While the two couldn’t be any more different on paper, beneath the surface, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Visions of Mana are in the same boat.
First announced back in June 2023, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown made a pretty big impact right out of the gate. The first mainline Prince of Persia game in well over a decade, The Lost Crown was set to be a return to form for the long-dormant franchise, taking fans all the way back to its 1989 origins with another 2D side-scroller. But rather than be a small-scale platforming adventure like the games it was trying to ape, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown decided to really push the boat out, delivering a fully-fledged 20–30-hour Metroidvania action-adventure.
Now a few days after its initial release, it seems as though Ubisoft’s experimental decision has paid off massively, with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown being the first major critical hit of 2024. It seems as though The Lost Crown was exactly the type of reinvention that the Prince of Persia franchise needed, and there’s another game set to release this year that finds itself in a similar boat. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Visions of Mana Are in the Same Boat
On paper, the Prince of Persia and Mana franchises are completely different, with the former being a Western action-platformer series, and the latter being a JRPG franchise.
