As the Handheld PC gaming market continues to expand there is still one that is widely regarded as the must-have device and that is the Steam Deck. I personally also share this belief, not because of its overall power but rather its Steam OS and seamless integration into the Steam Ecosystem.
It’s also the main reason many Steam Deck owners will hold out on purchasing a PC game that is released on another PC game storefront, in this case, Ubisoft and Epic Games Store.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown launched on said services as well as Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch way back on January 18th, 2024. In our review (click to read) we called it an “Outstanding package” with a score of 4.5 out of 5 stars.
So, there is no question about the game’s overall quality. However, there is a question about how well it performs on the Steam Deck which I hope to answer.
Let’s start with the obvious, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Steam page lists the game’s Steam Deck compatibility as “Playable”. These usually turn into verified over time as the developer of the game makes additional tweaks such as adjusting font size, adding additional support for Steam Deck options, etc.
So basically, saying you should be good to go upon installation and bootup. Now before launch, there were talks that Ubisoft had “addressed the Ubisoft connect launcher issue.” For those who play Ubisoft games not only on Steam Deck but other Handheld PCs you know exactly what they’re referring to.
The “issue” is that the Ubisoft launcher screen will appear and prompt you to log in to your Ubisoft account upon every bootup, regardless if you have the box checked to save your login info. Thankfully I can confirm this is not an issue in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
As long as you have logged into the Ubisoft launcher at some point previously. You will see a quick Ubisoft connect splash screen but once it clears the game boots right up. It’s also worth mentioning Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown can be played offline. It still sounds wrong to acknowledge a single-player game as playable offline, but these are the times we live in.
For this performance review, I was using my Steam Deck OLED. I have the graphics quality at HIGH in full screen. The other two graphic quality options are normal and ULTRA.
So the game can run great on ULTRA, however, expect that battery to drain a bit faster and the fan to work a bit harder. Personally HIGH works great as you can see from the performance overlay screenshots.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown ran at a constant 90 FPS as I hacked & slashed through enemies or made quick pattern movements to avoid traps. The game performed smoothly and fluidly while averaging 40 to 50 CPU and dancing around the 70s for GPU.
I’m sure many reading this would argue that a 2D side scroller such as this should be expected to run without a hitch. However, I can assure you that many that should do not. Therefore when a quality release such as this is ported over it should be praised for performing as expected or better.
Every location in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is an explosion of colors, from its bright yellow & orange glowy haze to Firey reds. All the colors pop thanks to the OLED. The controls are responsive and require no additional tweaking and since this is the Steam version we also have Steam achievements. This truly is a fantastic Metroidvania and thankfully it runs great on the Steam Deck.
And if you are wondering where it stands among the current most played games on Steam Deck it is at 55 and I’m sure it will find its way up to the upper tier over time. I think the only fault this game has is its release date. I’m sure those who were anticipating this game have already purchased on another platform and for many in the Steam realm, this might be a double dip for their Steam collection or one they pick up on a deep sale. Regardless, if you are looking for a beautiful, fun-filled 2D adventure game then give this one a shot at some point, you won’t be disappointed.
This review was written based on a digital review copy of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown for Steam Deck provided by Ubisoft.
