The Rogue Prince of Persia takes the franchise back to its side-scrolling roots, now with a roguelike twist. Its gameplay can be challenging to get a hold of, and small mistakes can cost you large amounts of progress. The game's design also plays closer to traditional roguelikes, providing very little in the way of permanent 'upgrades'.
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PostsAction games aren't immune to strategy, and knowing the right responses to what the game throws at you will let you defeat the Huns and save Persia in less than a day. Here are a few tips to help you find your feet and master the mechanics.
Dodge Into Enemies And Not Away
The animation for vaulting over enemies feels slow, but you are fully invulnerable, even against explosive attacks.
Attempting the same dodge without a nearby enemy gives a weaker dash without invulnerability. Some ranged attackers are made easier to handle if you keep a melee enemy that you can bounce off.
The weakness of vaulting is that you'll always end in the same spot behind the enemy. For example, General Berude will punish you if you vault over her with attacks that hit behind her.
Use Kicks When Outnumbered
Any time you have to deal with more than one enemy at a time, the kick is a better opening attack than most weapons. It can break shields, stun multiple enemies, and activate medallions.
Kicks are also the main way of dealing environmental damage, knocking people off cliffs and into traps for instant kills. With the right circumstances, a kick will consistently kill enemies faster than attacking them with weapons.
Spend Health As A Currency
Most people are going to fall into spike pits a few times when trying the optional jumping puzzles and trap rooms that ask for your health. It's pretty tempting the first time you find one to leave it for when you're better at the platforming elements.
However, we recommend you accept the fact you're going to lose a few hundred hitpoints because the rewards will typically pay off. Blueprints for unlocking new charms and weapons are largely gated behind these platforming puzzles.
The altars that sacrifice HP for rewards will never take more than you have. You can use this to get a large discount by spending all but one of your HP and then healing afterwards.
Match Your Playstyle To The Gear You Find
People are going to click with certain playstyles, and sometimes the gear you find won't line up with that. Certain weapons and tools won't match with specific approaches, and you'll have to either take under-leveled gear or change your playstyle to match what gear you're offered.
For example, vaulting over enemies and hitting them in the back works great for most weapons, but the bagh nakh dashes forward whenever you land a killing blow. if you try to backstab using them, you can pierce through the enemy and collide with an attack you just dodged.
Also, the whirling spear deals reduced damage if you're too close to an enemy, and its slower speed makes it harder to stagger enemies with. You need to adjust how you position yourself to make use of it.
Use High Ground To Your Advantage
Most enemies move in one dimension. They'll walk left and right but can't climb or jump more than a small ledge. Making use of this entire extra dimension gives you a lot of choices about how to approach them and ways you can avoid dangerous melees.
- If there's a background wall, you can use this to set up diving attacks or retreat back for hit-and-run tactics.
- If there are adjacent platforms, you can stand safely on them and use ranged attacks.
- If the enemy isn't in your way, you can go around them entirely.
The same also applies in reverse: Ifan enemy is on higher ground, it's very easy for them to dislodge the Prince trying to climb up to them.
Enemies Have Counters To Specific Approaches
Even the basic enemies found in the first few levels have defined strengths and weak points. You'll want to be careful about how you approach certain enemies and potentially choose different level paths to avoid the ones that are strong against you.
- The spear-wielding enemies found in the Hun camp can easily counter-dive attacks.
- The axe-wielding basic soldiers have a small amount of backswing in their basic attacks that can catch you while standing behind them.
- The ranged spellcasters in the academy can hit you through walls and obstacles, preventing you from finding safe places to stand still.
Weapon Stats Can Be Misleading
The DPS of a weapon can be a poor metric of how effective it is or how well it matches your playstyle, but it's the main metric you're offered until you take some time to learn how each one plays. Take time with each new weapon to get a feel for its range and speed before you make a judgment on which to use.
This is especially true for tools, your secondary weapons. Some can hit multiple times with a single cast, others use more or less energy per cast, deal damage at range, or expand the Prince's movement options. The more important factor than damage is how well they match your equipped medallions and playstyle.
Plan Your Medallions Ahead Of Time
You have no way of knowing what medallions will appear in a run, but you want to plan ahead with each one you find. Place medallions on the left and right that let you get one slot up to three points, letting you make full use of a strong medallion if you find one.
Elemental synergies between your medallions are also a strong game plan. Combining status effects like resin and fire gives more powerful statuses that can single-handedly take out groups of enemies.
Play Around Your Limits
Spirit glimmers, the currency used for unlocking upgrades at camp is only maintained when you are able to bank it at a fountain. You're also able to destroy these fountains for extra glimmers, but have no guarantee of reaching the next fountain.
Weigh up the amount of health and the state of your equipment when you reach a fountain and choose carefully whether you want to save your progress or double down. You might have to win a boss fight before encountering a second fountain.
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