Early Access Examination: The Rogue Prince of Persia

By J.D.

Players: 1
Platforms: PC

The Huns have launched an invasion of the Persian capital, and with their shamanic magic, have taken over the city. The only one capable of stopping them is a Prince of Persia who, thanks to the Sands of Time his magical bola, finds himself waking up at an oasis three days after the invasion started. Which is also the point where he dies. This is the setup for The Rogue Prince of Persia, the newest game in the long-running Prince of Persia series. Published by Ubisoft and developed by Evil Empire, the game was released in Early Access on Steam a few weeks ago.

As the title suggests, this is a roguelike platformer with large open areas that are different every run and different paths you can take between them. If that reminds you of Dead Cells, Evil Empire was a co-developer of the DLC for that game and clearly took inspiration from their previous work for this. Getting across these areas will involve all of The Prince’s platforming skills like wall-running, wall jumping and climbing and swinging on every pole you can see. In addition to the platforming, you’ll have to deal with the various forces of Huns using your weapons, tools, kicks and vaults. All of this is a lot to take in at first. I had trouble remembering which button on my controller did whatever action I wanted to do, so I found myself falling on spikes, kicking when I wanted to attack, and attacking when I wanted to kick. Thankfully the controls can be changed in the options menu, and after reconfiguring them and playing for a few more hours, I think I finally got the hang of them.

I still have some issues in combat though. Taking on a group of enemies, especially if they are bunched together, and doubly so if one of them has a shield, is still a pain when trying to kick or dodge. I also struggled with the first boss until I realized I could use an ability that had only been used before on enemies or on a piece of debris. If there was a hint to this before I was too oblivious to notice it, but it only took me a few more tries to get used to the boss’s other tricks before I finally beat it after I figured it out. All of this isn't helped by the fact that it feels like The Prince can only take a few hits before he dies, and healing options are limited. The Prince starts with one vial that restores half his max health, and later levels start with a fountain that does the same, and refills the vial. The Prince can also find health restoring items in chests and shops, and a few medallions (more on these soon) offer a small amount of healing when some criterion has been met.

To augment his combat capabilities, The Prince can find medallions with effects like “release a cloud of poison whenever you vault over an enemy” or “set enemies on fire when you hit them with projectiles”. Some of these can be upgraded by other medallions depending on their placement in The Prince’s four medallion slots. Each medallion has a symbol that looks like “XO” or “XOX” with the O being the slot where the medallion is equipped and the X’s being the medallions that will be powered up. It took me a few runs to understand this, but optimizing the layout with each new medallion became a fun new layer to the experience.

On runs players can find Spirit Glimmers, a currency that can be sent back to the Oasis to purchase new weapons and medallions. After purchasing, these new items will show up on later runs in treasures and shops. When I first found them it felt like I wasn’t getting enough of them to make much progress with each run, but after the most recent patch it feels like I could get enough to get at least one upgrade every time. I’m still unsure if this was an actual change in the patch or just my increasing skill as a player.

When The Prince encounters new information on the run that is critical to his mission, it’s added to his Mind Web. For instance, when he learns the location of the Huns’ camp, it shows up in the web and builds from there as he visits the camp on the next run and discovers more info there. I think this will be a very helpful tool for players who are lost or just need a quick refresher on what they’re supposed to be doing and why.

The presentation of the game is beautiful. The characters and environments feel like something out of a graphics novel with rich colors and distinctive designs. The soundtrack also combines the type of music you would expect from the environments with a more modern backing to create memorable music.

Even in its Early Access state, The Rogue Prince of Persia is off to a great start. The first hour or so might be a bit overwhelming for some players (especially players named me), but those who can stick through it will find an enjoyable roguelite that will have you dying for one more run.

For More Information on The Rogue Prince of Persia:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2717880/The_Rogue_Prince_of_Persia/

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Pros:
+ Beautiful Presentation.
+ Great platforming and movement.
+ Every run feels like you’re progressing.

Cons:
- Controls take a while to learn.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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