Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown | All Architect Puzzle Locations and Solutions Guide

Mount Qaf, the main location in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, is home to many strange and mysterious individuals, all of whom want your aid in some way shape or form. Whether it’s the lost soldier who wants you to find his dead friend or the plucky Moon Gatherer who wants you to protect him as he gathers shards of the true moon, there’s no end to the cast of weird and wonderful NPCs you’ll encounter. One of these characters is the Architect, an odd woman you can find in the depths of the Upper City who wants you to find, and solve, the various puzzles she’s hidden around the map.

The Architect’s Puzzles are some of the trickiest challenges in The Lost Crown, asking players who find them to really test their thinking skills to gain the bountiful rewards they offer. If you want to get 100% completion and the coveted Platinum trophy for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, finding and solving these puzzles is a required part of the process, as The Architect Side Quest is needed to earn the Charitable Soul trophy and achievement. Even without that, though, the rewards offered by each puzzle are more than worth the effort. 

Here’s where to find, and how to solve, all of the Architect Puzzles for The Architect Side Quest in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. 

Want more Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown guides and content? Then you can find more here on KeenGamer: 

1. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown | Guard Statue Puzzle Guide
2. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown | All Lost Warrior Locations
3. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown | All Moon Gatherer Locations Guide

All Architect Puzzle Solutions in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

The Lower City Puzzle

The first of the Architect’s puzzles that you’ll likely come across in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is in the Lower City. Between the large deva statue and the elevator which can take you to the Upper City and the Depths, you’ll find two bird-headed statues aiming their bows towards the sky. At their feet will be an empty plate which is where the puzzle chest will spawn upon successful completion of the puzzle. 

To complete this puzzle, you must return here once you have Menolias’ bow. Stand in the direct centre of both statues, right where the chest will spawn, and then fire an arrow directly above you. All three arrows – yours and the statues – should intersect, causing the first Architect Puzzle Chest to spawn.  

Hyrcanian Forest Puzzle

The next Architect Puzzle you can find is in the Hyrcanian Forest. To reach it, head as far north as you can while remaining within the Hyrcanian Forest borders until you reach the northmost Wak-Wak Tree. Once you reach this Wak-Wak Tree, which sits on the border between the Hyrcanian Forest and the Soma Tree, walk right until you come across another one of those empty plates. This time, the area where the chest spawns will be surrounded by four platforms covered in purple grass. 

To complete the Hyrcanian Forest Puzzle in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, you must cut all of the grass on these platforms to the same length before they can regrown. Hitting the grass with your swords or Chakram will cut it, making it far shorter, and it will stay this way for a few seconds before rapidly regrowing. You’ll need to move between the four platforms at speed, cutting the grass as quickly as possible: manage to cut the grass on all four platforms to the same length and the next chest will appear.  

Sacred Archives Puzzle 1

The third of the Architect’s Puzzles is in the Sacred Archives. There are actually two Architect Puzzles within the Sacred Archives, but this first one is found early on. After passing the first Wak-Wak Tree in the Sacred Archives, make your way to the west until you go to the next screen. Here, you should find three manic alchemists praying and bowing to a massive mural. with one open spot between the first and second alchemists. 

To solve the Sacred Archives puzzle, stand in the empty spot between the two alchemists and then crouch. The image on the mural depicts four figures huddled around a central icon, with the two figures closest to the icon kneeling down. By crouching, you will complete the mural image in reality, spawning the third chest. 

Sacred Archives Puzzle 2

Alongside the mural puzzle, there is another one of the Architect’s Puzzles inside the Sacred Archives. This time, you’ll find it in the Temple of Knowledge, an offshoot area of the Archives which you will visit much later on. However, before you go looking for this second puzzle, we recommend visiting the room where you fight, and defeat, the Jailer, first. 

In the background of the arena where you fight the Jailer, there’s a strange image on the wall showing nine symbols, five of which are white and four are black. These symbols match the ones seen on the sentient blocks found around the Sacred Archives. For now, memorise which symbols are which colour. 

After that, it’s time to find the Architect’s Puzzle. The best way to find it is to start at the Temple of Knowledge Fast Travel point. From there, go to the nearby Wak-Wak Tree and continue heading left. After ascending some stairs, you’ll arrive at the puzzle, which is a huge 3×3 grid of sentient blocks. 

Key to the Block Puzzle

To complete this puzzle in the Sacred Archives, you need to activate the blocks on the wall in such a way that they reflect the image found in the room where you fought the Jailer. If we’re looking at the blocks like a keypad, you need to activate blocks 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 without getting crushed to death.

The best way to do this is to climb the wooden planks to the side of the puzzle and then jump. As you’re falling, pass by block 3 and then air-dash to the side to activate the middle row. If you’re fast enough, you can then slide back over the floor and jump to activate block 8, completing the sequence and spawning the next chest. 

The Soma Tree Puzzle

Next on the list is the Soma Tree Architect Puzzle, which is one of the hardest. We’ve already covered this Architect Puzzle in a separate Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown guide so, if you want a more in-depth look at how to reach and beat this puzzle, you can find our Guard Statue Puzzle guide here on KeenGamer.

For a more abridged explanation, you’ll find it to the east of the Soma Tree Fast Travel point, where it’s hiding behind an illusory wall being guarded by some exploding purple pustules. The puzzle itself is a strange one. Dotted around the area are three pedestals which can be moved left or right, as well as four different-sized statues. There’s also a stele on the left side of the room which has a small riddle inscribed on it. 

