Prince of Persia is one of those series that seems to ebb and flow with the passage of time. In 2024, Ubisoft dropped The Rogue Prince of Persia into Early Access, developed by Evil Empire of Dead Cells fame. Finally hitting full release in 2025, the roguelite game was soon followed by console ports and even received a physical release a few months after that. With it now out in full and on all platforms, it seems like a good time to ask if the Prince is still worthy of royalty or if his new advisors have taken him down a rogue path.
Sands of Time
The story begins with the Prince trying to stop the Huns from attacking Persia. He’s quickly overwhelmed by their leader, Nogai, who wields powerful magic. After suffering defeat, the Prince wakes at the start of the invasion again, saved by a magical Bola. Now, he must exploit this timeloop to stop Nogai and uncover why he’s trapped in this roguelite scenario.
Across multiple loops, you meet characters who aid your quest and provide context for past and present events. Each has a distinct, well-written personality with an air of mystery. Unfortunately, the main narrative feels weak compared to genre standouts like Hades 2. It lacks the compelling hook that keeps you returning after every defeat.
While the story somewhat trips and stumbles, Evil Empire have certainly made sure the gameplay is up to the lofty standards of their previous releases. A little extra flourish has been added to separate this title from feeling like a clone of the seminal roguelite title they worked on (Dead Cells) and worthy of holding court in the Prince of Persia’s long-running history.
Warrior Within
As the name implies, The Rogue Prince of Persia is, when boiled down to basics, a roguelite game with Prince of Persia elements. If you are familiar with the later titles in the series like the Sands of Time trilogy and are expecting that, you will see flashes of it here. Interestingly, the gradual progression pacing of the roguelite is almost nostalgic when you look back at the original Prince of Persia, a game designed around a short timer and slowly learning more about the challenges until you finally beat the Vizier and save the day.
The Rogue Prince of Persia plays in the style of a 2D platformer, with the main “Prince of Persia” aspect of the gameplay coming from the phenomenal movement options on offer. There is a real focus on speed and acrobatics in this title, with the prince being able to wall run, flip from pole to pole, wall jump with ease, and even flip over enemies to exploit their weak points. The main mechanic relies on fluidity: the more smoothly you string these moves together, the faster a meter fills. When this bar is full, you become much faster. This creates an excellent flow to the gameplay, fostering a stronger focus on speed and momentum rather than tanking hits and hoping for the best.
You have a primary and a secondary weapon, both of which are given at the start of a run. You can find more and upgrade them as you speedily make your way to the center of Persia for your rematch with Nogai. These all play wildly differently from each other. One of the major pulls for the game is trying to find the best weapon loadout to match your playstyle. While the combat is basic in terms of actual combos, the weapons are so distinct that each run can provide a completely different experience.
Alongside your weaponry, you will also come across medallions which offer passive changes for the prince. The goal here is to create the build that works best with your weapons and playstyle to ensure victory. You will find effects like enhancing damage on critical hits or providing a certain percentage chance to negate damage received. These effects get stronger with the rarity of the medallion found and are often directly tied to your success or failure.
The Shadow and The Flame
While you can choose the biomes you explore until you reach the end, the level layouts themselves are randomly generated. This means that sometimes the levels can have a much stronger focus on platforming aspects, while other times you can visit the same area as a previous run and have to take on an army of foes. I did start to notice a few areas repeat sections, but for the most part, the game manages to feel fresh in its layout at least 80% of the time.
As previously mentioned, you will meet characters throughout the levels who can offer hints about events happening in new areas. You can also find notes that unveil the plans of the Hun. When you find these, you can unlock new biomes that offer even more environments to flip, run, and fight through. Visiting all of these is required to help solve the mystery behind the events. They are unlocked at a gradual pace, which keeps you coming back for breadcrumbs of new content. This makes each run feel not only unique but worthwhile.
Since The Rogue Prince of Persia is a roguelite and not a full roguelike, the game has a couple of unlockable systems that keep upgrades consistent between your runs. One allows you to use a currency to improve your base stats, giving you more health and meter build, while the other allows you to unlock more weapons and medallions for your runs. All of this just gives you more incentive to pick the game up again after you have failed a run; it just means that it’s time to hit the upgrades and then head right back into the fray with your newly acquired skills and weapons.
Arabian Nights
The Rogue Prince of Persia is an absolute marvel in motion. Screenshots really do not do the game justice; it is vibrant and colorful, with a rather unique art direction making it look somewhat like a painting. It is a strange mixture of minimal design that also has some real depth when you look into it a little more. This style is ideal for a game designed to be played at the same speed as a certain blue blur.
The animations are buttery smooth throughout. While you might think it would be tough to keep up with everything happening on screen, it never once feels like there is too much going on. After your first run or two, you will be adapted to the on-screen action, easily picking up on how to respond to the various flashes and warning marks indicating that an attack is coming your way.
I played the game on the Nintendo Switch 2 and couldn’t be happier to tell you it ran at what feels like a flawless 60 fps throughout. A game that relies so much on speed and fluidity could have easily been broken by poor performance. Fortunately, The Rogue Prince of Persia had a performance that felt like a fixed framerate without compromising in-game visuals.
Verdict
The Rogue Prince of Persia is an absolutely gripping experience with a unique movement system and just enough lessons learned from the genre to keep you coming back for “one more run” until the early hours of the morning. Your first successful run will likely come quicker than in most titles from the genre, but there are plenty of ways to make the game a much tougher and grueling experience should you need to feed your masochistic side.
It’s quite sad that the Sands of Time Remake got cancelled, but The Rogue Prince of Persia does a fantastic job of not only healing that wound but offering another standout title not only in the franchise but in the roguelite genre as a whole. All hail the prince!
THE ROGUE PRINCE OF PERSIA IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
If you are looking for another action-platformer, check out our review of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance.
Many thanks go to Ubisoft for a Nintendo Switch 2 review code for The Rogue Prince of Persia.
Pride of utopia & greatest thing ever, I found the One Piece, Collected the Dragon Balls & won the Mortal Kombat Tournament in one night, it was quiet for me that night! Follow me on Twitter @powahdunk
