Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Mask of Darkness DLC review – death-defying delight

Mask of Darkness allowed me to find my love of The Lost Crown all over again.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Mask of Darkness DLC / Ubisoft

As everyone waits endlessly for the Sands of Time remake, Ubisoft wanted to bridge the gap in Prince of Persia releases with an all-new game, The Lost Crown. A 2D metroidvania with a strong emphasis on platforming challenges from the team behind Rayman Origins and Legends felt like a sure hit, and yet, despite excellent reviews, it wasn’t the runaway success we expected it to be. Maybe it was the fact that it was released near other big-name games like Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Persona 3 Reload, or that metroidvanias don’t have the broad appeal that action adventure games have. Whatever the case, I loved The Lost Crown, and I was excited that the Mask of Darkness DLC gave me another reason to dive back in.

Mask of Darkness takes place in a different map to the main game and will see our prince Sargon starting fresh. He will have his amulets and most of his platforming skills stripped from him, and he’ll return to just three bars of health. This is one of the best things about this DLC. As someone who hasn’t played since January, I was excited to see that I didn’t have to remember all of the intricacies of the platforming straight away. Instead, I could focus on mastering those key skills, archery, dashing, teleporting and wall jumps, before being introduced to new platforming concepts exclusive to this side story.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Mask of Darkness DLC / Ubisoft

After you complete the opening section, you can explore either the left or the right path both with separate and unique mechanics. The left path focuses on portals that you can shoot with your arrows to change their direction and constantly moving lasers to avoid. The right offers orbs that send you skyward when you hit them, and deadly rotating blades that are invisible until the last second. It’s clear that Mask of Darkness both respects that you probably haven’t played The Lost Crown in a while, and that the strength of the base game lay in its difficult platforming challenges.

• Read more: Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown review – Taking the Prince back to his roots

While there are two boss fights and a small number of enemies littered around the map, Mask of Darkness focuses on your platforming prowess and turns it up to 11. The more difficult parts of the platforming are all optional for small rewards like amulets or potions, but that’s the joy of this DLC. Each screen feels like an individual test, and items that give a small power increase aren’t the real reward for completing them. One of the main criticisms of the base game is that there were extremely difficult challenges for little reward, but those making these complaints miss the point of these difficult sections.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Mask of Darkness DLC / Ubisoft

The best part of the new DLC was that after I completed it, which I happily did in one sitting, I went back to clean up everything I missed from the main game. I don’t know whether this feature was included in the DLC or sometime before, but you couldn’t purchase maps that show your missing items back at launch. Mask of Darkness made me hungry for more, and I immediately lost another 15 hours to The Lost Crown as I went back to clean up the missing pieces.

• Read more: Best metroidvania games to play after Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

If the unforgiving difficulty of the platforming is what put you off The Lost Crown, then you will definitely want to skip Mask of Darkness. But as someone who loves the precision needed in 2D platformers like Super Meat Boy, and the versatility of movement options of games like Shovel Knight, this felt like a game made specifically for me. Areas were challenging and unforgiving, yet completely fair. I knew the mistakes I’d made, and I laughed at every death. Most importantly it allowed me to find my love of The Lost Crown all over again.

Score: 8/10

Version tested: Nintendo Switch