So I've spent many hours on that Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown game that came out earlier this year (and probably has no hope of further support or continuation of this take on the franchise). Also should probably mention that I've never played any other PoP game before, though I've heard some interesting things about like, Sands of Time?
Anyway, I think I've done almost everything in the game except for the final sequence, even buying everything I could after grinding money (surprisingly not too bad with a decent suite of upgrades, etc.). I feel like I should probably just go and finish the game, and see how the hell the rest of it plays out, but...I don't know if I want to?
There's some great stuff in the game, and the "production values" are really high. There's even some interesting and atypical mechanics in the mix for a metroidvania, but it just feels so...overproduced. This is just what most AAA games are, huh. Some good parts with too many veneers of refinement and work to "flesh out" the game into a world with "real" places, characters, challenges, etc.
And like, that would be great, if it felt like that desire to push the game's limits felt sincere. The character writing feels like it's trying to be Important and Insightful, but in doing...whatever it's doing, it feels like the genuine Character part of these characters is washed away. There's nary a breath of anything superfluous or genuinely interesting when you're scouring the corners of the game's world for goodies. I mean, there IS all those lore items that I haven't read the descriptions of, but it feels so...bleh to hide the world's character away in item descriptions (yes I really like Dark Souls and Metroid Prime, but this feels different?).
It feels like so much of what is "solid" in PoPtLC (fucking acronyms) is like, perfunctory. The platforming feels good, the combat is probably nuanced enough to let you do some wacky shit on the higher difficulties, but it's just like, there. I've poked at the game enough to see that the video game is just, a video game. It doesn't seem to reach for something greater, and that bothers me?
I did really love Hollow Knight when I played it pre-DLC (I think?). I don't have much to say on it after that, given I've barely explored the additional stuff. And that game was ALREADY huge and demanding. Still, I feel like the character writing and preponderance of extra fights and goodies didn't hurt the game. Whether or not that's a reasonable take, I feel like there was so much character, in goofy ways, in serious ways, in alienating ways, that it brought more to the game than it may have taken away. Cornifer's diegetic humming theme is still lodged in my brain, and I find myself humming it semi-often.
PoPtLC very much is trying to do some of those things (some even in a scarily analogous fashion), but it feels like there's no soul in those decisions. (and I kind of felt this with Ori and the Will of the Wisps as well, but that game didn't test my kindness in the way this game has, and it did have some really really good movement) PoP is not at all a copy of Hollow Knight, but it's playing in some very familiar territory, and it feels worse for pretending to be something it's not.
Oh right, there's a second part to this I guess...
The second game is Angeline Era. It's the newest game from Analgesic Productions, makers of 4 other games that differ vastly in genre and mechanics. I am something of a fangirl for them, but it like makes me really happy? Anyway, Angeline Era isn't even out yet, not until at least 2025 (from what I can tell), and has a demo as of yesterday, which you could probably see 90% in like, a bit over an hour. I've already spent a whole game's worth of time, largely within a single save file.
It's not that there's some grand purpose to the game's secrets, or even the main story at this point (there's basically no canonical central narrative in the demo). There's a small handful of main levels, and I imagine playing only those would still give one a great and memorable experience. But there's so much left unsaid, at least directly, in the game's writing and "story". But it's already beautiful at this very incomplete stage, and I think a lot of that has to do with the game's approach to secrets and such. I was discovering things some actual HOURS after reaching the demo's end. stuff that's barely hinted at, stuff that's not hinted at in anyway, stuff that's not even supposed to be there? this is some kind of a fully-realized world, not because it's incredibly consistent or coherent, but because the scope of what the game could contain feels almost unbound thus far. and I mean "scope" in the sense of what kind of levels one could come across, because outside those main levels, and to a fair degree even within those as well, there are basically no rules. some random events have a tell, some don't, you may find a new path somewhere you've walked across a dozen times and stumble into yet another instance of an exciting chunk of stuff that is Borderline Incomprehensible. I'm STILL not sure I've found everything I can on this playthrough.
And like, in a framework of "good design", so few of these discoveries actually "matter". You may get literally nothing for your efforts, you may even get hurt or die as a result of poking around where your curiosity has led you. there are bits I would have to start a new file to even find again, because universal constants feel, in some ways, anathema to the design ethos of the game.
I think I got a bit lost here...but damn do I love Angeline Era. And maybe it makes me a bit sad to see and realize that scope, budget, capability, "skill", etc. just don't fucking matter nearly as much as just making shit that you think is cool? Like, there's some really good level design in PoP, I think, but it feels so hard for me to care about that now that I've opened a chest, broken it apart and then seen the vague apathy it felt upon its demise, before wishing you well on your unspecified journey.
