Well, the Prince of Persia franchise is certainly having a great year, thanks to the release of the much-acclaimed Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. And developers Evil Empire have spent a lot of hard work helping to give Dead Cells some of its best years post-launch. So what if the two combined their powers to have the best year possible? That ended up being the big reveal of today’s Triple-i Initiative showcase, when we got our first look at a team-up between Ubisoft and Evil Empire, a collaboration that has resulted in our first roguelike Prince of Persia game, known as The Rogue Prince of Persia (admittedly not the most creative title, but at least the game still looks great).
Going Rogue
Set in a fictional version of the Persian Empire’s capital of Ctesiphon, the version of the Prince this time around sees them facing down an army of possessed soldiers led by the Huns. And as viewed in the reveal trailer (which you can check out at this link) via some gorgeous animation, not only does the Prince have their usual mad parkour and combat skills, but they also have the gift of a mystical bola that allows them to be resurrected each time they die, setting up the game’s roguelike mechanics. The journey will take the Prince through a variety of biomes across the city, battling a large group of ominous foes, including those enhanced by the Huns' dark magic.
As expected from the folks behind Dead Cells, The Rogue Prince of Persia is a 2D action-platformer, and one definitely makes use of the Prince’s classic wall run as well as other skills that help them get around a ton of traps, as well as a variety of weapons from twin axes to daggers, making it easy for any player to quickly find a preferred playstyle. The gameplay looks fast and fluid, but also stands out is the art style, notably still keeping the Persian influences while utilizing more cooler color schemes. Persian-American musician ASADI has also been tapped to do the soundtrack, which already sounds quite impressive.
Review: Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown may not revolutionize the genre, but it’s one of the better metroidvanias to come out in recent years.
Even more astonishingly, players won’t have to wait long to get their hands on this new take on Prince of Persia, as The Roogue Prince of Persia arrives on Steam in Early Access on May 14. We don’t know if it will arrive on other platforms later on (though it seems likely as it eventually approaches a full release), but stay tuned for any more details about it this latest chapter in a classic franchise’s history as they come in over time.
