount Qaf and the surrounding areas.
9Buy Maps & Hints When You’re Lost
Fariba Is Here To Help
The Lost Crown features a massive, sprawling map connecting over a dozen distinct biomes for you to explore on Sargon’s journey. While sometimes, the path ahead might be clear as day, at other times, you might be feeling completely lost. Worry not! The ever-friendly Fariba is always willing to help. While exploring a new area, keep an eye out for Fariba. When you encounter her in a new area, you’ll be able to purchase the new area’s map for 50 Time Crystals, which is well worth the investment, as it’ll give you a better idea of the general layout of a given area.
If you’re ever feeling like you don’t know where you are going or what you should be doing, return to The Haven to speak with Fariba there, located to the right of The Mage’s vendor stand, and you can pay Fariba 30 Time Crystals for her to give you a hint as to where to go. She will then explain to you where you should go to advance the story further. Even if you love getting lost in a Metroidvania, which is something of a hallmark of the genre, these hints can be invaluable to keep you from getting frustrated.
8Customize Your Gameplay
Have The Exact Experience You Want
In addition to Fariba’s helpful maps and hints, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is packed full of accessibility options that you’re able to use (or not use) to fully customize the challenge level you desire. On top of 4 set difficulty settings, you’re also able to customize your own — and there is a lot to customize!
you’re able to even skip past particularly grueling puzzle platforming sections if they’re giving you too much trouble.
You’re able to increase or decrease enemy damage, enemy health, environmental damage, parry difficulty, dodge window, and more. You can even turn on Guided Mode, which can be a huge help to keep from getting lost. Turning on Guided Mode will place an icon on your map for where the story intends for you to go next. Just like paying Fariba for hints of how to get where you need to go, just turning on Guided Mode to check that you’re on the right path can be invaluable.
7Upgrade Your Gear At The Haven
Visit The Blacksmith & The Mage Regularly
You’ll want to make sure to return to The Haven periodically throughout the game, as it’s the central hub for some of the most important upgrades you can focus on! Here, you’ll encounter two of the major merchants in the game: The Mage and The Blacksmith.
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The Mage sells a few decent Amulets, but the things you really want to prioritize picking up is her upgrades to your Potion Efficiency and Potion Amount, both of which you may increase by 3. Kaheva — The Blacksmith and a goddess — will be able to upgrade your Swords to +4, your Bow/Chakram to +4, your Quiver to +4, and she can upgrade many Amulets to increase the power of their effect. You won’t always be able to upgrade these things, as they require quite a bit of Time Crystals and often other resources as well, but make sure to grab them when you can to become the most powerful Immortal of all.
6Complete Artaban’s Combat Challenges
There’s A Lot About The Mechanics You Don’t Know
Another valuable reason to return to The Haven — visit with your fellow Immortal, Artaban! Artaban is the oldest of the intrepid Immortals, and the bizzare timey wimey events of the Ancient City have left him rattled. But fear not — he is still ready and willing to assist you in honing your skills. Many games include some unnecessary combat tutorials, but don’t skip these one! Artaban will introduce you to a variety of skills you’ll have no idea you even possess, and he’ll also teach you some neat tricks related to skills you are already familiar with.
Artaban will introduce you to a variety of skills you’ll have no idea you even possess.
Every time you gain a new ability, verify to check in with Artaban as well. He’ll often be waiting with a new training challenge to teach you everything you need to know about your new skill. You’ll also earn 50 Time Crystals for each Combat Challenge you complete, which can add up to a significant amount in your early hours in the game. It might offer you just enough to acquire that additional Potion you need to take on the challenges ahead.
5Find Sand Vials To Complete The Fresco
The Rewards Are Worth The Effort
Throughout the game, you’ll encounter small golden jars called Sand Vials. These Sand Vials are often hidden away down trapped corridors and serve as reward for completing a particularly complicated platforming puzzle. When you break these Sand Vials, you will acquire one piece of an unfolding prophecy.
