Back in April, fans were treated to the announcement of The Rogue Prince of Persia, a roguelike take on everyone’s favourite death cheater crafted in tandem with Ubisoft and Dead Cells developer Evil Empire. This is the second 2D Prince of Persia this year (looking back at The Lost Crown), and while the title does rightfully (and thankfully) carry the ‘early access’ moniker, directly comparing the two titles proves exactly how EARLY access The Rogue Prince of Persia is.
While The Rogue Prince of Persia is promising, the early access period has been tastefully deployed to give feedback to the developers to hone the game into a sharp edge. Having free reign over The Rogue Prince of Persia’s early access has shown the game’s immense potential and its many shortcomings.
The story of The Rogue Prince of Persia has been compounded with more detail than my previous demo allowed me access. The titular Prince wakes up after The Huns (queue Mulan song) devastate his homeland. Of course, it’s up to him and his mystical bola—which helps him return from the dead and rewind the universe equivalent to The Sands of Time—to save his kingdom and stop their brutal expansion.
Unfortunately, this is the brunt of the detail I was given in my previous demo period, and not much here has been expanded on. There are cookie-cutter characters that appear in the hub world, none of which have audio voice acting attached to their lines, and they’re characters of convenience.
“The combat in The Rogue Prince of Persia also serves what fans can expect from a solid Prince of Persia title: frenetic, heart-pounding and sweaty affairs greet the player often.”
You have the astounded village Blacksmith called Sukhra, who regurgitates the same line each time you respawn, and right as it starts to annoy you, another character comes along to the hub world that knows all about your mystical powers and can keep everyone’s memories intact.
These are genuinely cool ideas that pedal the story forward, but everything feels just a touch too ‘This is this way because!’ The Rogue Prince of Persia has a great start in this regard and sets excellent groundwork for compelling characters (even the first boss, a Hun General) that have a true foothold in the story. Plus, this time, the Prince has a captive brother and there are branching storyline paths to explore! Early Access indeed.
Where Evil Empire flexes its competent muscles is during gameplay. The smooth animations and hand-drawn art style are striking and sharp, the heavily drawn outlines keep screen clutter in check, and even when things become hectic, everything is represented freshly. These gorgeous visuals are hungry for your eyes. Every animation is buttery smooth, and the Prince retains most of his combat flair from the previous The Sands of Time trilogy. Fans of those titles will look at the expert animations like your best friend at a High School Reunion. The Prince did not miss a beat.
The environments kick this art style into overdrive. Each stage The Rogue Prince of Persia throws at you is meticulously designed, and normally, the levels will randomly generate themselves like Dead Cells before it. Like Dead Cells, there are challenges scattered throughout the landscape that will attempt to end your run early. Triumphing over these challenges makes the rest of the run much simpler, and give a dose of sweet adrenaline when you thread a spiky needle with a very vulnerable Prince.
The combat in The Rogue Prince of Persia also serves what fans can expect from a solid Prince of Persia title: frenetic, heart-pounding and sweaty affairs greet the player often. Waves of flying enemies, rolling lizard armadillos, spear-wielding Huns, and ranged archers/mages will attempt to make The Prince go past ‘Go!’ again. These enemies are SMART; they will evade you and pile on to make your life miserable, but this makes it all the sweeter when you triumph.
The Rogue Prince of Persia threw a pile of enemies, and I caught the pile. This is where your ‘run build’ will be tested. You can find powerful boons on your way forward to free your people from the shackles of tyranny, and each can work in tandem to make you as strong as Genghis Khan himself. My favourite two boons to use together is the kick to spread resin (a sticky, flammable substance that slows enemies), and a boon that allows you to ignite enemies from far away. These synergize excellently, and that pile of enemies from before turns into a pile of ash with quickness.
This part of the gameplay is incredibly satisfying, and Evil Empire is an evil mastermind with this craft. All of the comparisons to Dead Cells are well-founded, and punishing enemies because ‘you’ve been through this before’ not only feels like you, yourself, are reliving The Prince’s (many) lives, but are learning along with him.
“Breakneck combat, beautiful artwork, and butter-smooth gameplay drive the vehicle The Rogue Prince of Persia takes the player into, and notable bumps in the road do occur.”
It is important to note the current issues I faced during my eight hours of The Rogue Prince of Persia gameplay. A few times while playing and restarting a run, the core gameplay loop failed to activate, and I was given a re-run of the same stage. Worse, the challenges (as mentioned before) are also repeated when this happens. This small happenstance tears away the magic of a roguelike and makes the re-runs feel monotonous.
Often, The Rogue Prince of Persia demands the player to jump and at the bottom of the jump is spikes. This feels cheap. You can point the camera down (an awesome function) to see hazards, but these jumps are far and long, and most times, don’t have a wall behind you to save you from falling straight on the spikes for a huge amount of health loss. This same thing happens with piles of enemies. They KNOW you are coming, but you don’t know they are there, and you start taking a beating instantly upon landing.
Finally, The Rogue Prince of Persia has an incredibly underwhelming sound. The music is chill and serves the purpose, but previous titles in the genre (including The Lost Crown) have blown the doors off the hinges with slamming musical compositions. The Prince of Persia: Warrior Within included slamming Godsmack tracks, which complemented the combat beautifully and made each enemy slain pump you up with heavy chords and strong breakdowns. Dead Cells also had an excellent (and fitting) composition, maybe it’s just me (and not a valid gripe) but the music should receive an uptick consistent with the smooth gameplay and adrenaline-pumping combat.
The Rogue Prince of Persia is a work in progress, and so is this preview. There are many things Ubisoft and Evil Empire need to work on, but I’ve come away impressed. Breakneck combat, beautiful artwork, and butter-smooth gameplay drive the vehicle The Rogue Prince of Persia takes the player into, and notable bumps in the road do occur. But overall, I can’t wait to see what Evil Empire adds to this early-access title because, as it stands, it’s a phenomenal start.
