Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown review: move over Hollow Knight

Royal jubilee

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

• Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
• Publisher: Ubisoft
• Release: January 18th 2024
• On: Windows
• From: Epic Games Store , Ubisoft Connect
• Price: £45/€50/$50
• Reviewed on: Intel Core i9-11900K, 16GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3080, Windows 10

As Prince Of Persia subtitles go, The Lost Crown is certainly an evocative one. It conjures up images of forgotten pasts being rediscovered, of wrongs being righted, and power being restored to its rightful balance. They’re all promises that Ubisoft Montpellier capably deliver on over the course of its neatly plotted story, and often in more ways than one. But after flinging its hero warrior Sargon around the monster-filled streets of its Mount Qaf citadel for the better part of 20 hours, I’d also like to proffer the following alternatives: Pit Of A Thousand Spikes; The Eternal Death Wheels Of Spinning Blades; or maybe just simply Traps: The Game. These are perhaps more accurate descriptions of the challenges you’ll face in The Lost Crown, as Mount Qaf is not a place you’re allowed to tread lightly. Death stalks every corner, but that’s precisely what makes this dextrously designed Metroid-like such a thrilling platformer . Put away your prejudices, because this is easily the equal of both Moon Studios’ pair of Ori games, Hollow Knight and its Metroid genre namesakes.

Much of that is down to Sargon himself, whose do-it-all athleticism translates into one of the most agile and responsive-feeling heroes in a Metroid-like since Ori first slipped onto the scene in 2015. He’s a joy to manoeuvre under the thumbs, and not just when you’re chucking him over spike pits, wall-jumping up bramble-laden forest paths, or performing last minute backflip saves over poison bogs down in the sewers. Armed with his trusty pair of swords (and eventually a bow-cum-chakram for ranged attacks), he’s also a dab hand when it comes to combat, proving himself to be a capable one-man rescue force as he attempts to save the kidnapped Prince Ghassan from a nefarious traitor inside his own group of super-powered warrior mates .

Your fellow Immortals have future boss gauntlet written all over them. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Then again, the speed with which Sargon can combo sword strikes with dodge rolls, execute a last-minute parry, and then launch himself back into the fray with a wall-belting dash kick almost makes him look more like a ballet dancer than a brute with blades. There’s never a sense that you’re struggling against the way he moves or trying to wrangle a character not meant for these kinds of acrobatics. He can turn on a dime, this lad, allowing you to enter a kind of flow state where he simply feels at one with your button presses - and with such a confident and graceful lead at your disposal, it infuses every fight, from the fodder zombies to the screen-filling boss battles, with a tingling, hairs on the back of your neck kind of excitement.

That’s not to say the platforming between those fights is any less exhilarating, of course. Mount Qaf is an enormous stomping ground for Ubisoft Montpellier to stretch their Rayman Legends -honed muscles in, and they do not disappoint. In classic Metroidvania fashion, you’ll peel back the layers of this citadel gradually over time, with new abilities unlocking new pathways and secrets for you to plunder along the way. But the pace at which you’re presented with new ideas and increasingly novel twists on Sargon’s evolving power set just feels so refreshing in an age where most big blockbusters are sanded down to within an inch of their lives. This is clearly a game that’s not afraid to show its teeth, and in doing so is able to deliver moment after moment of chef-kiss, childlike glee as you figure out how to navigate its seemingly impossible feats of wall-jumping, air-dashing and even dimension-hopping to reach solid ground again.

Parrying big boss attacks are particularly spectacular affairs, and the team’s love of anime really comes through here. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Even medium-sized monsters will give Sargon a run for his money, though. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Make no mistake. There’s some properly hardcore platforming on display here, and it’s not just reserved for its numerous challenge-based offshoot gauntlets either. Even on the main path, you’ll be tasked with mastering all of Sargon’s abilities to reach the final boss encounter, and often while juggling and combining several of them in a single manoeuvre. Whether it’s sliding down walls, air-dashing immediately across the underbelly of a spike-encrusted pillar before double-jumping backwards to hug the wall on the other side of it, or grapple-launching yourself to swipe an explosive enemy into your Tardis-like pocket and then carrying it to a tell-tale wall that needs caving in (all without touching the floor), this is one of the most dextrous and devious platforming games there is. And when it starts throwing Sargon’s teleporting/rewind-time abilities into the mix as well? Now that’s what I call some bestest best platforming.

It’s deep, satisfying stuff, even if what you’re looking at doesn’t necessarily have the immediate visual flair of, say, an Ori or Hollow Knight. There are blasts of brilliant, anime-infused extravagance in Sargon’s parries and finisher moves, as well as a stunning late-game area that has all the drama and fury of a Hokusai painting, but outside of that, Mount Qaf does come across a bit, well, rulers and geometry grids. It’s a world that’s clearly the work of human hands rather than the illusion of a naturally emerging organic mass, for example, but it’s the kind of place where the clean lines of its death gauntlets do also end up working in its favour. The challenges may be obviously video-gamey, but there’s a real thrill in instantly being able to read its copious ‘floor is lava/spikes’-style death traps and understanding exactly what your next move’s going to be in the moment and in mid-jump. And even if you do biff it along the way, The Lost Crown’s generous respawn checkpoints means you can instantly try again at the cost of some health, no backtracking required.

