The Rogue Prince of Persia parkours out of early access and arrives on consoles! Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
The Rogue Prince of Persia Review Overview
What is The Rogue Prince of Persia?
The Rogue Prince of Persia is a 2D action platformer roguelike developed by the same studio that created the critically acclaimed Dead Cells, Evil Empire Studio. The game combines fast-paced and fluid combat with precise platforming to create what could be considered a new and improved version of their previous masterpiece. The new updates contain vastly improved visuals, new mechanics, changes in balancing, and many more.
You play as the Prince, who has to stop the Hun invasion that he accidentally started. Armed with a way to protect himself against death, the Prince must keep going to save the kingdom from peril. Use every weapon and tool that you find to fight against the magic-empowered Huns and enhance your abilities through various Medallions. Explore more than 10 different biomes to piece together how to save your family, friends, and the kingdom itself.
The Rogue Prince of Persia features:
⚫︎ Story Focused Roguelite
⚫︎ 3 Acts to Finish
⚫︎ Fluid Combat and Tight Controls
⚫︎ Well-Crafted Boss Fights
⚫︎ 20+ Different Weapons
⚫︎ 10+ Different Tools
⚫︎ 60+ Medallions as Skill Modifiers
⚫︎ 10+ Different Biomes
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 Playstation |
 Xbox |
 Switch |
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| $29.99 | Coming Soon | ||||
The Rogue Prince of Persia Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Fluid and Addictive Movement Noticeable Visual Overhaul Incredibly Catchy Music Great Replayability |
Short Narrative No Voice Acting Considerably Long Load Times Weak Progression Systems |
The Rogue Prince of Persia Overall - 86/100
The Rogue Prince of Persia has always had a unique sense of style with its stylized graphics, modern trap mix, and flow-heavy gameplay. Since its numerous updates to update the art style, gameplay mechanics, and additional biomes, it has definitely come into its own after a year in early access.
The Rogue Prince of Persia Story - 7/10
The 1.0 update finally brings the long-awaited conclusion of the story with the showdown against King Nogai. While the overall narrative is decent and the last act does tie the story together neatly, the length feels way too short. Even on a fresh save, you can achieve the game’s true ending within 10-15 hours.
The Rogue Prince of Persia Gameplay - 9/10
Even in its initial release, The Rogue Prince of Prince was already one of the more engaging roguelites with its dynamic and fluid movement and combat. The full release adds much-needed content to address its lack thereof and retains its fun factor with the addition of additional difficulties, mechanics, and more. However, slow load times and lackluster progression prevent it from being considered to enter the upper echelons of roguelites, as these issues harm the overall experience.
The Rogue Prince of Persia Visuals - 9/10
One of the main aspects that obviously improved was its character design, while retaining its comic-book style graphics. Additionally, backgrounds and stages look more detailed and vibrant, and each biome has its own color palette to showcase its unique charm and hazards. The only issue that I experienced was the visual clutter that arises when everything clicks, as these affect gameplay by quite a bit during intense encounters.
The Rogue Prince of Persia Audio - 9/10
The music is one of the main draws of the game, as it’s a modern fusion of trap beats and traditional Persian instruments and sounds to create a unique sound. Every track is borderline hypnotic, where a few minutes can instantly get you into that flow state to enhance the already-addicting gameplay. Outside of the music, the only regrettable thing is the lack of voice acting, as the story and dialogue could’ve used it to have more impact and be a bit more memorable with its long texts.
The Rogue Prince of Persia Value for Money - 9/10
Despite the many roguelites that have been released for the past few years, The Rogue Prince of Persia is a deal that I would still consider a steal. For $29.99 and with its 1.0 update, the game finally has enough content to rival its contemporaries and has an oozing sense of style and flow that hasn’t been matched since its initial release. The only issue that arises stems from its short runtime to complete the main story, since players who are mainly in it for the narrative may lose interest quickly than most roguelites.
