A Golden Dawn for a Beloved Franchise?
Ah, the Prince of Persia series. Everyone’s beloved action-adventure-puzzle hybrid that captivated the 90s and 2000s.
In recent years, set aside a release in 2024 of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and the upcoming Sands of Time remake, the franchise hasn’t been amongst the favourites of Ubisoft’s many children, having struggling release after struggling release.
Yet after my playthrough of The Rogue Prince of Persia, I can safely say, just as the night is always darkest before the dawn, Prince of Persia’s sands may just be shining golden once again.
This new entry from its very inception made a bold choice for the franchise. Rather than playing it safe and sticking to the roots of the series, The Rogue Prince of Persia opts to do what separates the good franchises from the best. It took a risk.
Vengeance and Valiance
Rather than the puzzle elements associated with the series, Prince of Persia now has a roguelite under its belt. For a quick recap (or those not in the loop) a roguelite is the name given to the genre in which gameplay is built upon the idea of a playthrough with one life, and each time you die you slowly make baby steps of progress, upgrading and inching slowly towards your goal. Even in theory, it’s simple to see how this genre would merge well with Prince of Persia, but add in an extreme focus on platforming and combat, the story may differ a little.
To give some context, The Rogue Prince of Persia – you can probably guess where the rogue in the title comes from now – focuses on a protagonist simply dubbed ‘The Prince’. Following his defeat at the hands of the Hun army, The Prince swears vengeance and to defend his city under attack. Is the story simple? Yes. Does that mean it detracts from the gameplay. No, simply for the fact we have an incentive to keep playing, thus saving the city which is, in a barebones situation, all a game needs. You’ll meet colourful friends, dangerous foes and companions to aid throughout your various runs.
A Seamless Dance
Rather than focusing on the story, the overwhelming majority of your time will be zoned in on the gameplay; gameplay that consists of a concentrated attention to platforming segments, with combat interspersed as a secondary component; each distinct segment containing their own move-set.
The basic controls during platforming sequences go as follows: A to jump, LT to climb and use your dagger along appropriate elements, and finally RT to dash. During combat segments, X (holding this button will do a special attack) and Y will provide a quick and heavy attack respectively, also allowing for the climbing and dashing to be incorporated, be it jumping over opponents or dodging their strikes. Of course later on you unlock abilities of much more excitement (such as the special abilities you obtain early on) but having such a strong foundation to the platforming certainly places this title head and shoulders above many of the contemporaries.
Flanking Foes and Fluid Moves
The Rogue Prince of Persia understands something many similar titles do not… a character who is fun to control, will always be infinitely more compelling than one with an over abundance of moves. How your character feels and moves is the make or break factor to an entertaining platforming title. The little combos you can chain together to reach new heights perfectly lend their hand in creating an experience able to pander to multiple play styles.
Moving on from platforming talk (kind of), combat is the other predominant system inhabiting this title, and it too excels through the use of clever enemy design, immediately catching my eye through the subtle merging of both this and the platforming system. During combat interactions, it’s heavily encouraged that you utilise your dash to dodge, and your wall climb to flank enemies, yet it never feels as though you’re doing this with your platforming move-set, despite the obvious fact that you are. It makes fighting foes – a feat usually monotonous in games of this vein – an entertaining loop of figuring out new and effective ways to take down enemies.
None of this however, would be anywhere near as effective if not for one last integral pillar of foundation, that being the level design. The intentional and effective scattering of interactive environments to perform things such as your wall climb, attribute to what makes the combat so thrilling and harmonise with the platforming. Add in various heights and floors to take advantage of, and you have what makes for (arguably) one of the most effective platforming combat systems. Then you can factor in the wide array of diverse biomes to discover, multiple routes to take offering unique runs, and interactive elements unique to each area to truly refresh your experience (such as vines acting as climbing ropes).
A Kaleidoscope of Carnage
And after all that, we still haven’t spoken about the true highlight and selling point to this latest Prince of Persia entry… the roguelite aspect. Following the tutorial area, you’ll be introduced to the currency Soul Cinders, the metaphorical hub that your progress revolves around. They can be obtained from slain enemies to unlock new tools, weapons and upgrades to aid in your progress. The catch is these pesky Soul Cinder altars are the only way of keeping your currency upon death, yet for those who are greedy, or simply trust their skill, destroying the altars for extra Soul Cinders is an option.
The roguelite system also adds for a huge range of side quests involved in various locations. You’ll discover your first one early on, uncovering the mind map menu alongside it, and thus be able to link various quests, plot pieces, characters and enemies alike together to create a cohesive journey of optional quests all adding to the run time. The way it all weaves and intertwines creates for (at least in my opinion) what may be the best roguelite quests system out there. Add in medallions, XP upgrades and various other benefits I won’t spoil, and it’s clear to see The Rogue Prince of Persia was filled with love and hours of content. Simply put, Soul Cinders and the roguelite elements as a whole contribute to the longevity of The Rogue Prince of Persia, creating a kaleidoscope of possible runs, rather than a set path.
From the initial boot up, I had a feeling this game was going to be different to its competitors. Every frame is heavily stylised to immerse you into the world through stunning 2D hand drawn styled cutscenes that extend to gameplay. On top of this, a heavily polished design with menus, text boxes and character interactions feeling high quality, factor in to ensure a premium AAA experience is kept for the entire runtime. The Rogue Prince of Persia maintains the royal promise found in its name, along with delivering the corresponding roguelite namesake in an exciting way. Yet like most royalty, it’s not without its flaws.
A Fusion of Platforming and Progression
In a genre filled with difficulty – often what many come to it for – The Rogue Prince of Persia doesn’t offer much in the way of a challenge. Perhaps others will find more of a test, yet for me it seemed below standard, not inherently a negative, but the target audience will most likely view it this way. To add to this, in spite of the aforementioned ‘kaleidoscope of possible runs’ as I named it, unfortunately many of these will appear the same colours and shades in this kaleidoscope of gameplay after enough runs, eventually never feeling truly unique.
The Rogue Prince of Persia may never be heralded as the greatest in the series (my money would be on Sands of Time) yet what once was a twilight of dark sands, has awoken to a golden dawn filled with new beginnings and hope for the franchise. It’s without doubt a worthy title bound to please fans of the series and newcomers alike.
Important Links
Ubisoft Just Dropped The Rogue Prince of Persia on Xbox – and It’s on Game Pass – https://www.thexboxhub.com/ubisoft-just-dropped-the-rogue-prince-of-persia-on-xbox-and-its-on-game-pass/
Download The Rogue Prince of Persia on Xbox (or through Game Pass) – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/the-rogue-prince-of-persia/9p7m1vcxkqvd
There’s a New Era Bundle too – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/prince-of-persia-new-era-bundle/9P6R4CZDQ8DD/0010
