Prince of Persia: Mask of Darkness DLC Review

Prince of Persia: Mask of Darkness Review

By the numbers there are four new biomes, ten types of platforming elements, six new enemy types, three new bosses, and even new abilities and amulets to aid you in this dark realm. The Mask of Darkness DLC also tries to tie up some loose threads that remained from The Lost Crown. Considering how much innovation and creativity was put into The Lost Crown’s platforming and puzzles, Mask of Darkness borrows almost none of it, which makes it feel like a completely new experience.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is one of the best games of 2024 and also is one of the best Metroidvanias of all time. The combat systems are deep, the map is expansive, the visuals are stunning and the traversal mechanics are unique. The list goes on but does The Mask of Darkness DLC offer enough to return?

The Mask of Darkness is fairly substantial for additional content, especially for the price. In terms of hours, it’s somewhere around 4-6 and in terms of new content, there is plenty on offer here. Spending a few dollars for five more hours inside one of the best games of the year feels much more worthy of your time and money than you probably are expecting for DLC.

A few things to consider, if you’re like me, it’s been about 6-7 months since you last played The Lost Crown and jumping into The Mask of Darkness is like taking a cold plunge. It’s quite a shock to the system as to achieve success, you need to be a master of movement, abilities and combat. Be aware that there will be some time to acclimatize. However, due to the controls feeling extremely intuitive to begin with, you get used to everything fairly quick. Second, the DLC immediately strips you of some of many of your powers and takes away all of your amulets. This makes you rely on raw skill more and gives you less margin for error.

As for the DLC itself, the visuals are just as beautiful as they ever were, except now there is a more sinister tone to them, centred around dark magic.

Everything we said about The Lost Crown earlier in the year still stands for The Mask of Darkness. It is one of the best Metroidvanias of all time, it looks stunningly better than ever, and it will challenge you at your limits. This DLC wont change how you feel about the game overall, but if you loved The Lost Crown, The Mask of Darkness is essential.