In this brand-new adventure, players will embody Sargon, a young, gifted warrior, member of an elite group called The Immortals. As they are sent to rescue Prince Ghassan, they will explore Mount Qaf, a once wondrous place, now cursed and hostile. Sargon and his brothers-in-arms will soon discover that time itself will be a treacherous foe and that the world balance must be restored.

Inspired by the Metroidvania structure, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown lets players explore a handcrafted world at their own pace. From the majestic Citadel of Knowledge to the colorful landscapes of the Hyrcanian Forest, players will discover a variety of environments inspired by Persian mythology. By acquiring new time powers, unlocking unique abilities and combining them in combat, Sargon will progressively delve deeper into Mount Qaf, solving puzzles, finding secrets, and completing exciting side quests.

The Mask of Darkness story DLC will release on September 17 for a suggested price of $4.99, alongside the Complete Edition that includes: Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown base game, the Immortals skin, the Prosperity bird amulet, the Warrior Within skin, the digital adventure guide, the DLC, and two new skins for Sargon inspired by Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown – Mask of Darkness will add a thrilling and darker new chapter of Sargon’s story. Players will get to explore a brand-new interconnected world made of exclusive biomes in this original adventure on Mount Qaf.

When the Mask of Darkness DLC launches on September 17, players can discover a new chapter of Sargon's story as they confront the myriad dangers of Radjen's Mind Palace. But the new DLC is much more than a story expansion, opening up a whole new biome filled with fresh traversal elements, traps, enemies, and more. To give you a taste of what's ahead, here are the four biggest things to watch out for:

Bring Your Skills, Leave Your Powers

If it's been a while since you've played Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, you may want to take some time readjusting to the Metroidvania-inspired adventure's rhythms (maybe by playing the Divine Trials that were added in June), because Mask of Darkness expects you to hit the ground running. Available once players have escaped the Depths and acquired the Shadow of the Simurgh time power, Radjen's Mind Palace is a sizable new area that players can teleport to from a hidden room in Mount Qaf's Lower City.

While he's in Radjen's palace, Sargon plays by Radjen's rules - and her rules are unfriendly. On entering, Sargon is stripped of all time powers except the Rush of the Simurgh air-dash and Shadow of the Simurgh, which creates copies of Sargon he can teleport to. All of his amulets and healing potions will disappear as well, along with most of his health and arrows.

Don't worry - you'll get everything back when you teleport back to Mount Qaf, which you can do from the palace's central hub room following a brief intro level. You'll also be able to keep any new amulets you find while exploring the Mind Palace (including Vampiric Chakram, a new amulet that adds a health-stealing area-of-effect attack to Sargon's chakram). The Mind Palace also has its own potions and Soma Tree flowers (which add to Sargon's health bar) to discover and earn, so Sargon won't stay fragile for long - although you won't get to keep these while exploring the rest of Mount Qaf.

Nimble New Threats

The Mind Palace is a surreal landscape of floating blocks and caverns lit by ghostly white flames, where ashen statues and clumps of dark webbing hide undead soldiers, nimble wraiths, and flying mechanical "saw birds" that spin like buzzsaws with their bladed wings. Mastering the timing of Sargon's parry is key to dealing with these new terrors; the flying orbs will attack by charging straight at Sargon, and a successful parry will send them hurtling into a wall - or better yet, another enemy - to explode.

The dark wraiths are a little more complicated, especially when you're facing more than one. They're able to attack with rapid lunges and kicks that can knock Sargon backward - and one of their favorite moves is to vanish and reappear either behind Sargon, or above him to execute an unblockable dropping attack. Their acrobatic flips can make the timing of their attacks hard to gauge, but their throwing daggers (which they almost always follow with a diving attack) and chakrams (which they frequently throw over Sargon's head to catch him in the back with their boomerang-like return) can be parried and do considerable damage if Sargon deflects them back at their owners. If they turn red with a glowing symbol above their heads, though, watch out - Sargon's strikes won't interrupt their movements or attacks until the effect wears off.

The area of Radjen's palace we explored is dominated by another creature - a big, spiderlike mechanical monstrosity known as the Sentinel, with two fearsome demon masks for a head and a huge blade in each of its four hands. One mask breathes jets of fire, the other spits projectiles (which you can parry back), and the upper body can separate from its legs, levitate on a pillar of dark energy, and sweep across the room as a seemingly inescapable column. It's not a true boss encounter, but it sure feels like one.

New Ways to Get Around (and Die)

Each of Mount Qaf's diverse biomes features new environmental hazards and traversal methods, and the Mind Palace introduces a dozen (about half of which we've seen so far). The most ubiquitous additions are floating metal "bumper" orbs that emit plumes of blue energy; strike them in midair, and they'll chime loudly and launch you in whatever direction those plumes point. Timing your way through sequences of these is a huge part of getting around in Mask of Darkness, but not all of them are usable right away. In fact, if you see any faint amber blobs where an orb should be - or amber barriers covering doors - it's a sure sign that there's a floating amber hexagon nearby, blocking your progress. Find it, attack it, and keep chasing it, and eventually its barrier will fall.

Also new are floating vertical pillars that Sargon can climb on and shimmy across to switch sides (which are frequently covered in strategically placed spikes), and massive horizontal pillars carved with beastly faces that steadily shoot cannonballs from their "mouths." The latter frequently block essential corridors, and getting past them means finding a way to push them back until they break. (Remember what we said above about timing your parries?)

Additionally, you'll contend with spinning red sawblades that can appear out of thin air and scream toward you with little warning (often while you're trying to navigate sequences of also-new disappearing platforms). The good news is that these saws telegraph their paths with glowing red lines, giving you a split-second to get out of their way; the bad news is they usually move a lot faster than Sargon does.

Uncover the Enigma of Radjen

Radjen herself - one of Persia's elite Immortals and a devoted follower of the group's leader, Vahram - is the malevolent mystery at the core of Mask of Darkness, and her disembodied voice will periodically taunt Sargon as he progresses through her palace. Being inside someone's mind is a double-edged sword, though, and you'll be able to discover more about Radjen's past and motivations by smashing blue crystals hidden throughout the Mind Palace to replay snippets of her memories.

By destroying the corruption at the ends of her deadly obstacle courses, you'll discover bigger secrets. For example, early in your explorations, you'll discover a room that reveals a pivotal scene from Radjen's childhood: Her village was attacked by Kushans (the army the Immortals fought in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown's opening moments), and her mother was cut down by the game's first boss, General Uvishka, while helping Radjen and her brother escape. The discovery seems to knock Radjen off-balance just a little - and it's only the start of what Mask of Darkness has to reveal.

In this epic journey, Sargon will fight his way through mythical enemies, larger-than-life bosses, and vicious traps. By combining combat and platforming skills, players will defeat time-corrupted creatures such as Jahandar, the dreadful Manticore, guardian of the Citadel.  Players will be able to express their creativity in a deep and engaging combat system to trigger devastating combos.

While exploring this mythical place, players will be fully immersed thanks to the original soundtrack created by Mentrix. The Iranian-born composer mixes both traditional instruments and modern sounds to guide players from one environment to another. Mentrix will be joined by award-winning composer Gareth Coker bringing his own personal touch to convey the epic scale of the boss fights.

Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown is available for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One. Xbox Series X|S, Amazon Luna as well as PC (Steam / Epic Games Store / Ubisoft Store).