Still in Early Access, The Rogue Prince of Persia brings good ideas and shows the series’ potential to reinvent itself
2024 has been a very good year for prince of Persia. After seeing the franchise reborn with the excellent The lost crownthe series receives a new, totally different title with a very bold proposal The rogue prince of Persia, published exclusively for PC With a more artistic touch and flirting with the indie world, we have a truly unusual adventure.
After all, it’s very rare that studios like it Ubisoft agree to hand over their most classic properties into the hands of third parties, even more so with the same creative freedom seen here. But the partnership here with Evil Empire Dead cells It worked very well and shows how this return to 2D is almost a one-way path for the saga.
Although still in Early Access, The rogue prince of Persia It exudes personality and shows how the studio managed to reimagine such a classic series in such a simple way and, at the same time, with a compelling complexity.
The Prince and Groundhog Day
It’s hard to define The rogue prince of Persia otherwise than a Persian son of Dead cells, as the influence of the 2017 game is more than evident here, especially in the gameplay and the types of challenges the player encounters. So, we have a roguelike very agile and full of levels to test your skills.
The plot is very simple: Persia is invaded by the Hun army and the prince must find a way to put an end to this threat, especially since he is one of those responsible for this attack. But things get complicated when the protagonist finds himself trapped in a time loop.
Therefore, he is forced to relive the same day over and over again as he tries to find a way to end this curse and at the same time try to eliminate the invaders.
It’s a very basic script, but it uses the dynamics of a roguelike well to develop its story and also its mechanics. Since trying, dying and starting again is a central part of the entire experience, looping becomes a narrative feature that fits the gameplay very well.
In this sense, there is nothing very new or different from what other games of the genre already do, as in the case of the recent Hades 2. But this is not a demerit The rogue prince of Persiaas he knows how to use this back and forth born of trial and error very well both to advance his plot and to encourage the player to always try to go further.
There are some very creative solutions to tie these two aspects together and make the game more cohesive. The dynamics of mind maps connect seemingly disjointed information, and at the same time searching for survivors or tracks can unlock new areas and expand the paths you can follow with each new run. Again, nothing revolutionary, but very well thought out.
Climb the walls
But it’s in the gameplay that The rogue prince of Persia. Owner of a beautiful art style that looks like it stepped out of the pages of a European comic, the game makes a beautiful bow to the prince of Persia original, from 1989, once again putting the Prince to face challenges on a 2D platform.
But, unlike The lost crown, things here are much more basic than mystical. The new hero has no control over the weather or anything like that, limiting himself only to his parkour skills to overcome obstacles and defeat his enemies.
And that’s what makes the game In The rogue prince of Persia be so pleasant. Evil Empire added a wall-walking mechanic that interferes with jumping dynamics. With this simple addition, vertical and lateral exploration gain much more importance, as well as many layers of challenges.
There are many paths to explore and ways to tackle the same obstacle with this simple mechanic. Walking along the wall can take you further, reach an unexpected object, create a new path, or even be your trump card in combat. It’s something quite simple, but it makes a difference.
So, even though Early Access is quite short, with only six different scenarios, there is a lot to explore and do thanks to this mechanic. The level design is very well constructed to test your mastery of this transversal movement and it is precisely this that gives agility and fluidity to this new version of the Prince, differentiating it from other incarnations.
Lots of room to grow
All this does The rogue prince of Persia be a game very full of life and possibilities, but somewhat limited. Being still in Early Access, the number of levels, enemies, and even weapons and items at your disposal is much fewer.
This was to be expected, given that Evil Empire and Ubisoft already commented in the game’s announcement that the idea was to make new content available over time, expanding the possibilities based on feedback from the community itself. And the great thing is that there is so much to grow and apply the good ideas that are already present in the game.
For now, the game only contains six available levels and two boss battles. It’s a reasonable amount for the number of times you’ll die, but it doesn’t help the feeling that it takes a little longer. Furthermore, the fact that there are only 8 main weapons and 6 tools also limits the creation of new builds a bit.
What to avoid becoming The rogue prince of Persia the medallions are repetitive. During each run, the Prince finds different medallions that grant new abilities and improvements that change the overall dynamics of the game considerably. Some will make your attack stronger, while others will create effects on enemies when you perform certain actions, and the combination of these abilities will generate new powers.
It’s a clever way to vary the gameplay and make each attempt to take on the Huns different, encouraging exploration and treating the back and forth in the time loop as something fun.
The only point against this logic is the somewhat exaggerated difficulty level, which makes the Prince extremely vulnerable and fragile. Any trivial attack from the baddest enemy will take away between 25% and 30% of your life bar, and the inability to improve your defense or even carry more healing items tends to make things frustrating when you become account of who is made of glass.
However, it is far from a critical issue and can easily be overcome with an update or the release of content that gives the protagonist more resistance. After all, that’s what early access is for.
Therefore, the final balance of The rogue prince of Persia It’s more than positive. Proving that the creative freedom given to others to explore already known franchises can be a great path to renewal, we have a title still in development making an excellent debut. In addition to this, it testifies to the good momentum of the series and leaves us waiting for the scenes of the next chapters.
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Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
