A model new Prince of Persia was absolutely revealed at this 12 months’s Ubisoft Forward, and it’s fairly actually in a unique dimension to the beloved Sands of Time video games. Made by the oldsters behind Rayman, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a 2D recreation that revisits the collection’ platformer roots.
To discover out extra about this sudden return we spoke to 3 builders from Ubisoft Montpellier, who instructed us how they’re relaunching Prince of Persia as an anime-inspired Metroidvania.
“At Ubsioft Montpellier we’ve the expertise of 2D video games on Rayman, in fact,” says world director Christophe Pic concerning the resolution to return to 2 dimensions for The Lost Crown. “So initially it was [that] we had the expertise, for us it was pure to make the selection for the sport. And we additionally needed to come back again to the unique Prince of Persia, as a result of it additionally matches with the sort of construction we’ve and with the sort of controls and gameplay.”
“But it is also in 3D,” he notes. While seen from a 2D perspective, the world is inbuilt a 3D area, and so the digital camera could make full use of that. “So when we’ve dynamic fight and we’ve particular combos, we generally take management of the digital camera and we’ve this particular standpoint [where the camera moves inside the game world]. So we need to maintain one thing immersive, in fact, and fashionable.”
When these particular digital camera strikes set off, the world switches color palette from a stylish-but-traditional center jap swatch to a daring, vibrant, anime-inspired design.
“We love fashionable popular culture, we love anime,” says artwork director Jean-Christophe Alessandri. “We love comics, superheroes. And that is actually an act of affection of followers. We are followers and we needed to place that into the universe of Prince of Persia.”
“Our personal formulation, I can say, is to get some sturdy inspiration and references from the mythological Persia, from historical past, which is a bit unknown,” he says. “But it’s extremely wealthy, very inspiring. And [we] allied that with extra fashionable inspiration and references.”
It’s not simply the visuals that mix concepts from totally different genres. The gameplay pays homage to each the 1989 unique Prince of Persia and the beloved Sands of Time trilogy, and blends these components with the core ideas of Metroidvania video games.
“We tried to return to the roots of the collection,” explains Mounir Radi, recreation director on The Lost Crown. “Because there’s a variety of signatures, lure sequences, actions, and so on. Without forgetting what the 3D episodes had constructed, as a result of it’s tremendous necessary to respect every episode.”
The crucial factor in this sort of construction is the empowerment of the participant.
“Players who performed the unique recreation will discover in some areas [in The Lost Crown with] this sense of the Arabian Nights, with huge palace, open areas and with good landscapes, and every part,” says Pic. “But additionally, like within the first Prince of Persia, some locations with a variety of traps, and small corridors with traps, and issues which might be generally tough to anticipate. And we’ve a variety of gameplay sequences which might be cameos to the primary Prince of Persia.”
For the Metroidvania components, Ubisoft needed to drag on all of the classics of the style: an interconnected map, difficult fight, and powers that unlock new alternatives.
“Our function was to seize this sense of isolation,” says Radi. “To have a black field, and to be good.”
Ubisoft has used the time period ‘black field’ throughout improvement of the Assassin’s Creed collection, and it refers back to the mission construction first seen in Unity by which an assassination may very well be approached in a number of alternative ways. It appears, then, that The Lost Crown goals to permit gamers to resolve conditions in quite a lot of methods.
“We have a variety of rewards and shortcuts that we tease the participant [with] to come back again with new skills,” says Pic of the Metroidvania construction. “The crucial factor in this sort of construction is the empowerment of the participant. Also it’s crucial while you come again to have the power to cross via a struggle simply and to entry treasures that weren’t accessible beforehand.”
In conventional kind for Prince of Persia, you may have the ability to govern time. For instance, you may create a shadow marker and rewind again to it, and so you may pull your self out of hazard on the final second. Or you may velocity your self up and sprint via hazards. As cool as these are, although, they’re purposefully very totally different to the Sands of Time powers that you could be bear in mind.
“We are toying with the time theme, and this isn’t a prequel,” says Radi. “Of course, we use concepts and signatures as a result of as a developer, after we start to consider this new chapter – Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown – it was crucial to attempt to twist with all these items. So one thing like easy concepts: think about that the time powers are again, those that from the trilogy, however this time they will not be in your hand. They will likely be within the palms of the principle antagonist.”
It’s presently unknown what number of time powers will likely be accessible past the shadow and the sprint, however Pic guarantees there will likely be at the very least another that has the potential to vary your method to virtually every part.
“I do not need to spoil it however you’ll later within the recreation unlock a selected means that may permit you to have a really totally different method, even in fights, the puzzles, every part,” he says. “It’s a mixture of skills that give a variety of creativity to the participant.”
While The Lost Crown is a conventional Metroidvania in some ways, Ubisoft Montpellier determined in opposition to the style’s usually mild contact method to storytelling. You can anticipate 3D animated cutscenes in addition to 2D dialogue sequences, and a dedication to character progress. That all begins along with your protagonist, Sargon: a member of the superhero-like Immortals. That means, in a shock flip, you don’t play because the Prince of Persia himself. Instead, you’re looking for him.
We did not need to play as, for example, Son Goku, however Vegeta.
“You know, when you must take care of this Prince of Persia, it is tremendous straightforward to make the identical recipe,” says Radi. “And it is sort of the identical factor with each concept we had. I talked about easy concepts. It was like ‘This time you will not play because the Prince. You will not be alone, you may be a part of a gaggle.’ Why we did that, it was to this time create a better reference to the participant. I don’t suppose we’ve so many princes in our viewers and we needed to make certain that each participant feels a reference to Sargon. And that was tremendous necessary to create a narrative that allowed the participant to develop with Sargon. This is a coming of age story.
“We took a variety of inspiration from anime,” he explains. “We did not need to play as, for example, Son Goku, however Vegeta. We needed this as a result of it was a matter of, , make him develop all alongside his journey. And Vegeta can’t be… he is a prince, in fact! But we needed to have somebody extra, , tough. We took a variety of inspiration from Miyamoto Musashi historical past, as a result of it is a journey for Sargon to know ‘What does it imply to be sturdy? What does it take to be sturdy?’”
With Sargon successfully being an anime hero, it was necessary to convey his energy via the sport’s visuals. And so Ubisoft Montpellier studied quite a few artforms, from anime to comedian books to road artwork, to tell how Sargon appears when he fights.
“When Sargon, our essential character, unleashes his tremendous energy, we needed to offer this sense of epicness by creating an impactful picture,” says Alessandri. “So we’re utilizing vibrant colors, fashionable patterns, strains, daring colors, and every part to make a memorable second for the gamers.”
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is deliberate to launch on January 18 subsequent 12 months on Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles, Amazon Luna, and PC. For extra particulars on the Prince’s return, try our hands-on preview. You can discover every part else proven at Ubisoft Forward proper right here.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Features Editor.
