Prince of Persia The Lost Crown Exploration vs Guided mode: Which to use?

Prince of Persia The Lost Crown brings a new way to explore the franchise as a Metroidvania title. Players can pick between two modes when starting a new run, Guided and Exploration; this is just like the recent Ubisoft open-world game, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora. One offers a user-friendly experience that makes exploration easy, while the other is a more hand-holding-free journey.

So, which should players go for and what differences do they have between one another? This guide elaborates upon the changes and which one fans should take up.

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Difference between Exploration vs Guided mode in Prince of Persia The Lost Crown

Players can swap between the two at any time (Screenshot from Prince of Persia The Lost Crown)

Here's the description for both modes:

• 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.

Going off of this information, it is fairly clear as to what both modes represent. The Exploration mode is a more traditional Metroidvania experience. Players do not have much in the way of aid for progressing through the world. Keeping in line with the series tradition, the map of Mount Qaf is vast, and they will need to utilize trial and error to see which paths are accessible and which are not. This is good for genre fans.

One the other hand, the Guided mode offers more leeway by introducing a large marker that shows players where to go in the main story. For those looking to breeze through the narrative, and newcomers who tend to get lost easily, this is a good option. Since it also displays blocked and unblocked pathways using red and green markers, respectively, it cuts down on unnecessary backtracking.

Furthermore, players can also freely toggle between the two on the fly in Prince of Persia The Lost Crown. This is done by going to the Gameplay tab under the Options menu and ticking or unticking the first option labeled Guided, which turns the Guided mode on and off. This way, if they feel they want to explore in a more freeform fashion without a marker telling them where to go, they can.

Prince of Persia The Lost Crown will be launched officially on January 18, 2024. The game will be available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. Pre-ordering the Deluxe Edition will grant players access three days earlier on January 15, 2024.