The Rogue Prince of Persia Review: In For a Loop
It’s weird. I feel like I’ve already done this before…
It’s been more than a year since the release of Evil Empire’s newest roguelite, The Rogue Prince of Persia, and it feels just like it was yesterday since I tried it out. Since then, the game has had constant updates with additional content, visual overhauls, new mechanics, and more. More importantly, the game has finally landed on consoles with a Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 version on the way. How much has the game changed since? And is it even more worth purchasing now with the new updates that it has had?
It Looks Really Different
One of the main complaints that it originally had during its initial release was its art direction. Characters originally had a purple-ish tinted skin, which most players found bizarre. Since then, Evil Empire addressed this by reworking the art style and the designs of the many characters in the game, now having a more correct
skin tone.
Additionally, the backdrops and details of each biome were also updated and improved. Back during early access, each area already had an identity with its unique color palettes, but lacked detail. They aimed to rectify that as they made a visual overhaul to upholster and upgrade almost every graphical element in the game.
The Rogue Prince of Persia is a perfect example of a team that believed in its own art direction and sense of style, as they continued to iterate and improve on it. While the game has always had a stylized comic-book style look, the new updates that add more detail and give the game a darker tone make it look a lot stronger than it did initially.
The Third Act Closes the Curtain
The 1.0 update finally brings the story to a close, as the showdown with King Nogai is finally here. For the uninitiated, the story of the game revolves around the titular character and his duty to stop an invasion he accidentally started. With a special pendant that allows him to loop back in time after death, essentially granting him immortality, The Prince must piece together information he finds across different runs to save his family and ultimately save the kingdom.
The narrative as a whole is decent, one that I would say is marred by two things: the lack of voice acting and being a skill check.
If you’ve played the game before, you’d know that the story is very text-heavy and dialogue can take a while to get through. This isn’t a game breaker, but the whole story could’ve been improved if there were voice actors to add weight to the already high stakes, instead of imagining what the characters would sound like.
As for being a skill check, the game’s initial difficulty isn’t exactly hard, but getting stuck on certain levels and bosses will mean that you won’t be progressing through the story until you break through. In my experience, it took a little more time than expected to consistently get past the second main boss of the game, which meant that the story was stalled quite a bit at that point.
The Tunes Remain a Highlight
Back during its initial release last year, one of the main highlights was the music. It was a fusion of modern trap beats and traditional Persian instrumentals to create a different sound. As an avid fan of hip hop, I was immediately drawn to it and found myself listening to the soundtrack even after my gaming sessions.
The new areas and new tracks are of the same vein, and they remain as different and earwormy as the rest. I’ll have to leave it for you to experience the music of the game, as the new tracks are even crazier than the ones in early access.
Vayu’s Breath of Fresh Air
The next biggest highlight is the gameplay itself, specifically how combat and movement play off so well off of each other. Across its updates, new weapons, tools, and medallions were added to add more variety to gameplay.
First, let’s talk about the fluid movement. The Rogue Prince of Persia carries the series identity with its wall-running and natural platforming. There’s a certain learning curve in learning how the Prince moves and how the controls work, but when it clicks, it feels like you have all the freedom to move however you want. This is also emphasized in boss fights the most, as boss attacks will need you to move and dart around their respective arenas to dodge specific attacks.
One of the biggest additions to the combat mechanics is the new Vayu’s Breath gauge, a movement-focused mechanic. To explain it simply, it’s a speed buff that makes you go faster and changes your movement animations. This works in tandem with certain Medallions, or the game’s ability modifiers, and certain skills, as some of these grant you more damage, invincibility, and more.
The combination of both Vayu’s Breath and the already fluid movement makes for an experience of movement that I can only describe as liberating. Paired with the music’s rhythm, moving around feels like a deliberate dance with how smooth everything feels and how on beat the movements are.
On top of the satisfying movement mechanics, the weapons were already a big deal to change up how you synergize with the Medallions, as weapons like the Caestus, Censer, and the Chained Dagger are weapons that have wildly different playstyles.
The weapons are what make the game interesting. Each weapon has a specific condition that changes attacks to become critical hits when you satisfy its Critical Condition. For example, the Censer’s special attack lets you ignite the weapon and have an added burning effect to your attacks. This synergizes with its Critical Condition, where each third attack of the basic attack combo on burning enemies will automatically crit.
