The Rogue Prince of Persia review: A familiar dance in a familiar desert

Platform: PC (Steam)
Developer: Evil Empire
Publisher: Ubisoft
Played On: ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 16 (2024) G634 featuring Intel Core i9-14900HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU

Prince of Persia is back, baby! Well, sort of. This time it's The Rogue Prince of Persia, a roguelite spinoff crafted by the dungeon-delving demons at Evil Empire (yeah, the Dead Cells folks). It hit Steam Early Access recently, and while the core combat sings a sweet, sword-swinging symphony, the overall experience feels more like a mirage than an oasis.

Deja Vu All Over Again

Look, I love a good time loop as much as the next Prince of Persia fan, but this early build feels a tad too familiar. You're the Prince (duh), fighting off a Hun invasion fueled by spooky shaman magic. Your main weapon? A time-bending Bola that lets you rewind your demise and try again. It's Dead Cells DNA through and through, which isn't inherently bad, but a little more originality wouldn't hurt.

The combat, however, is where this Prince truly shines. Fluid parkour blends seamlessly with brutal attacks, letting you chain together wall runs, enemy juggles, and devastating combos with a satisfying crunch. Seriously, pulling off a multi-hit assault before air-dashing away from a fiery projectile feels amazing. This is the good stuff, the kind of tight, responsive gameplay that Evil Empire has mastered.

Lost in the Desert of Familiarity

Sadly, outside the combat arena, The Rogue Prince stumbles. The roguelite elements, while competent, lack the depth and variety of its inspirations. The biomes blur together, enemy encounters lack punch, and the loot pool, while decent, could use some more exotic weaponry. It's a shame, because the gorgeous, almost Tintin-esque art style deserves a world that's equally captivating.

The story, still in its infancy, suffers a similar fate. Characters feel like walking archetypes, the dialogue lacks bite, and even finding your kidnapped brother in the ominously named Tower of Oblivion fails to elicit much emotion. Here's hoping Evil Empire injects some much-needed personality into the narrative as development progresses.

Early Verdict

The Rogue Prince of Persia isn't bad, not by a long shot. It's a solid, if somewhat uninspired, roguelite buoyed by fantastic combat. However, with the shadow of Dead Cells (and the recent, excellent Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown) looming large, it needs to discover its own identity, embrace bolder design choices, and truly unleash its potential. The foundation is there, but now it's time to build something extraordinary.

Score: 7/10 - Good. A diamond in the rough with potential for greatness, but needs more time (and innovation) in the oven.

Reviewed in Early Access with a code provided by the publisher on the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 16 (2024) G634.