Prince of Persia has long toyed with time, often having its hero rewind it to undo mistakes or travel through it to reach the past, righting a wrong in the present. The Sands of Time are at the heart of the series no matter the era or game in the last 20 years, but a Groundhog Day-style time loop? I’m surprised it’s taken us this long to broach the idea.

The Rogue Prince of Persia, developed by Dead Cells’ Evil Empire, is a roguelike sidescroller in which a new Prince, distinct from the Sands and 2008 reboot continuities, must stop the Huns’ magical invasion. But as the Prince is fresh in the face and the foes he’s fighting are often hulking bruisers ten times his size, he has a safety net that allows him to wake up in camp at the exact same moment every time he ‘dies’.

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Using the series’ signature time-bending mechanics to explain the roguelite loop is a clever spin, but there’s far more Prince of Persia DNA here than just that. While RPoP (not the most catchy abbreviation) plays incredibly close to Dead Cells, in that it focuses on fluid movement and speedy combat, it meticulously reworks the signature parkour of the 3D era for the new 2D format.

You can wall run, jump back and forth between platforms, and leap across bars. The parts of the environment you can interact with are incredibly intuitive, making this part of the game’s language easy to master. The background—which is made up of beautiful pastel colours—is blurred and distant, while the parts you can interact with layer on top with more prominent and readable visuals that don’t compromise on the aesthetic.

Introducing Prince of Persia’s signature parkour mechanics to Dead Cell’s robust hack-and-slash gameplay spruces up exploration, adding more verticality to each level while ensuring that secret, tucked-away treasure troves are more rewarding to find. They’re often the result of difficult climbing segments which, while challenging, are fair should you fail. Falling headfirst into spikes isn’t game over, it simply costs you some health and sends you back to the last platform.

Combat itself is unbelievably gratifying to master. Some enemies have shields that can be instantly shattered by kicking other enemies at them or slamming into them from above, and you can leap over their heads to get out of the way of attacks. Stringing these different base abilities together makes each fight an alluring dance as you can swing your sword at one, leap over the other, and kick the last into the void, among other acrobatics.

There’s a lot to balance, but bosses rely on you having mastered these different skills in conjunction with parkour to overcome them, turning each run into a practice gauntlet that makes even defeat satisfying as you feel yourself improving with each loop.

Despite such a strong foundation, with RPoP in early access, things feel barebones right now. In just 12 hours, I already have a firm grasp on each level. They don’t feel nearly as varied as I’d expect from a roguelike. Even mixing and matching weapons and abilities—which I was able to unlock incredibly fast from the hub—doesn’t do much to differentiate each run. Roguelikes thrive on synergy, but most of the discoverable upgrades felt like flourishes more than dramatic alterations.

The story isn’t much to write home about right now either. Narrative has never been the series’ strong suit—The Lost Crown’s was pretty forgettable even if that sits comfortably as my Game of the Year right now—but what stands out most when looking back at all of the best Prince of Persia games are the characters. Right now, RPoP’s blend together, dumping uninteresting exposition as they invite us for another tired chat after another loss.

Early on, returning to camp means everyone forgetting what you just went through, offering the Prince a chance to show off their character as they’re forced to repeat the same conversation day after day. It’s teetering on meta, the Prince right alongside us in starting the same game over from scratch and wanting to skip through all of the beginning fluff. But what the characters talk about is hardly memorable, and before you know it, a nice bubble keeps everyone in camp in tune with your own personal timeline anyway.

There’s no voice acting, so the lack of character is only worsened by the lack of memorable performances to carry them. In the throws of tight runs where I was on the cusp of finally overcoming a boss fight, I often ran past NPCs who wanted to talk, finding their nonsensical and bland dialogue to be more of an interruption than a fun break between loops.

It’s literally early days right now, so hopefully Rogue Prince of Persia will cultivate a stronger identity and a more striking cast as it develops, because standing in the same genre as Hades with buttered toast for allies is like diving into the lion’s enclosure covered in slabs of ham.

Rogue Prince of Persia is off to an unbelievably strong start, but it has a long way to go yet. The foundations laid out are promising, especially knowing how far Dead Cells grew into one of the best roguelikes in the genre, but with a lack of variety between runs and a dull story tying it together, it’s hard to stay engaged in this Prince’s unending quest for too long.

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The Rogue Prince of Persia

Action-Adventure Roguelike Systems OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 79/100 Critics Rec: 70% Released May 14, 2024 ESRB t Developer(s) Evil Empire Publisher(s) Ubisoft Engine Unity Franchise Prince of Persia
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The Rogue Prince of Persia takes the classic platforming gameplay and adds an exciting roguelite layer, with the aforementioned Prince taking to the streets of the capital to save Persia from the Huns.

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