The Rogue Prince of Persia, a new roguelike from the folks who made Dead Cells, is out in early access—and boy can that prince already schmoove

GamesRoguelikeThe Rogue Prince of PersiaThe Rogue Prince of Persia, a new roguelike from the folks who made Dead Cells, is out in early access—and boy can that prince already schmooveWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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This isn’t a conundrum that developer Evil Empire (a studio that spawned out of Motion Twin’s desire to make more DLCs for Dead Cells) is unaware of—in fact, the game was delayedalmost entirely because of Hades 2earlier this month. Still, I’m here to make sure you at least set eyeballs on this thing, because it’s already a strong showing.

The Rogue Prince of Persia is, from the short amount I’ve played so far, essentially “Dead Cells, but with more deliberate movement”. Whereas Dead Cells combat is frenetic and hectic, The Rogue Prince of Persia wants you to feel the flow. You have a wall run, a charged attack, a ranged attack that costs energy, and a ground pound—but no dodge roll. Instead, the game gives you the ability to vault over enemies.

This is a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because vaulting over enemies (who are typically slow to turn around) leaves their spines ripe for the stabbin'. It’s a curse because, as you’ll rapidly find out if you try to spam it, vaulting is a commitment that can be punished severely.

So what about groups of enemies? That’s where your kick comes in. You can use this to punt creeps into each other, into walls, off cliffs, and into spikes. Armoured enemies throw a spanner into these works, being immune to kicking or any stagger your weapons might deal. They sort of fulfil the role of armoured enemies in Hades 2: Tougher variants on your usual fodder that force you to respect their movesets.

It’s that deliberate movement that I think is going to rub some people the wrong way. If you don’t respect the flow and try to spam your way through encounters ala Dead Cells, the game’s gonna feel fiddly and annoying, especially during its occasional platforming gauntlets. But if you get to a rhythm, things start feeling silky-smooth right quick. It helps that the soundtrack wall-runs from banger to banger with finesse.

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Anyway: If you like roguelikes, and you like platformers, and you like flips and/or kicks—don’t sleep on The Rogue Prince of Persia. Even in these early days it clearly deserves better, and I’m having a great time bar some funky performance issues and a very weird glitch in which my main menu saw the prince meditate through time and space. It’s a good show for a work in progress, and I’m glad Evil Empire didn’t have toburn anything down.

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