I am a massive fan of Dead Cells, it’s one of my favorite games of all time. Rogue Prince of Persia takes the PoP IP and puts it into a Dead Cells framework in a way that works beautifully. I got to play the game for roughly thirty minutes after watching a preview trailer. It’s coming into Steam Early Access on May 14th, so let’s get into why this has shot up my list of most anticipated titles.
Time Bolos
Rogue Prince of Persia is a roguelike set in a timeline where the Prince’s kingdom has been invaded by the Huns. Our eponymous Prince has his classic time powers in the form of a Bolo worn around his neck. This returns him to the “last safe place” he had been in whenever he is killed. Roguelikes are games that focus on a meta-leveling system to help you succeed in run-based encounters. As far as in-game logic goes this works perfectly for a game pitched by developer Evil Empire to Ubisoft during a backroom soiree at a videogame industry conference back in 2019.
Evil Empire is best known for its work on DLC for the Dead Cells series. Rogue Prince of Persia is Dead Cells feeling through and through, though not graphically. The first thing to hit me is how muted the amount of detail in character and level designs is during gameplay. Characters also have purple skin tones, seemingly because they look cool. The game has a light-hearted feel, with a lot of modern instruments pushing a heavy bass-powered score.
The gameplay is fast and tight. You have a main attack on X with a secondary on the right trigger. The secondary requires you to build up a meter and can power various ranged weaponry, of which I could unlock a bow and a chakram during my short time with the title. Y is a kick to clear out space, B is your dash/dodge, and A is a jump. The “Prince of Persia” of it all comes in the game’s wall running. It’s 2D so the wall running, bound to the left trigger, works as an extension in both the horizontal and vertical. I was playing over the cloud with a decent amount of latency but I could still tell that things were already fine-tuned.
During the presentation they made it clear that early access isn’t being used to make the gameplay, it’s instead focused on adding content and fine-tuning it all with help from the community. Combat and movement feel great, with a solid amount of variety in both your attacks and traversal abilities. You have a flat 1000 health at the start of the game and each level is full of enemies and traps to slowly whittle that down before you reach a boss. Similar to Dead Cells there are alternate routes to take from your hub zone encampment. I found two in 30 minutes and they changed things up so that I didn’t grow tired of taking the same route.
That hub zone expanded as well once I found members of my kingdom (and beyond) who opened up shops and other various benefits for my runs. In a short period of time I could already feel that roguelike power ramp starting up as I unlocked more weapons and upgrades for the Prince. Healing comes over from the Dead Cells series as well, with down being held to use your limited number of flasks. You can find refills and HP in the level though it was severely limited. Finally, I’d like to point out the music which was one hell of a vibe. It pushed what was a fun experience into something truly memorable with its heavy riffs and killer bass.
Wrapping Things Up
Rogue Prince of Persia takes a fun IP I’ve greatly enjoyed and puts it into my favorite genre. Heavily influenced by the dev’s work on Dead Cells this is one I’ll be all over when it hits early access on May 14th via Steam.
That artstyle is great
I wonder what they attempt to resolve during the early access release. Like how much content is there and how much more do they need?
The Game reminds me of The Legend of Tian Ding.