Developer: Evil Empire
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platform: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch
Tested on: PC
The Rogue: Prince of Persia – Review
For a series as intrinsically tied to time travel as Prince of Persia, it’s perhaps ironic to think that more than a year has passed since we first took a look at The Rogue. As much as we liked the game’s Early Access build, the fanbase seemingly did not. This is likely why it took so long for Dead Cells developer Evil Empire to get to the point where they were happy with the game. The Rogue has undergone some radical changes since its Early Access debut. Was Evil Empire able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with the 1.0 release of The Rogue, or did they stray too far from their original vision?
Story
Set in Ctesiphon, Persia’s capital, The Rogue opens with tragedy befalling the city. The Huns have come, their attacks covering Ctesiphon in flames. Not even the prince himself is able to stop the invaders, and he falls in battle. Three days pass before the prince awakens, not in the city but in a mysterious Oasis. His fate has become tied to the mysterious power of the Bola, which sends him back in time to the start of the invasion whenever he dies. It is now up to the prince to save Ctesiphon and its inhabitants from the brutal invaders.
Graphics
Perhaps the most drastic change from the Early Access build comes in how the game presents itself. The Rogue already distinguished itself from that other current-era Prince of Persia title, The Lost Crown, by adopting a cartoonish, hand-drawn style. While this infused The Rogue with a unique visual identity, the striking pink skin of our hero didn’t go over too well with the community. While the 1.0 release sticks with the hand-drawn visuals, the pastel tones of the Early Access version have been thrown out the window, having instead been replaced by a more natural palette. A particularly nice touch is that the prince now has access to a wide, unlockable wardrobe, ranging from classic appearances from his own series to guest outfits, like Ezio’s from the Assassin’s Creed games. Compared to the Early Access game, backgrounds look a lot more detailed too, and there is a wider variety of biomes, resulting in a game that is going to visually appeal to a much wider audience.
Sound
The star of The Rogue’s audio show is Persian-American producer ASADI’s soundtrack. It seamlessly blends modern electronic music with traditional Eastern sounds, creating melodies that perfectly fit with the game’s atmosphere. The music is supplemented by crisp sound effects that add heft to the impact of weapons. Our only gripe with the audio is the lack of voice acting. We would’ve loved to have seen voice actors from the series’ rich past reprise their roles here.
Gameplay
In our initial look at The Rogue, we felt that Evil Empire got the core experience right, but that the game felt very light on content. Our feelings on that first observation haven’t changed: the signature Prince of Persia gameplay, which sees players engage in 2.5D parkour-style sidescrolling platforming action, has proven itself time and time again, and marrying it with roguelite elements is a stroke of brilliance. The formula itself isn’t anything new, and the game very much feels like Dead Cells with a Prince of Persia skin. We mean that in the best way possible. From the Oasis, the game’s hub area, you’ll set out to different biomes, each with its own set of enemies and rewards, and even sidequests to complete. The game puts a lot of emphasis on exploration. Throughout the levels, you won’t just find new weapons but also the currency needed to buy medallions, which grant specific perks to the prince. Some medallions offer straightforward buffs, like straight-up increasing damage output, whereas others offer more niche perks, like increasing the range of throwing weapons. With over 70 different medallions available, as well as a wide array of different weapons, there are tons of strategies to try out.
The bread and butter of the Prince of Persia series isn’t combat, of course, but navigating your environments, and we’re happy to say that things have never felt more satisfying for the old prince. The game implements a mechanic called Vayu’s Breath, which rewards parkour combos by filling up a meter that increases your movement speed even further. Combined with an incredibly slick and responsive control scheme, this makes running, jumping, and swinging around the biomes immensely fun. That’s not to say that this is a parkour walk in the park, however. This is a roguelite game after all, and death lurks around every corner. The game is built around failing a run over and over, but getting back up, trying out new strategies, and medallions. Things subsequently get easier, but never to the point that The Rogue starts to feel underwhelming. That said, if you do feel like things get too easy, the so-called Awakenings system allows you to tweak gameplay by adjusting difficulty levels and turning specific elements on or off upon successfully completing your first run.
There are still two major gameplay aspects where The Rogue drops the ball somewhat, at least in our humble opinion. The first is that the game’s skill tree feels very underwhelming. It’s a bit of a luxury problem, as the wealth of medallions and weapons already gives you so much to experiment with, and the available skills don’t really add that much. Yes, it’s handy that you can see rewards before entering an area, but the benefit of this seems minimal. The other aspect that feels more hit than miss comes from the Soul Cinders mechanic. Soul Cinders are a consumable resource, which can be spent to unlock new weapons and medallions that potentially show up as rewards in future runs. That’s already one hoop to jump through, but then there’s the issue that any Soul Cinders you carry are lost upon death, meaning that grinding for a specific weapon can become very tricky and repetitive. They’re minor issues in the grand scheme of things, however, as The Rogue remains a fantastic game despite them. A single run clocks in at around 4 hours, but if you’re going to fully complete it and unlock the game’s true ending, then you’re looking at roughly 30 hours of gameplay. At a fairly modest RRP of 29.99, this is a game that has definitely redeemed itself and easily belongs in the library of any Prince of Persia fan worth his salt.
Conclusion
We already liked the Early Access version of The Rogue, unlike a significant chunk of the Prince of Persia community, but the definitive version blew us away. This is a fantastic title that managed to shake off any valid criticism geared at that Early Access build. What are you waiting for? Ctesiphon needs you!
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