How to play the Prince of Persia The Lost Crown early

Since Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is almost ready to be released in the wild, you can get ahead of everyone else by playing it before it launches. If you don’t have access to the Sands of Time and can’t fast-forward till January 18, this guide will show you how to play Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown early.  

Prince of Persia The Lost Crown: How to play it early

Often developers have their games released in portions. For example, if you got the premium edition of Diablo 4, you could play it sooner than someone who didn’t get that version. For Ubisoft’s 2.5 D platformer, it’s a little different. Rather than pre-ordering a certain version, you must subscribe to Ubisoft Plus, this will give you access to the game on January 15. This is the developer’s answer to Microsoft’s Game Pass. 

However, if you are a PlayStation or Nintendo Switch owner, this option isn’t available to you as Ubisoft Plus is only on PC and Xbox. 

Ubisoft Plus alone on PC costs about $15 a month. However, on the Xbox console, you can join the early access to the Lost Crown by paying $18 a month. This is the only way to play the game early. If you buy the game through other platforms such as Epic and Ubisoft’s store, you can expect to play Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown on January 18 with everyone else. 

Related: Is the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown available on Steam?

It’s strange because Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown isn’t a live service game, a subset of the gaming world where early access like this tends to happen more often. But as we saw with Starfield, the industry is shifting its access times so players eager to get their hands on a game early can do so — for a price.

Benefits of Ubisoft Plus

Like most subscription services made by developers, you get their big and small games on day one without any extra cost. If you’re looking to play games like the upcoming release Skull and Bones, then it could be worth it. But for the sake of playing Prince of Persia early, I wouldn’t say it’s beneficial. However, if you already have the service, it’s worth it — but read my review of the game first. On the flip side of not getting the service is that three days isn’t that long. There’s probably a game or two you can play to fill up the time.