Rogue Prince of Persia - Early Access Review
One of the very first games I ever played on a PC was Prince of Persia, the original game and while I sucked at the combat, I came to love the platforming. When Ubisoft picked up the rights and made their Sands series, I fell in love with it all over again. After wrapping up The Lost Crown in early 2024, I just assumed that it would be another 5 years before I got another entry in the series, so to be proven wrong so soon, was a shock. Now that Rogue Prince of Persia has entered early access, the time has come to see if going rogue was the right call.
While my love of Prince of Persia is strong, I have never been the biggest fan of rogue-like games, they just don’t appeal to be in a broad sense. Evil Empire were perhaps the first studio to really get that rogue-like concept and something that fans resonated with, but not me, Dead Cells was just not for me. So with two competing aspects, what is the verdict, well as the game is not yet done, I am withholding the final call, but so far things are looking good. You are the titular Prince, something that The Lost Crown didn’t let you do, but this time you haven’t caused massive problems, you start after the Huns have invaded your kingdom. When you fall for the first time, your bola makes a chime and then sends you back in time, but of course not quite far enough back to before the invasion. While not understanding exactly why he is returning to the time he is, the Prince is not one to look a gift horse in the mouth and quickly sets out to try and correct his mistakes.
The core gameplay is mostly exploration, with the odd slashing of a sword now and then, in fact its more in line with the original Prince of Persia titles than the more recent efforts. There are puzzle elements to be found, but they are hidden away in rooms, rather than on the main path. When you are on the main path, like most rogue-like games, it changes each time you venture back into the world after your death and while I did notice some repeating aspects, there assembly is done in enough of a unique way that it doesn’t really jump out. Something that I really enjoyed is that after your first few runs; you get a chance to choose a different starting point. This may not seem like a big deal, but it really gives you a sense that you are trying to change the world, rather than just repeating it. Movies that have a character stuck looping the same day, always show the same scenes over and over again, so this stands out as something different.
As for the exploration, unlike the earliest games, the Prince is nimble, more like Sargon from The Lost Crown, with his best option the ability to run up and across walls. Honestly this is what made the game feel very different to me, as it made things feel different, as when was the last time you got to run up a wall. With the wall running, jumping, climbing and flipping, movement isn’t a real concern here, however the Prince often felt slow in his running, which wasn’t that fun. It is still early days however, so the game can make changes and they likely will. The other half of the game is combat and here is where a little Sand of Time gets mixed in, especially when you start flipping over enemies. You have a basic attack and a ranged attack, though that one is limited to a few shots. Enemies can be kicked back, though if they are a bit tougher, they might stand there ground before you can kick them. There are enemies that can do significant amounts of damage should they hit you, so dodging or flipping over them is important to master early. The various weapons that you can find, along with the medallions that give you buffs can really make a run, early on I scored a medallion that let me stick enemies in place when kicked, so you had better believe I kicked everyone I saw. The bosses obviously take more effort and it wasn’t until my 3rd attempt at the first boss, that I realised you can kick the stones it causes to fall back at it.
Each time I jumped back in, I learnt a little more and got a little further, with each death resulting in my frustration and then acceptance, before I dove back in again. While the game has a solid foundation, I can’t wait to see how much further they take it. There is a good amount of content here as well, so if you dive in now, you will get a lot from the game, but just know there is currently no release date for the full release. As it stands, Rogue Prince of Persia is hitting all the right notes for both a rogue-like game and a Prince of Persia game and things are likely only going to get better.
The game is currently in Early Access on Steam, you can buy it below, just note there is no release date for the full launch.
