Prince of Platforms: The Lost Steam.
Critics and players alike are raving about Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, and for good reason – it’s an excellent game, as seen in our review round-up.
But it is conspicuously absent from the world’s largest gaming storefront, Steam, so we’ll take a look at what PC platforms you can play it on, if it will come to Steam and how to play it on the Steam Deck.
We haven’t had a new Prince of Persia game since 2010’s The Forgotten Sands, so it’s only natural that people who mainly stick to Steam are keen to dive straight in and see what Ubisoft has been cooking.
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If you’re new to the series or your memory has been lost to the sands of time, you can check out the Prince of Persia games in order to get up to speed on all the lore, or check out how to play the older titles.
Perhaps one day we’ll get to experience the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake, too, which will no doubt help breathe new life into the beloved series.
We, however, are not in possession of a magical time-bending sword, so let’s crack on before we waffle your day away!
Why isn’t Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown on Steam?
Ubisoft regularly avoids releasing its titles on Steam at first, as they prefer to release them on their own storefront and the Epic Games Store, owing to the lower fees involved.
The same is true of the recently released Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, as well.
They do usually eventually make their way to Steam – sometimes with hefty discounts, as was the case with Far Cry 6.
The open-world mayhem simulator launched on Valve’s platform 17 months after its 7th October 2021 launch, with a 75% discount to mark the occasion.
The early bird may get the early worm, but the patient parrot gets juicy deals…
Will Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown ever come to Steam?
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will likely come to Steam sometime after its initial release.
As told by Vikki Blake for Eurogamer, between 2019 and 2022, Ubisoft only released their games on Ubisoft Connect and the Epic Games Store to circumvent the 30 per cent cut that Valve takes for the pleasure of selling your games on Steam.
Since 2022, however, Ubisoft games have returned to Steam – but, as we described with Far Cry 6, it’s usually well over a year after the original release date before they make an appearance.
Hopefully, Ubisoft will continue with the tradition of coupling the Steam launch with a nice big discount, too.
Which PC platforms can play Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown?
On PC, you can play Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown on Ubisoft Connect, if you buy the game there or are subscribed to Ubisoft Plus, or alternatively by purchasing it on the Epic Games Store.
Just because Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown can only be currently purchased from these storefronts doesn’t mean they are relegated to Windows PCs and handhelds, as there are some workarounds for getting it running on the venerable Steam Deck – which is just as well, as the Metroidvania romp is a perfect fit for the platform.
Read on as we’ll go over how just below.
Can you get Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown on Steam Deck?
Yes, you can play Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown on Steam Deck by buying it from The Epic Game Store and launching it via the Heroic Games Launcher or the Ubisoft Connect App running under NonSteamLaunchers.
You can also do this for the demo, if you would like to try before you buy. Below, we’ll go over how to do each.
Epic Games Store and the Heroic Games Launcher
The Heroic Games Launcher can be downloaded from the Discover App in the desktop environment on the Steam Deck.
Next, go onto Application Launcher on the bottom left and go to the Games tab and right-click on Heroic Games Launcher and select Add to Steam.
Go back into Gaming Mode, then launch Heroic Games Launcher and log into your Epic Games Account.
All your EGS games will be listed, and you simply need to download and install Price of Persia: The Lost Crown. Once installed, you can select the ‘three dots’ icon and select Add to Steam so that you can play the game without having to go into the Heroic Games Launcher.
Finally, you need to restart your Steam Deck, and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will appear under the Non Steam Games tab. Upon launch, there will be a Wine compatibility layer check, and the game will start up as usual after the fact.
Ubisoft Connect and NonSteamLaunchers
Go into Desktop Mode and make sure you have closed Steam down by left-clicking on it in the toolbar and selecting Exit Steam.
If you are subscribed to Ubisoft Plus or have bought the game via Ubisoft Connect, you can install Ubisoft Connect via NonSteamLaunchers, which can be downloaded on GitHub.
Under the Releases tab, download the latest version and launch it from the downloads folder via the Dolphin file explorer.
You will presented with a menu of many different launchers – select Ubisoft Connect and press OK.
A pop-up option will ask for you to enter a custom website, but this isn’t required. Simply press OK and wait for the installation process to finish.
The Ubisoft Connect launcher will then be available to launch through Steam. Launch Ubisoft Connect via Desktop Mode and download Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
Finally, go back into Gaming Mode and launch the Ubisoft Connect app, log in and launch the game.
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