Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a new Metroidvania set in the Prince of Persia universe, and with so much to explore, you may need this quick guide. In it, you’ll be exploring all of Mount Qaf as you gain new temporal powers and discover a deep story about why a close friend of Sargon has decided to betray the kingdom and all of Persia. Prince of Persia isn’t just a simple Metroidvania where you unlock new powers to progress, and this guide is here to help. It is filled with unique challenges, puzzles, and weapon/charm upgrades to make Sargon match your unique playstyle to explore and defeat unique monsters. Here are some tips to get ahead early in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
Fariba is Everywhere
The first quick tip in this Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown guide is to always look for Fariba. She is a little girl you’ll run into regularly throughout Mount Qaf. At first, she seems innocent and just a mini recurring character to talk to whenever you return to The Haven. However, she is much more helpful than she appears. Firstly, she is hidden in every area of Mount Qaf. If you’re able to find her, you can buy a map of that area for a small fee of 50 time shards. Once unlocked, you’ll have a map of all the main areas. NOTE: It does NOT reveal all the hidden walls, nor secret chambers. If you also talk to her at The Haven, you can buy quick hints about what to do next as well to continue your adventure. If you ever feel lost, go find Fariba!
Death is NOT Free
You may find yourself dying a good bit as you try to explore every inch of this vast mountain to find every bit of its secrets. The thing is, dying is not just dying. You will lose a small handful of time shards with each death. Each loss is NOT recoverable. While a small amount, so minimal you can get them back by killing a normal enemy, those losses can add up. So be careful and think strategically. You don’t want to run your pockets empty for a small collectible when you’re actually trying to farm for a much-needed upgrade.
Atraban Challenges give Time Shards
Once you unlock The Haven, you’ll find one of Sargon’s allies, Atraban, hanging out. He serves as your weapons trainer and gives you tutorials on how to get the most out of Sargon’s abilities. You don’t just learn neat tricks, like how to break wooden shields from him, you’ll also be rewarded with time shards with each challenge completed! Doing all of Atraban’s available challenges when you get to him can let you unlock more and more powerful potions very early on and will give you more survivability very early on.
Harder AND Easier Difficulty Options are Hidden
The Lost Crown has a wide array of options to make it as difficult or easy as you’d like, thanks to modifiers in addition to the preset difficulty options. There are also some charms available at a shop within Mount Qaf to assist or hamper you if you want the extra challenge. Available early on in The Depths is a merchant called The Scrapper, who sells equippable amulets like the Evil-Eye Amulet, which greatly increases your melee attack power at the cost of losing most of your health or the Starving Heart, that gradually restores health while lowering your melee attack power. Both of these are available for purchase with the rare Xerxes coins. Each isn’t too expensive to purchase, about four to five coins each.
Some Side Quests can Gradually Be Completed
Throughout Sargon’s journeys, you’ll run into a wide cast of characters, some of which give you side quests to complete on your journey. Many of these side quests take time and will require you to complete several steps. Turn in those parts often for easy upgrades. Especially the “Prophecy of Mount Qaf” side quest, found near The Haven. It will ask you to find 30 glowing jars of sand that slowly reveal a prophecy. This quest, thankfully, is broken into six segments, each giving you a reward for every five pieces of the prophecy you return to the mural. You can go back with each one, though, and get some easy time shards, which is great if you’re close to an upgrade.
Have fun exploring Mount Qaf and going on this journey with Sargon, may this quick guide work to get you started on your Prince of Persia exploration.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is available January 18th on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.