It’s safe to say that Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has made a lasting impression on us. Effortlessly reinvigorating a franchise on life support, Ubisoft Montpellier brought the Prince back from his recent lacklustre misadventures in 3D to return him to his glorious origins of 2D; crafting a sumptuous metroidvania in the process. With an intricate world to explore, precision platforming, vast double-hard bosses, and kick-ass combat, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown wowed upon release. It wasn’t just the gameplay that scored big though, it was also the authentic manner in which Persian folklore and history were weaved into proceedings. Indeed, Persian Mythology and Culture seemed to have a much greater influence on The Lost Crown than in previous games in the storied history of the Prince of Persia franchise.
“While previous titles in the Prince of Persia series tended to cover 9th-century Persia, we wanted to showcase a lesser-known, older, and more mythological aspect,” explains Mounir Radi, Game Director. “Many players associate Persia solely with the tales of ‘One Thousand and One Nights’. However, there is an entire mysterious and well-referenced folklore featuring legendary figures, deities, and terrifying creatures that deserve to be known!”
This can be seen in the setting of Mount Qaf and its varied denizens. The mountain rises in the farthest location possible on this Earth, it is a link between our reality and the supernatural. A place where legend becomes truth. In short, the perfect location for a video game. Mount Qaf is, of course, a much-referenced location in ‘One Thousand and One Nights’, but that’s not the story that had the primary influence on Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
“From the beginning,” Mounir said, “we agreed that our narrative would carry the dimension of a tale or, more precisely, that of a legend. During our research, we came across the story of ‘The Conference of the Birds’ by the poet Farid Al-Din Attar, which narrates the mystical journey of a group of birds through the 7 spiritual valleys of Mount Qaf to find their vanished King, the Simurgh. This story greatly inspired the storyline of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. The Immortals, numbering 7 (like the 7 valleys), and the initiatory tale of Sargon searching for the Prince drew from this narrative, which we, of course, adapted to suit the needs of the gameplay.”
Of course, a mighty warrior like our hero Sargon will need equally mighty monsters to battle. Again, it was from Persian Mythology that the developers drew their inspiration. Some of the monstrous legendary behemoths they decided to include are well-known to Western audiences – Manticores have cropped up in video gamedom many times before – but others were less familiar. Though now creatures such as Azdaha have been discovered they are unlikely to be forgotten, mainly because of all the ‘Game Over’ messages they will have caused! How then, did Ubisoft Montpellier go about selecting Sargon’s formidable foes?
Mounir suggests “As very often, this happened in both directions: on one hand, we had highly referenced creatures like the Manticore, Azdaha, or the Shahmaran (snake women) from the Pit of Eternal Sands that directly influenced the gameplay. On the other hand, we had very specific gameplay needs that could be connected to creatures from Persian folklore, such as Hadhayosh, the guardian of the Hyrcanian forest.” A fusion then, of gameplay needs and historical references inspired the decision-making process.
But with so many sources to draw upon, and with the verbal origins of mythology leading to huge degrees of variation, how did Mounir and his team go about conducting their research? “We gathered various documents, literary works, and video documentaries, among other sources. Then, we freely extracted from this content all the elements that interested us for the development of our narrative, its context, and the design of visual elements such as defining our biomes, creatures, architectural elements, and other symbolic elements (frescoes, cuneiform writing, etc.).”
All of this extensive research was then reviewed by both a historian and internal Ubisoft communities to ensure that these elements were not offensive and maintained a high level of authenticity and accuracy. With so much effort put into the researching and the presentation of this mythology, what does Mounir hope that players will learn about Persian folklore and culture by playing the game?
“We wanted them to appreciate the epic and mythological dimension, much like what Greek mythology offers,” replied Mounir. “On our part, we firmly believe that the Prince of Persia series has only scratched the surface of this folklore, which has connections to many other cultures, and we can’t wait to share all of this with our players!”
Now, that’s quite the tease. Does “Only just scratched the surface” mean we can expect Ubisoft Montpellier to return to the world of Prince of Persia soon, perhaps in the form of DLC or even a full-blown sequel? “We have many desires and ideas,” confides Mounir, “but it’s important to stay humble and first see how players will embrace this new Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. We also want to listen to their feedback to ensure we meet their expectations and make necessary corrections to improve the game even further!”
A skilfully evasive answer, Mr Radi. Bravo… but we’ll optimistically take that as a yes.
