With The Rogue Prince of Persia’s 1.0 out now, the sport has remodeled dramatically since its early entry debut due to a stream of considerable updates. Starting as a promising however barebones expertise, The Rogue Prince of Persia now appears to be like poised to win over gamers and critics alike. Listed here are 15 issues to know earlier than diving into this roguelike journey.
What’s it?
Think about a 2D side-scroller with the platforming aptitude, the cel-shaded artstyle and fight depth and gameplay loop of Useless Cells and also you’ve received The Rogue Prince of Persia nailed on. Evil Empire are growing this one, and their pedigree within the style is shining all through The Rogue Prince’s current gameplay footage.
Does it have a narrative?
While The Rogue Prince’s trendy fight supplies the sport’s fundamental hook, there’s nonetheless a story basis supporting the motion. In line with the sport’s Steam web page, the journey begins with the Prince awaking in an Oasis exterior of Persia’s capital metropolis the place a livid battle with magic-wielding invaders rages on. Racing to halt the bloodshed, the Prince uncovers new paths, meets allies, and unlocks data – you understand, the hallmarks of roguelike, non-linear design. Each dying sends the Prince again to the Oasis, able to go once more.
The Medallion System
The Medallion System in The Rogue Prince of Persia affords a set of distinctive skills and highly effective buffs so as to add strategic depth to each run. Discovered by way of blueprints, finishing challenges, and buying from Pachi within the Oasis hub, the Prince can equip as much as 4 Medallions concurrently. All the pieces from growing weapon harm to launching elemental assaults and vitality restoration is roofed, with Medallions upgradeable if all slots are full. Selection and association are essential; Medallion results enlarge because the Prince collects extra, encouraging distinctive synergy-focused builds and playstyles.
Traversal
The Rogue Prince of Persia closely emphasises fluid, fast-paced, acrobatic traversal. The Rogue Prince runs alongside partitions, vaults barricades and enemies, grinds parapets, and slides down poles, all while sprinting, dashing, leaping, and somersaulting in a exact moveset that’s seamlessly built-in into each exploration and fight.
Fight
Fluid motion and the Medallion System’s strategic depth coalesce right into a dance of rapid-fire melee and acrobatic parkour in The Rogue Prince of Persia’s fight. The Prince wields a major weapon – swords, daggers, axes, and the like – with assist from a ranged choice together with bows and chakrams. Every weapon within the Prince’s arsenal is upgradeable, and options distinctive combo alternatives. The sport’s central motion expands throughout fight to embody kicks, stomps, and the aforesaid vaults which might stun or reposition enemies.
Out of early entry
The Rogue Prince of Persia 1.0 launch has now purchased its early entry interval to an in depth. Rising on Steam again in Could 2024, the sport debuted as an intriguing however under-realised roguelike elevated by its trendy fight. Evil Empire has been grafting away since then, doubling the sport’s content material by a string of sizeable updates. Now, with its 1.0 launch, The Rogue Prince of Persia is wholly unrecognisable from the barebones expertise gamers first encountered.
Platforms and PC necessities
All through its early entry interval, The Rogue Prince of Persia has been PC unique, however now it’s additionally accessible on PS5, Swap, Swap 2 and Xbox Collection X and S. For now, minimal PC necessities as per The Rogue Prince’s Steam web page particulars Intel Core i5-4460 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 3.2GHz processors, Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 or AMD RX 550 XT GPUs, 8GB RAM, and 5GB storage.
June 2024 Replace
From right here on we’ll define the content material that was added by way of The Rogue Prince’s extra substantial early entry updates. Coming in June 2024 was a brand new biome, plus new traps, new weapons, new enemies, and the addition of meta development. The latter launched the flexibility to spend Spirit Glimmers on everlasting upgrades in direction of most well being, assault harm, potion retention, and extra.
Warrior’s Ascension (August 24)
The first focus of the Warrior’s Ascension replace was to enhance the roguelike gameplay loop. Launched on this August 2024 replace was a string of problem modifiers – dubbed The Awakening – which mix as they unlock to progressively enhance the sport’s problem. Additionally, new expertise had been added to the talent tree, a brand new forex – Corrupted Blood – arrived, a brand new knife throwing enemy, and refinements to the Prince’s kick animations, together with a totally satisfying projectile replicate.
Weapons Inside (September 24)
Tripling the arsenal on the Prince’s disposal was September 2024’s Weapons Inside replace. In all, 13 new weapons had been added while seven current weapons had been re-worked, and the Falcata sword was eliminated. Bug fixes, talent tree additions, UI and menu tweaks, and gameplay rebalances fleshed out what was already a major replace.
Second Act replace (November 2024)
Between September and November 2024’s updates, Evil Empire added fifty new Medallions to the Medallion System, however seeing as we’ve already touched upon these we’re diving straight into the Second Act replace. Right here is the place two new biomes, two new bosses, new enemies, save factors, and story act had been launched. Essentially the most substantial replace thus far, Second Act additionally offered steadiness tweaks, high quality of life enhancements, language assist, and an overhaul of the sport’s artwork model.
Forgotten Skins (February 2025)
A brand new pores and skin system with thirty 5 new skins is the headline addition in February 2025’s Forgotten Skins replace, though reality be instructed this replace included fairly the breadth of adjustments. A brand new XP system linked to talent factors and talent timber made its debut right here alongside a few new weapons, a brand new instrument, merchandise rerolls, and additional high quality of life enhancements.
The Unleashed Military (April 2025)
Elite baddies made their debut in April 2025’s The Unleashed Military replace. Showing in each biome after a participant’s fourth run, Elites are greater, stronger, and more durable to take down in comparison with regular enemies. Showing in six totally different guises, the aura-wrapped Elites exhibit particular traits such because the Gold Elite who steals the Prince’s gold to grow to be stronger or the Smoker Elite who conceals themselves inside a gray smog.
Energy and Fury (Could 2025)
Right here is the place builds and synergies had been refined to be at their most intuitive and highly effective. Medallions had been overhauled; their results now simpler to grasp and thus how their addition will reshape builds. Traversal controls had been revamped right here too, fostering a smoother, snappier really feel when hurtling over ledges, vaulting, and dashing. Descriptively, Evil Empire outlines decreasing a ‘magnetic’ really feel when the Prince slides down poles and sprints throughout partitions.
High quality of Life (June 2025)
The final of The Rogue Prince of Persia’s important early entry updates earlier than 1.0 releases is what the staff describe as a High quality of Life replace. Included is the flexibility to ban objects inside a sure class of weapon in the event that they don’t gel with an meant playstyle. Mini maps and world maps had been up to date with new info, tutorials had been compended, and excessive degree story goal reminders had been put in place. The High quality of Life replace is meant to go away the sport in the very best place earlier than the ultimate push to August’s full launch.
