Most video games follow a linear arc of difficulty, culminating in moments where mastery is demanded to, say, slay the final boss. But the hardest moment in Ubisoft’s brilliant Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is tucked away in a random, innocuous room. There is no sign post warning players what they’re about to encounter, no sense that danger—true danger—lurks.
Towards the end of my time with The Lost Crown, I was doing clean up. The final boss door had opened, but equipped with every upgrade and special power the game had to offer, it was time to fully explore the map and nab The Lost Crown’s secrets. One such secret was a little vertical section of the map. Maybe there was a health upgrade? Who could say? The unknown awaited!
What I found was…a nightmare, really. There’s no other way to describe it. A grueling endurance test that pushed my skills—and patience—to the limit. A seemingly never ending cascade of platform puzzle challenges requiring dexterity and a keen eye in equal measure. For every section you complete, the game merely takes a brief pause, only to ask more of you.
There is a level in The Lost Crown called “The Impossible Climb,” and yet, this is harder.
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