Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is the latest installment of the well-loved Prince of Persia series. With its release date coming soon, players are no doubt wondering what the game entails, from its story to its gameplay mechanics. One such mechanic that players have no doubt seen online is its two different game modes: Exploration and Guided. This begs the question: What are the differences between the Exploration and Guided game modes, and which one should players pick in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown?
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown – Launch Trailer
When players start a new game in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, players are presented with a choice. They can either play in Exploration mode or Guided mode. The modes have the following descriptions:
- Exploration: Explore the world with minimal map information. Choose this mode to discover the world for yourself.
- Guided: Map icons display the location of the next objective. Available and blocked paths are marked. Choose this mode for easier navigation.
Now the question is: Why is this important? This is because The Lost Crown is different from other Prince of Persia games in that it incorporates Metroidvania mechanics. That means the game is one big map, with a whole lot of backtracking. There are certain locations that players will not be able to access at first, like locations that are too high or require special weapons to open. Not only that, but the game does not show you a quest marker that guides you towards your next objective. This forces the player to explore the map and figure things out on their own.
Should players play on Exploration or Guided?
If the player wants to experience the game for everything it offers, they should play Exploration mode. This makes the player explore the game's map for themselves, figuring out which paths to go through to reach the objective. Not only that, but it is also up to the player to track down where the objective is. The player must also keep track of which paths they can't and cannot pass through.
On the other hand, Guided allows players to find where the next objective is easily. That isn't to say that the map will show the exact path that the player will have to go through. They will still have to explore the map to reach the objective location for themselves. All Guided does is show the player the direction they have to go to progress the story.
I personally play Guided, as it's very easy to get confused and lost in the game's winding paths. In fact, I spent almost an hour trying to get through a particular area of the game because I thought that was the way to go. As it turns out, I had to go a totally opposite direction, which I only discovered after turning Guided mode on.
Thankfully, this is not a permanent decision. Players are free to switch between Exploration and Guided mode in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, so it's not really an “end of the world” scenario if players pick the wrong one. They can even just switch to Guided whenever they don't know where to go, then switch back to Exploration again.
To be perfectly honest, I don't think the two modes change much in terms of how the game goes. Even if you know where to go next, you will still need to navigate to the objective itself. The difficulty of exploration doesn't change with either mode, so players should just pick whichever of the two modes they want.
That's all the information we have about whether players should pick Exploration or Guided mode in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. The game is available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via the Ubisoft Store and the Epic Games Store. Check out our gaming news articles for the latest in gaming news.
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