The Rogue Prince of Persia: Early Access Hands-on
While an entire fandom has held its breath for the return of a Greek pantheon, Evil Empire has been plodding away on another vania-mania, biome-focused roguelike in The Rogue Prince of Persia. And it is every bit as slippery as I remember Prince of Persia to be, and every bit as fast-paced as I remember Dead Cells to be.
Placing these two experiences together sometimes feels dire. I am not entirely used to the number of traps that I experienced in each biome – each rope and pole to aid our hero is countered by spikes extruding from every surface, spinning discs whirring in the path of my mid-air antics, or the uncontrollable propulsion of the aqueducts as the city remains as an eerie still backdrop. There have been far too many moments when I have felt out of control, too many times that I dashed instead of jumped, or jumped instead of parkoured, and too many moments that I have died.
In most roguelikes, I can just rely on an immediate reactive button press to be the correct one. I can dash to safety, or jump to the reliable ledge to make my next move. There is a delight in the little jolt of adrenaline that you experience when you know that you have mitigated disaster, and then it dissipates as you continue to strategise your next combative interaction. In paying a reasonable homage to its intellectual predecessors, The Rogue does not have the decency to let that adrenaline dissipate. Enemies are reasonably straightforward to hit with whatever weapon you have at hand, but the terrain always tries to present a challenge.
I still cannot tell if it is delightful or infuriating, and I assume that only with my increased skill will I be able to glean an answer to that question.
Even as I write this, I am in merry hysterics about the protagonist’s movement. I am captivated by the swiftness of the Prince’s dash and dodge animations and their reactiveness to the presence of a foe. I also love the Prince running along walls as he traverses a Hun war camp and its stocky soldiers – a cute homage to his Sands of Time counterpart and a key movement mechanic for Evil Empire’s entry to the franchise. But I think that the Prince is still recovering after Leg Day because, while he progresses through maps smoothly, his run animation has him plodding into the ground with either glorious purpose or quadricep fatigue.
In fairness, it was an animation that I rarely saw as I flitted through dashing and wall-running and attacking everything in sight. The Rogue has a robust set of primary and secondary weapons, recruiting classic daggers and bows that hit without hindrance and progressing towards whirring spears and chakrams that strike multiple times. Primary weapons facilitate combination attacks to eviscerate your foes, whereas your secondary weapons also hide useful grappling tools that pull enemies to yourself or yourself to the enemy. As you progress through each biome, equipment chests will challenge you to decide whether to take an upgraded weapon or a completely different weapon type.
Passives in The Rogue are provided through medallions, which you can equip up to four at a time. These medallions create their own unique area effects to stunned, kicked, or shield-broken enemies. The medallions cater to classic fire and poison effects that damage enemies over time and also introduce goopy resin to cover a radius of the ground surrounding the enemy. How you equip the medallions is key as they interact with each other to either enhance or diminish the effects of medallions surrounding it. With over 30 medallions available during the early access launch, there are plenty of options to experiment with.
As enemies are sent on their way, you pick up Spirit Glimmers, which you can use back at your oasis camp to unlock weapons and medallions. Retaining Spirit Glimmers is an interesting problem, as you can bank them only once in each biome at a specific location. This is one of a few activities that require some backtracking, which Evil Empire caters for by dispersing Wells of Dreams throughout each biome – similar to Dead Cells, these wells allow you to return to healing pools or merchants or even difficult terrain that you want to try again with improved skill.
All in all, the early access release of The Rogue has plenty to distinguish itself as a challenging adventure through Persia and allow for the promise of even more as the game develops further. Not only is there a reasonable armory available now, and adequate medallions to unlock, but there is also the benefit of procedurally generated levels and an early choice of biomes for the first and second levels. You can try your hand at two challenging bosses that highlight many of the core game mechanics and then return to the oasis to try again with new combinations. Dead Cells fans will see this as a small and charming compliment to their favourite roguelite-vania, and fans who are looking to tear themselves away from other isometric roguelikes will find a refreshing opportunity to develop different proficiencies in their favourite genre.
