Return to the Past is the seventh chapter of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. After calling out to all of the Celestial Guardians, Sargon now has to head to the Celestial Altar to use their powers and save the prince. Read ahead as we go through the events of Return to the Past in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and share some tips, locations of collectibles, and other helpful tricks to complete the chapter.
See previous: Chapter 6 – The Celestial Guardians
Chapter Objectives:
Reach the Celestial Altar in the Upper City to return to the Past
With all Celestial Guardians awakened, the next step is to head to the Celestial Altar to make use of their powers. Before heading to the altar, it’s recommended to gear up and get some upgrades for your weapons and amulets as you will be going for another fight.
Once you interact with the Celestial Altar, you will be transported back to the time where Vahram is about to kill Ghassan. Vahram’s attempt will be foiled, but he manages to kill Anahita as she tries to save Sargon from getting attacked by Vahram.
Neutralize Vahram and save Ghassan
This fight between you and Vahram. This time, you have obtained more powers of the Simurgh, plus you have your past self to help you; don’t rely on past Sargon too much as he would only be slightly useful on the start of the fight.
Vahram has a lot more powerful attacks this time as you manage to last longer, forcing him to take you a bit more seriously. As mentioned, your past self will only be helping you at the early part of the fight as he will be knocked out once you get past 75% of Vahram’s remaining health.
Vahram has these attacks in his move set:
- Slash Combos – Vahram will do his sword slash combos. As the fight progresses, he can chain this with more combos in between blinks, and often ends up with a downwards slash.
- Dash Strike – Vahram dashes down towards your location and stabs his sword.
- Slash Down and Around – Vahram leaps up and slashes downwards, followed by a spin slash. This attack is often telegraphed by showing Vahram blinking wildly across the arena as he tries to catch you in a good position to perform this attack. As the fight progresses, he can chain multiple downward slashes before ending with a spin slash.
- Flurry Slash – A sphere appears around Vahram which shows the range of his attacks. After half a second, he performs his slashes. In the latter parts of the fight, he can summon more spheres in the arena. Try to stay away from his slash range to avoid getting caught by the flurry.
- Time Sphere – Vahram summons a sphere that slows down time around him. He then gets out of the sphere and sends his attacks towards you if you get caught in the sphere.
- Wave Slash – Vahram sends out a wave towards your direction. It can be parried.
- Execution – Vahram prepares his special attack in which strike lines appear throughout the area. If caught within these lines during his attack, he will perform an execution that can deal massive damage.
Vahram has the ability to rewind time, taking you and him back to a few seconds to the past. When doing so, he will regain his most of his health up to the point where he goes back to. Oftentimes, he rewinds to a point where he is just about to land an attack, so prepare to dodge once time flows forward again.
For this fight, the best amulets to wear are Blessing, Wolf-Bride, Blade Dancer, Will of Rostam, and either the Dragon King or Mount Damavand. Upgrade your swords to +3, have at least 9 bars of base health, and have around 3 to 4 upgraded potions.
The fight against Vahram this time would feel much easier than the previous one thanks to your improved mobility. Throughout the fight, you’ll find that you’ll be more on a dance with Vahram when it comes to moving around. Parrying his attacks can be quite challenging as Vahram is quick to send them out and follow up with another attack.
It is best to stay on the ground and limit yourself from being in the air too much so as not to get caught by Vahram’s AoE attacks. This would allow you to use your jumps and air dashes during times when you need to, like when dodging flurries.
To avoid his Execution attack, focus on finding a safe spot in the air, then suspend yourself longer by shooting your arrow.
Once Vahram’s health is at zero, you and him will be at a deadlock. You will then see a vision of the past showing what really happened back when Vahram was still a child. It is then revealed that Vahram’s father was King Darius himself, and that Queen Thomyris personally killed the king in order to usurp the throne.
In his dying breath, King Darius managed to send Vahram out of the chamber of the Simurgh, saving his son from being killed.
Back in the present, Vahram retreats. Sargon approaches Anahita as she slowly disappears in the wind. Shortly after, the two Sargons fuse together, allowing present Sargon to obtain another power of the Simurgh: the Fabric of Time.
The Fabric of Time allows Sargon to use his special sash to reach high places and swing from them. He can also drag himself closer to the target instead.
Sargon reveals the truth to Prince Ghassan about Vahram being the real rightful prince. Prince Ghassan tells Sargon that he must get the Key of Kings to get to the Simurgh Gate and stop Vahram from obtaining the Heart of the Simurgh. The chapter then ends as your objectives get updated to retrieve the Key of Kings.
See next: Chapter 8 – Father and Son