How to get past the masked monsters in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

The masked monsters are one of the first significant obstacles you'll encounter in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, especially if you've gone off the beaten track to explore The Depths area. This poison-filled sewer is a pretty hostile environment, filled with blade-throwing ninjas and yes, giant mask-wearing monsters that block entire corridors, barring your progress.

As is pretty typical for a metroidvania's grim underground area, The Depths is a key region in terms of traversal and accessing otherwise blocked off areas of the map to continue your story progress. And to do that, you'll need to get past those masked monsters, so here's how.

How to beat the mask monsters in The Depths

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If you ventured into The Depths early in the game, such as during chapter one or two when you can find the entrance in the Lower City, your progress was likely barred by one of the mask monsters you can find in the area. As you might have guessed, this being a Metroidvania, you'll need a particular power if you want to get past them, and that's the Shadow of the Simurgh ability.

You'll get this during the third chapter, The Tiger and the Rat, when you find yourself in a previously inaccessible area of The Depths, chasing an old man who's stolen your map. Pursue him long enough and you'll come to the Alternate Sargon boss fight, after which you'll unlock the power. Shadow of the Simurgh lets you leave an echo of yourself by pressing E on keyboard—R1 on controller—and when you press it again, you'll warp back to that point. It's a fairly simple power, but it has a lot of application in terms of discovering hidden areas and puzzles.

You can also use it to get past those masked monsters. All you need to do is:

• Run down the corridor where the monster is dwelling.
• Leave an echo of yourself. 
• Bait them into charging down the corridor towards you. 
• When they pass your echo, activate the ability to warp behind them.

Lo and behold, you've surmounted the obstacle. You can now either stab them in the back, or simply keep running and explore the new area you just unlocked.