The Rogue Prince of Persia Review (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, & PC)

I feel like the unstoppable wave of roguelikes/lites has only begun. So much more awaits, especially with The Rogue Prince of Persia’s new merge of a roguelite system and a cult-classic. I can imagine games like Mega Man following suit. And what loads of fun we’ll have playing through classics in a new light. By the Early Access release of The Rogue Prince of Persia a year and a half ago, it already hit it “off to a good start,” reflected by our 7/10 rating. 

Now, developer Evil Empire has quenched their room to grow, incorporating player feedback and polishing up on the few hiccups here and there. Not much needed to change, honestly. Yet, you can still appreciate the work Evil Empire has put in, further defining character features and expressions, and smoothing out the speedy acrobatic flow of traversal and combat. 

Anyway, whether it’s your first time or you have been with the game throughout the Early Access period, we have for you our The Rogue Prince of Persia review below.

Second Chances

Roguelikes do incorporate a story; a reason for retrying runs over and over again, if you will. Although not always the most profound stories, with the randomization of levels jumbling up storylines, The Rogue Prince of Persia does manage to put forward a decent narrative. Playing as the titular Prince of Persia, you’ll strive to save your kingdom from the Huns’ invasion. 

Nothing new, except that the story’s premise is a little bonkers. The Prince makes a drastic mistake. It’s unclear what mistake this is. But it’s apparently so disastrous that it ignites a disastrous conflict of sorts with the Huns. When the Huns’ wrath is triggered, they become corrupted by dark magic. And this gives them the unstoppable power they need to take over Persia’s capital city; their leader, Nogai, sitting himself on the throne. 

You survive the onslaught by the whiskers, thanks to your magic Bola, gifted to you as a child. It breathes new life into your soul, giving you a second chance to fight back the Huns and save what little survivors are left of your people. 

The Twist

Your awakening always happens whenever you die at the Oasis. This is cut off from the rest of the world in time and space. So, every time you, uhm, resurrect, the Huns’ invasion resets and you get the second chance to defeat them. And therein lies the excuse we need for doing The Rogue Prince of Persia’s grueling run over and over again. Okay, grueling may be overstating it, but it’s a relatively tricky gameplay system to master, all the same. 

Again, decent story. It works and gives us the reason and purpose we need to be trying to beat the game over and over. I just wish the premise slowed things down enough to give us an impactful glimpse into the characters and world. The royal family, even, and their relation to the Prince, who we’ll be striving to save multiple times over. Even onward into the story, some characters are rushed over too soon to make an emotional connection to them.

Still, certain dialogue pieces are genuinely interesting, even funny at times. The Prince does struggle with resurrecting the first few times before he finally settles into his new power. Evil Empire could have definitely fleshed out the characters and world a bit more, cementing a memorable narrative. As is, The Rogue Prince of Persia’s story may be its weakest link. 

Deadcells x Prince of Persia

Any fan of Dead Cells will immediately recognize the similarities to The Rogue Prince of Persia. Similar level design and gameplay. Yet, The Rogue Prince of Persia feels a lot more superior. Precisely with the art style, it’s an immediate standout from the get-go. It’s vibrant watercolors provide the perfect backdrop for your exploits saving Persia. Environments vary enough from biome to biome, and provide distinct props on which to wall run and evade. From spikes to spinning saws and big drops, all you’ll be looking forward to is masterfully crafted here, and fully taking advantage of the Prince’s acrobatics. 

It’s the other distinct way that The Rogue Prince of Persia stands out, where the Prince carries mobility beyond mortal imagination. Your wall runs, climbs, vaults, kicks, and dashes from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time return with flair and gusto. And all can be mixed and combined to create the perfect elusive dance out of the way of obstacles, projectiles, and attacks. Indeed, your acrobatics are more than a means to navigate shifty platform designs, staying alive long enough till the end of the run. It’s a means to kill, swiftly and flamboyantly. 

You’ll die a tad too many times, in the beginning more than in the latter stages when you accumulate skill points, upgrades, and buffs. And more so because exploiting The Rogue Prince of Persia’s traversal and combat’s fullest potential will take a minute or two. Once it clicks, though, you’ll be an elusive little bugger, flipping and dashing over enemies to land sneaky attacks and kick back projectiles from whence they came. 

Locked and Loaded

Besides story, traversal, and combat, you’ll grapple with roguelike’s most important element: resources, weapons, and all. And as veterans will know, you start with a select few of weapons, and unlock more variety the deeper you tread into a single run. Every run challenges you to get as far as possible into the world, combating enemies, surviving platforming obstacles, solving puzzles at times, and driving the story forward. 

You’ll choose which biome to begin with and proceed to conquer them in significant progression. Significant because every run is never futile, bringing with it a new selection of weapons, tools, and medallions to experiment with. It’s all a generous unlock of new toys to play with that cater to every play style under the sun. This means, of course, that some builds will work better for you than others. Still, you should enjoy enough variety to switch up your game every now and then.

All the Way Up

Progression comes in two types: Skill points and in-game currency. The former adds up the more runs you beat. And help unlock new buffs, healing potions, and so on via your skill tree. In-game currency enables you to buy new weapons, tools, and medallions at the merchant shop. All these afford you new ways of play and diversify the slick combos at your disposal. And with an increasing wealth of abilities and weapon types, you enjoy further different ways of tinkering around with them via medallions. These are passive buffs that can come with exceptional strengths, just as they can dire weaknesses.

With the freedom to equip up to nine medallions, you can experiment with any number of skill boosts from the traditional percentage increase in attack damage or health to more nuanced launching of flaming daggers. Enemy types, on the other hand, can be a bit of a letdown, especially after several runs through the same biome. The same goes for the layouts, as they begin to feel repetitive. But not a moment too soon before you reach the final boss. And because of your wealth of weapons, skills, and medallions, you have empowered enhancements to complete a run. The Rogue Prince of Persia respects your time and wraps up before it gets repetitive and not fun anymore.

Verdict

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was on another level that The Rogue Prince of Persia can hardly compare to. Yet, it’s clear that the return of Prince of Persia is nothing to joke about. The franchise has rolled up its sleeves and is determined to deliver such thrilling action platforming experiences you can’t get away from for too long. You genuinely want to head back in for another go at it. Even when you’ve been held up on a certain biome longer than you’d want to. The Rogue Prince of Persia just never reaches the point of frustration, thanks to a generous flow of new toys to beat foes. Well, that and the inherent fast-paced and satisfying traversal and combat system. 

With no shields or parries to hold your ground, you’re often wall running and jumping over enemies’ heads. You’re sneaking up behind them to land a quick blow and kicking projectiles back at long-distance foes. It’s a dance of a variety of moves and combat abilities that is fun to experiment with and discover new go-tos. And all of it executes timely and precisely, rewarding you with dopamine hits.

Only the story falls short of emotional depth and memorability. Otherwise, there’s plenty more I could speak of, from movement speed boosts to replayability options for gamers who want extra challenge, that elevate The Rogue Prince of Persia to among the must-plays of recent launches. Early Access truly paid off in ways that even if Evil Empire proposes future DLCs, it’d be entirely welcome.