Some weapons have simpler conditions, like the Double Daggers, which require you to Vault or dodge over an opponent to instantly crit against enemies. This, in conjunction with the Medallion system, which is essentially the game’s way of adding modifiers to your various abilities, makes each run interesting as finding the correct synergy with what you have is the name of the game.
All of these, in combination, make for a very flow-state-heavy type of game; one that is backed by a stunning backdrop and near-hypnotic music tracks to help you get into it.
A Few Missteps
While the overall experience is mostly fun, there are a couple of issues that the game has. One gameplay-related issue is its longer-than-average load times, which can directly break the pacing of the game as you wait for areas to load before you can start moving again. It’s not like the load times are insanely long, but they’re noticeable enough to take you out of the trance.
Another is the lackluster progression of the skill trees and the unlockables, as you only really need a few good runs to unlock almost everything early on. After unlocking early items, progression starts to slow down due to the lack of items to spend your currency on. The skill tree, in general, feels very lackluster outside of giving you extra lives, as you can play the game completely the same way every time, even with different skills active.
Last but not least, one issue that can be pointed out is the game’s short narrative. This culminates in a considerable number of runs, but having access to the game’s secret or true epilogue within that short of a time frame for a roguelite feels like they could’ve done more. Sure, it doesn’t overstay its welcome and is wrapped up quite nicely, but it feels like a waste that the story can be finished over the course of 9-10 hours.
All of these aren’t deal breakers, for the most part. But these are things that do affect the overall experience.
Just In Time
To answer the questions posed earlier, The Rogue Prince of Persia has changed quite a lot, and it’s absolutely worth trying even more than it ever was a year ago. After its stint in early access, it feels like it just achieved its maximum potential and prime just in time. In recent years, we’ve seen a fair number of games that have clicked with movement mechanics, like Celeste, Ori, Ghostrunner, and more. The Rogue Prince of Persia is another one you can add to that list, as the focus on speed and flow is integral to the gameplay experience. Combine that with equally satisfying combat and synergies with the Medallion system, and you have a recipe for success that can carry a series’ legacy to the future.
Is The Rogue Prince of Persia Worth It?
Yes! Even More Worth It Than Before!
The Rogue Prince of Persia is a game that’s absolutely worth it for the price on any platform that you wish. Those who’ve been looking for a game similar to Dead Cells should look no further, as the spiritual successor is here to keep you entertained.
For $29.99, the game sports a unique sense of style, an addictive gameplay loop, and a mesmerizing music score that’ll keep bobbing your head as you move through the game’s biomes. While it does have a few issues with loading, progression, and its short runtime, it has enough endgame content and difficulty levels to keep you playing even after you’ve finished the story.
In a span of a year, Evil Empire has shown its dedication to improving the game continually, and it shows. The Rogue Prince of Persia is a title that easily rivals most roguelites out there with its visual flair, catchy music, and fluid movement, and it’s even more worth it than ever to get started and stop the Hun invasion.
| Digital Storefronts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
Playstation |
Xbox |
Switch |
| $29.99 | Coming Soon | ||
The Rogue Prince of Persia FAQ
Will The Rogue Prince of Persia be released for the Nintendo Switch?
Yes. The developers of Evil Empire have confirmed that the game will be released on both the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Switch 2. As of writing, they have not specified a release date, but it was confirmed to be released sometime in 2025.
Does The Rogue Prince of Persia Have Voice Acting?
No. It does not. While the Prince grunts and yells from time to time, cutscenes and dialogue do not feature any voices.
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The Rogue Prince of Persia Product Information
 |
|
| Title | THE ROGUE PRINCE OF PERSIA |
|---|---|
| Release Date | August 20, 2025 (1.0 Update) May 27, 2024 (Early Access) |
| Developer | Evil Empire |
| Publisher | Ubisoft |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam, Xbox Game Pass), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S |
| Genre | Action, Platformer, Roguelike |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | T |
| Official Website | The Rogue Prince of Persia Website |
