What are Memory Shards in Prince of Persia The Lost Crown and how to use them?

Despite it being a Metroidvania title, Prince of Persia The Lost Crown features some surprising innovations for the genre, including Memory Shards. This new mechanic helps enhance players' sense of exploration as they explore Mount Qaf to discover its secrets. Gamers will also obtain it fairly early on in the game, granting them ample time to get adjusted to it.

But what exactly does it do, and how do players use it to their advantage? This guide details everything players need to know about Memory Shards in Prince of Persia The Lost Crown.

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How to use Memory Shards in Prince of Persia The Lost Crown

Ubisoft has implemented a smart mechanic in their latest action platformer game (Image via Ubisoft)

The use of Memory Shards is a new mechanic that allows for capturing a picture of the immediate game screen environment and pinning it on the map as a marker. This is a surprisingly smart implementation that goes beyond just basic custom map markers, letting players accurately remember a location and everything in it.

This way, gamers could, for example, take a picture of a location with a treasure chest they cannot get to yet. Prince of Persia The Lost Crown has many secrets for the player to discover. Since it is not possible to keep track of them all, Memory Shards are invaluable in that regard. So, how does one use them?

If players refer to our graphics settings and controls guide for the game, they will notice that the button for Memory Shards is bound to the D-Pad Down on the controller and the V key for a keyboard and mouse setup. Pressing and holding down the button on the respective platform while in the overworld will snap a shot of that location.

This way, players know exactly what to find and where even hours down the line (Image via Ubisoft)

This will then get pinned on a map as an orb that can be highlighted at any time using the cursor to view the image. Likely due to memory constraints, players only have a set number of Memory Shards they can use. They need not worry about using the Shards up as they can delete the images that are not needed anymore and mark something else if required.

As players progress through protagonist Sargon's journey to save Prince Ghassan, they will gain more Memory Shards. This, in turn, allows keeping track of more discoveries in the long run.

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As we detailed in our review, Prince of Persia The Lost Crown is a solid Metroidvbania entry worth both genre and series fans' time. It launches on January 18, 2024, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. Check out our system requirements guide to know how it runs across each target platform.