The goal of this Architect Puzzle is to move the four statues around the room into their correct positions on the pedestals, which can glimpsed from the riddle on the nearby stele. With four statues to fit and only three pillars to put them on, it can be difficult to figure out where each statue goes. Additionally, two of the statues – the large statue and the medium statue – are hidden around the area and must be found, and transported, using the Dimension Claw. There are a lot of layers to this puzzle, earning it a top spot in terms of difficulty. 

Sunken Harbor Puzzle

The seventh puzzle on our list can be found in the Sunken Harbor. The easiest way to reach this puzzle is to begin at the entrance to the Pit of Eternal Sands: from there, keep heading directly east, which will take you through a short traversal challenge with a spiked floor as well as an abandoned part of the city.

Reaching the very edge of the map will take you to another area, one where the next Architect Puzzle awaits. The puzzle itself consists of a giant wooden board. There are nine sections to the board, with most being marked by a circle or a cross. 

To solve the Sunken Harbor puzzle, you need to throw your Chakram in the correct spot to complete the sequence. The wooden boards are emulating a noughts and crosses game and, to spawn the chest, you need to complete the noughts (or circles) sequence, which involves throwing your Chakram into the empty top-left corner. Your Chakram, a circular object, will be considered as another nought, completing the sequence with three-in-a-row.

Pit of Eternal Sands Puzzle

Next up is the Pit of Eternal Sands Architect Puzzle. This one is actually pretty easy to find. Beginning at the Sentintel’s Road teleport point, look beneath the nearby Wak-Wak Tree to find a section of the floor which you can break. Going deeper, you’ll find Raja, the NPC whom you buy maps from, sitting on the floor. Behind Raja is a completely barren wall, one which reveals itself to be an illusionary wall if you attack it. From there, simply follow the path to find the next Architect Puzzle. 

The Pit of Eternal Sands Architect Puzzle is probably the most tricky puzzle in The Lost Crown. In the room with the puzzle, you’ll see two massive statues in the background which look like a certain enemy type only found in the Upper City. To solve the Pit of Eternal Sands puzzle, you need to capture one of these enemies from the Upper City using your Dimension Claw, come back to the puzzle room in the Pit and then release it so that it gets crushed between the two pillars.

The easiest place to find one of these statue enemies is to head to the Night Temple teleport point. Once you’re there, jump off the left side and begin making your way towards the main buildings to the west: soon enough, as you’re crossing the bridge, you should meet one of these enemies. From there, simply capture it using your Dimension Claw, teleport back to the Pit of Eternal Sands, release it into the path of the crushing pillars and watch, in delight, as your next chest spawns.

The Depths Puzzles

The Depths Architect Puzzle is next on our list. To reach it, head to the Catacombs, a subsection of the Depths which is connected to the Sunken Harbor. To reach it, make your way into the Catacombs and keep traversing as normal until you reach the tall room with the large stone faces on the wall. From there, drop down to the lowest level, head right, fall down again and then exit towards the right once more to find yourself in a new dark room. 

On the wall above the plate where the chest spawns are two bronze faces on opposite sides of the room. When you jump in front of these faces, they begin to glow orange, fading once you move away from them.

To complete The Depths Architect Puzzle in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, jump in front of one of the faces and, as it begins to light up, summon a Shadow. With the Shadow hanging in the air, the light on the face won’t fade, allowing you to jump in front of the opposite face, lighting them both up at the same time and summoning your next chest. 

Tower of Silence Puzzle

The last of the Architect’s Puzzle can be found in the final major area of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, the Tower of Silence. You’ll find this puzzle on the golden path through the Tower of Silence, on the long bridge just after the section with the falling ice boulders which you must pass to reach the entrance to the Tomb.

To solve the Tower of Silence puzzle, walk around the bridge until fragmented shards in the background align to form a large monument. The middle of this monument will be an empty sphere, one which you can complete using your Chakram. Like with the Sunken Harbor puzzle, throw your Chakram into the centre of the completed monument and, a moment later, the puzzle should be completed.

Final Architect Puzzle Solution

With all nine of the Architect’s Puzzles completed, return to the Architect in the Upper City to tackle the final puzzle. Floating around the room are nine massive slabs, each of which has a different rune engraved upon it. These runes correlate to the symbols each Architect Puzzle has when you look at them on the map. Each puzzle also has a number next to its symbol.

To solve the last of the Architect’s Puzzles in The Lost Crown, you need to shoot massive runes in the correct order by following the numbers on the map. Shooting a correct rune will cause it to glow blue, whereas shooting an incorrect one will cause the whole room to flash red, resetting your progress and forcing you to start again. 

Here is the order you need to shoot the symbols in: 

1. Lower City
2. Hycranian Forest
3. Sacred Archives (Mural) 
4. Tower of Silence
5. Pit of Eternal Sands
6. Sunken Harbor
7. Soma Tree
8. The Depths
9. Sacred Archives (Blocks)

When the final symbol is triggered, the dormant door in the middle of the room will flare to life, revealing a portal to another portion of the Upper City. This area contains several pieces of important lore, as well as a full Soma Tree Petal, increasing Sargon’s maximum HP by one chunk. 

The Final Architect Puzzle

That was where to find, and how to solve, all nine of the Architect’s Puzzles in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. 

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