Review - The Rogue Prince of Persia... Straight Outta Hades

 

Image courtesy of Evil Empire

I think it might be rare that I come across a game that has no connection to my childhood in any fashion. The original Prince of Persia was released in the 80's, with the most famous adaptations coming after Ubisoft purchased the franchise rights in the early 2000's. This also led to a film adaptation with Jake Gyllenhaal, and the rest is - as they say - history. Persian history, at least.

  For whatever reason, I was never really into trying the games. That changed with the day one release of The Rogue Prince of Persia on Playstation Plus.

  I've been a fan of roguelite games for a little while now. Hades is a lot of fun, and Children of Morta is just plain incredible. I was more than eager to try a roguelite that would involve some sidescrolling and platformer action, and The Rogue Prince of Persia did not disappoint.

  Evil Empire's take on the Ubisoft-published franchise involves a new prince, as most of the iterations of the series have. Like many of his predecessors, the Prince (as that's simply what he's called) is arrogant and brash. What separates this young man from the rest is the fact that he has an amulet that prevents his demise. Anytime he dies, he wakes up again on the same morning that he last awoke on. This comes in handy when the Huns invade his lands and begin kidnapping/massacring his people on the whims of a tyrannical leader that has stumbled on a mind-changing substance that looks like a black ooze. It's not the most historically accurate portrayal of Persia... but I guess no one asked Ahura Mazda his feelings on the subject, anyway.

The Good

The visuals of the game are fun. I loved the art style and the wonky colors that don't seem like they should go with the time period, but somehow do. Evil Empire did a great job with all the artistic choices made, from the stills of dialogue between the Prince and other characters to him doing the traditional wall-running that all Persian princes are famous for.

  The audio components of the game are very fitting. The soundtrack is composed by Asadi, and contains a mash-up of traditional Persian influence in the music he brings to the table. He utilizes a setar and a mandolin to deliver an ancient feel, tying it all together with electronic sound mixing. It makes for a great little soundtrack to complement every move the Prince makes across his Hun-ass-kicking journey.

  Gameplay is where Evil Empire's game truly shines. The button-mapping makes perfect sense, and gives a sense of flow from beginning to end that only increases in its fluidity the more the Prince dies and resurrects. The game is just plain fun. This is certainly more than I can say about the slog that is the The Lost Crown. I would rather play all the way through The Rogue Prince of Persia a couple more times than pick up on Sargon's journey again.

The Bad

I think a bit more could have been done to distinguish this game from the others in the same vein. There are so many roguelikes, roguelites, rogues, and rogue-types that come out nowadays, a company has to do what they can in order to keep a polish on their own that will look a bit better than spitshine.

   In a narrative sense, the game hits all the notes that it needs to but restrains itself from exploring them. It covers the reason for the amulet and how the "world" works. Every rogue-type game needs to have some kind of reason for why the characters can't die, and the amulet just happens to be the one that Evil Empire went with. It's fine, and it's actually incorporated into the story a bit. On top of the amulet, The Prince's interactions with his mysterious guide give us a sense of purpose, and each return to the Persian battlefield comes with a new goal in mind to push everything forward. This is further honed by a "Mind Map" in the menu that aids in keeping the player on track with the quests and lore. But if you need a map to remember the minimal lore that Evil Empire is giving us, there might be some short-term memory loss issues going on. There is just not a whole lot to delve into. The game itself is only around 12-14 hours long, so don't expect a deep-dive that'll last more than a few days of playing.

  My other main qualm has to do with the absence of a voice cast. While the music is actually pretty incredible, that's going to be the only thing you'll be listening to minus the generic soundbites of kicks and sword-swinging. Every line of dialogue is read by the player. Nothing vocalized. I struggled with where to put this between The Good and The Bad, because honestly it's hard to say that I lean either way. I've played plenty of games that require a LOT more reading than this one, and I've been perfectly content with the set up. That said, I've also played Hades and experienced its pointed similarities to The Rogue Prince of Persia. All the lines in the former were vocalized, and they helped to form the characters and their motivations better than the latter.

The Adequate

Overall, I believe that The Rogue Prince of Persia is one of the more interesting entries into the franchise. It's definitely the one that captured my attention the most. While not without its flaws, the gameplay saves Evil Empire's game from the middling bin. 

7/10

Good Enough

For a look into my own historical fiction, with quite a bit more groundedness, check out this excerpt from my book The Cost of a Crown.