That said, if you fall in battle or your health bar drops to zero, however, then you will be hauled back to the boughs of the golden Wak-Wak trees you’ll find sprinkled around Mount Qaf’s hidey-holes (unless you’re doing a boss fight, where you have the option to instantly restart, or retool at the very nearby tree, praise the prince). Think of them like Hollow Knight’s benches, or a Dark Souls bonfire. They’re places where you can save, restore your health, swap out your stat-buffing amulets, and, of course, trigger a refresh of enemy spawns. But The Lost Crown is also a much friendlier game than either of its genre stablemates. For starters, it’s one that remembers your progress when you die, and doesn’t make you back track to where you last fell to regain all of your stuff. As someone who’s only ever been a begrudging student of this Soulsian school of design, all of this comes as a very welcome relief. Heck, even the collectibles you pick up stay with you - no redoing those (often rock hard) doom corridors again, no sir, which honestly, yes, more of this please, developers.

Lesson learnedAfter someextensive early glimpsesat The Lost Crown ahead of launch, I thought I knew everything there was to know about The Lost Crown’s combat system, but it turned out I had plenty more to learn from it. Once they’re available, I’d recommend spending the time to complete your mate Artaban’s tutorial challenges back at The Haven, as there are hidden nuances to its combo moves that will surprise and delight you with their depth and cleverness.Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Ubisoft Montpellier have brought other neat modern touches to The Lost Crown, too, setting a new benchmark for Metroid-like ease and quality of life. Chief among them is its much-lauded screenshot feature , which lets you pin images of your surroundings - of a locked door, say, or an out of reach treasure chest you can’t access yet - right there on your map with the touch of a button. Technically, there’s a soft limit on the number of times you can do this, since it’s tied to the number of Memory Shards you’re able to carry, but I never ran out of them during my playthrough, and as the world starts to open up, there are upgrades you can find to bolster this number further. It’s a real boon to exploration, though, offering a quick and easy reminder of your current hurdles, and where you’re best off going next with your current set of powers - especially if you opt for the largely hint-free Exploration mode at the start of the game, which leaves off objective markers and the like for those who prefer to have a bit more freedom.

I’ll hold my hands up and say I played on the Guided mode for review, which does plonk objective crests and ‘hey, this door is now open’ icons on the map, as well as little scribbles to indicate which direction certain locked doors need to be tackled from if you run into a dead end. Handy when you’re on a deadline, but you can also swap between Guided and Exploration at will depending on your preference. Either way, it’s nice to have the option at all, and it just makes getting into The Lost Crown that much easier if you need a helping hand at times. Indeed, there was only one occasion where the entrance to a particular area on the map wasn’t quite where I thought it was going to be, giving me minor flashbacks to the navigation trouble I had in Axiom Verge 2 . On the whole, though, exploration noodling is rarely ever in vain, as there’s always a secret or two down the end of every pathway, whether it’s special items, coins or time crystals that you’ll need to upgrade your weapons and amulets, or flavour-text lore collectibles.

Sargon may not be a capital P Prince in this game, but he sure does wear their usual crop of time powers very well indeed. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

I do have a very slight worry that some of the late-game weapon upgrades might tip the difficulty scales a bit too heavily in your favour, mind. After struggling a few times against one particular mid-to-late game boss, the next was almost embarrassingly easy after I’d given my swords a bit of a boost, but Ubisoft have confirmed there will be a Day One patch that will address some of the boss balancing at launch (and hey, even if it doesn’t, the power curve still feels reasonably challenging elsewhere, so I wouldn’t say it’s much of an issue in the grand scheme of things).

All in all, though, The Lost Crown is an outstanding reinvention of what a Prince Of Persia game can be, as well as a top notch platforming-led Metroid-like in its own right. It brings so many welcome nips and tucks to the genre to make it friendly and accessible, all while giving players a meaty and uncompromising challenge to really test their mettle. It really is a proper belter, this one, and absolutely should not be missed if you’ve ever enjoyed a single second of the Ori games, Hollow Knight or SteamWorld Dig 2 . After years of indie games dominating the Metroid space, it’s heartening to see Ubisoft’s Montpellier team find their feet again, leaving possibly only Silksong to steal back this otherwise crowning achievement.

This review was based on a review build of the game provided by publishers Ubisoft.

Find out how we conduct our reviews by reading our review policy .

Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown

PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X/S , PC , Nintendo Switch

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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