At Summer Game Fest Live 2023, we got our first look at the new Prince of Persia game. No, not the Sands of Time remake that’s been mired in development hell for years. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a stylish 2D Metroidvania that looks to be fusing the style of 2008’s standalone Prince of Persia with the side-scrolling of the original 1989 game. It looks rad, the protagonist (he’s not the prince, who knew?) is a whole meal, and the soundtrack is banging—so why are so many people moaning about it on YouTube?
At the time of writing, the Lost Crown trailer on PlayStation’s YouTube channel is sitting at 4,800 likes and 14,000 dislikes—not a great ratio. The comments are an absolute quagmire of whiney crybabies saying, “I miss the old Prince of Persia.” This is a return to the 2D roots of the series. There’s parkour, fluid combat, and magic—it is the old Prince of Persia.
“I want the Sands of Time.” “OK, but where’s the remake?” In development hell, but still coming. It’s not like Ubisoft has a single team working on all its games. The Lost Crown is being made by Ubisoft Montpellier, the team behind Rayman Legends. The remake, on the other hand, was being helmed by Ubisoft Pune and Mumbai but has been taken over by Montreal, the developer of the OG Sands of Time. Why are you complaining about getting another Prince of Persia game? Would you rather wait three more years for the remake and have nothing in the interim?
“We were promised a Sands of Time remake. They were too focused on this.” I don’t understand why people would rather have one remake every decade instead of innovative, smaller, and hopefully cheaper games more often. Two of the biggest games this year were remakes, Dead Space and Resident Evil 4. We get plenty of remakes. It’s also not hard to play Sands of Time. It’s available in an HD remaster collection on PS3. So why are people so mad about this?
I get the frustration of wanting to get my toys before Christmas, but like most people, I stopped throwing tantrums once my age hit double digits. The Lost Crown is a surprise new game in a franchise that’s long been underserved, and instead of being happy we’re getting a shiny new toy while we wait for the big one, gamers are mad about it. Make it make sense. It may not be the Sands of Time remake people have been waiting for, but it also isn’t the reason you’re still waiting for it.
All Ubisoft will learn from this is that people don’t want fresh games. Those YouTube dislikes aren’t going to speed up development on Sands of Time, but they will make execs second-guess every slightly original idea. The publisher is finally making a game that isn’t an Assassin’s Creed clone where you have to climb a bazillion towers. We should be celebrating. Instead, feedback like this will make it even harder for teams to get anything that isn’t a remake, reboot, or sequel off the ground.
Rather than whining you can’t play your favorite childhood game on the latest console, why not try something new? You might like it.