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Remember to visit the Fresco east and south of The Haven (where the The Mage Merchant is located) as you will receive a variety of rewards as you continue to find new Sand Vials and new pieces of the prophecy. After finding several Sand Vials and returning to the fresco, not only will you see more of the mural filled in and more of the prophecy revealed, but you’ll also be showered with some pretty impressive rewards, ranging from caches of Time Crystals to some really excellent rewards like new Amulets, increased Amulet slots, increased total health, and Damascus Ore (for upgrading your gear). There are 30 Sand Vials in total hidden throughout Mount Qaf, so keep your eyes peeled!
4Check For Destroyable Walls
Secrets Hidden Behind Secrets
Destroyable walls can be pretty difficult to find — there’s not really any visual indicator telling you there’s a destroyable wall unless you actually attack it. So that’s the best way to know — take a swing at any walls you come across! They’ll usually remain pretty solid, but occasionally they’ll grow transparent with each hit, and after 3 good hits, the wall will vanish, revealing a passage beyond.
These illusory walls aren’t always at ground level — sometimes they’re higher up on a wall.
These passages can lead to caches of Time Crystals, which are always welcome, but more importantly, they can lead to collectibles like lore items or Sand Vials or even Amulets that you simply don’t want to miss. These kind of off the beaten path discoveries can be incredible, creating countless little ‘ah-ha!’ moments like only a Metroidvania can.
3Don’t Skip The Side Quests
More Lore & More Loot
While Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is driven strongly by the main storyline driving the game’s events, you’ll also be able to complete 9 distinct side quests throughout your journey across Mount Qaf. These side quests can range from simple to complex, but every single one is well worth your time for the rewards, which range from powerful Amulets and Health boosts to upgrade materials, Time Crystals, and lore items.
These side quests can range from simple to complex, but every single one is well worth your time for the rewards.
Some of these side quests, like theMotherly Love side quest, can be completed almost immediately after starting them, just requiring you to do one thing, while others, like The Lost Warriors, will send you across the entire map in search of the required objectives. Some of these side quests can be a little confusing, but pick them up when you find them, and work on them when you’re feeling up to it. They all build on and flesh out the unique world of Prince of Persia.
2Mix And Match Amulets & Athra Surges
Tailor Your Loadout To Your Unique Playstyle
The two major ways you’ll be able to customize your experience as Sargon will be through Amulets and Athra Surges. With 36 Amulets in the game (not counting the Prosperty Bird Amulet from the Deluxe Edition), and a limited number of Amulet slots available to you, you justhaveto try a wide variety of them. If you are great at parrying, equip some Amulets that improve your parry ability. If you’re an expert with the Bow or Chakram, choose Amulets that turn your arrows into Fire Arrows, or an Amulet that allows you to pause your Chakram on its path to explode with an AoE attack.
For an extra bit of cinematic flair, don’t sleep on Athra Surges.
Athra Surges are the other major way you’re able to customize your combat experience. You will be able to unlock up to 10 unique Athra Surges, each one offering a different explosive move to unleash upon your enemies. Athra Surges are divided into 3 tiers, and you are able to charge up your Athra by parrying, attacking, and defeating enemies. You can equip two Athra Surges at once as well, granting you some extra customization for different scenarios. These abilities will do heavy damage to bosses or outright eliminate regular enemies in their path. For an extra bit of cinematic flair, don’t sleep on Athra Surges.
1Don’t Forget To Use Memory Shards
Remembering Secrets So You Don’t Have To
Memory Shards are introduced within the first hour of the game as a way to take a snapshot of a location and pin it to the map, but it’s easy to forget about this incredibly useful ability, so it’s worth emphasizing here. Metroidvanias are all about finding paths or items just out of reach, both of which will likely require a future unlock. In other Metroidvania games, you simply need to remember to return to their location to reap the reward, but Memory Shards simplifies this process.
You start with 15 Memory Shards, but you’re able to expand to 25 with unlocks found throughout the world.
When you find, say, an item you aren’t able to access yet, but you know you will later on, you may use up one of your Memory Shards to take a picture of the location and pin it to the map so that, later on, when you acquire the specific ability required, you can check the map and remember ‘oh yeah, there’s a chest just out of reach there.’ This is an incredible ability that instantly felt like a new requirement for any game in the Metroidvania genre. It’s completely skippable if you prefer to more organically remember or discover these out-of-reach items and locations, but having this option is a godsend.
