Ubisoft Explores Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s Accessible Innovations

Ubisoft's highly anticipated game, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, offers players an action-packed adventure with extensive accessibility features, including guided mode, customizable controls, and visual reminders, making it an immersive and enjoyable experience for all players.

Extensive accessibility features, including colorblind options, customizable controls, and navigation aids
Collaboration with Ubisoft's internal accessibility team and user research to ensure inclusivity
Early consideration of accessibility in the development process, making significant progress even during the alpha stage

Ubisoft’s highly anticipated game, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, is set to launch on January 18, offering players an action-packed adventure across various platforms including PC, Nintendo Switch, Playstation, XBOX, and Amazon Luna. Developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, the team has made accessibility a top priority to ensure that as many players as possible can enjoy the game.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown takes players on a journey through a captivating mythological Persian world where they can manipulate time and space. Playing as Sargon, gamers will evolve from a skilled sword-wielder to an extraordinary legend, mastering acrobatic combat and unlocking new Time Powers and unique super abilities.

To make the game accessible to a wider audience, Ubisoft Montpellier has implemented several features. Guided Mode assists players in navigating the game by displaying objectives and available paths, while ‘Memory Shards’ allows players to pin screenshots on the map as visual reminders. High Contrast and Combat Difficulty options are also available to cater to different player preferences.

We had the opportunity to speak with Rémi Boutin, Senior Game Designer at Ubisoft Montpellier, about their approach to accessibility in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Boutin explained that accessibility was considered from the early stages of development, integrating it into the creative vision of the game. The team also collaborated closely with Ubisoft’s internal accessibility team and conducted user research to ensure they were meeting the needs of players.

One of the unique challenges in the game’s genre is exploration. The team wanted to ensure that players could freely explore without feeling lost or frustrated. They introduced a guided mode to assist with navigation and implemented the Eye of the Wanderer feature, allowing players to take screenshots and pin them on the map as visual reminders.

Combat depth is another highlight of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, but the team recognizes that players have different skill levels and preferences when it comes to difficulty. To address this, the game offers both difficulty presets and individual parameters that can be adjusted, allowing players to tailor the challenge to their capabilities.

Despite being a smaller team, Ubisoft Montpellier prioritized accessibility throughout the development process. Boutin emphasized that everyone on the team was involved in ensuring their specific features were accessible, and they focused on eliminating unnecessary barriers through design choices. Early consideration of accessibility and Ubisoft’s support in this regard allowed them to make significant progress even during the alpha stage.

The game boasts an extensive list of accessibility features, including colorblind accessibility, adjustable text presentation, high contrast settings, customizable HUD size, and the option to disable screen shake. Subtitles are on by default, and players have control over audio volume levels. Navigation and guidance features such as the Eye of the Wanderer and guided mode help players navigate the game world effectively.

Controls are highly customizable, with support for multiple input devices, remapping of gameplay controls, and options for axis inversion and vibration intensity adjustment. The game also eliminates quick time events (QTEs) and provides assistance in combat through various parameters that can be adjusted to suit individual playstyles.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown promises to be an immersive and accessible gaming experience for players across different platforms. Ubisoft Montpellier’s dedication to making the game enjoyable for all players is evident in the extensive range of accessibility features they have implemented.

Fans can look forward to diving into the world of Prince of Persia on January 18 (or January 15 for Ubisoft+ subscribers and owners of the Digital Deluxe Edition) and experiencing a thrilling adventure filled with challenging combat, mesmerizing platforming, and a rich Persian mythology.

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Background Information

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