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The Rogue Prince of Persia
The Rogue Prince of Persia
Developer(s)	Evil Empire
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Director(s)	Lucie Dewagnier
Artist(s)	Dylan Eurlings
Composer(s)	ASADI
Series	Prince of Persia
Platform(s)	Windows;
Release	27 May 2024; (early access)
Genre(s)	Roguelike, platform
Mode(s)	Single-player

The Rogue Prince of Persia is an upcoming roguelike platform game developed by Evil Empire and published by Ubisoft. Part of the Prince of Persia series, the game was released in May 2024 in an early access state for Windows.

Gameplay

The Rogue Prince of Persia is a 2D side-scrolling game focused on an unnamed character known simply as the Prince. The Prince has access to a number of parkour moves, such as wall jumping, wall running, swinging and jumping off poles, and more. Combat involves melee and ranged attacks, kicks that send enemies backwards, and dodging by vaulting over enemies. The prince is armed with a primary and a secondary weapon, and his loadout can be changed freely even in combat. As players progress in the game, they will collect Medallions which can be further used to augment the Prince's weapons.^[1] Levels in the game are also procedurally generated.^[2]

The game also features roguelike elements. The Prince has a mysterious artifact that allows him to time travel, enabling him to avoid permanent death and return to a hub area named "The Oasis" where he can restock potions and upgrade his skills and weapons.^[3] Enemies will drop coins, which can be used to collect new weapons and restore health items during combat, and chests containing new weapons can be found during gameplay.^[4] The game also features a "Memory Board" which tracks the Prince's interactions with the game's cast of supporting characters, some of whom will provide additional information on a level's layout and secrets.^[5]

Plot

The game takes place in and around the city of Ctesiphon. After the Prince provokes the Hun army, their chief, Nogai, sends an army of possessed soldiers to destroy the city, which the Prince is tasked with preventing.

Development

The Rogue Prince of Persia was developed by Evil Empire, the co-developer of Dead Cells's downloadable content packs. The studio pitched the project to license owner Ubisoft during the alpha stage of the development of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. While the game had no connections to other Prince of Persia games, the team identified the key gameplay pillars of past games (namely fast traversal, acrobatic combat and trap-filled environments), and sought to recreate them in a roguelike game. The team was also in close contact with the developers of The Lost Crown to ensure that the two games were distinct from each other. The team briefly experimented with a mechanic that allowed players to briefly unwind time to undo smaller mistakes in combat or transversal, similar to the Sands of Time trilogy, though this feature was scrapped because the team felt that it broke the rhythm of combat.^[4] The combat in the game was designed to be challenging but accessible for players who are new to the gameplay format.^[5]

Release

The game was officially announced during the Triple-i Initiative showcase in April 2024.^[6] While set to be released through Steam's early access program on May 14, 2024.^[7] the surprise release of Supergiant Games' Hades II on May 6 led Evil Empire to push back the release of The Rogue to later in the month, stating "We are not prideful enough to ignore the implications of that, and we truly believe that this short delay is the best decision for us and our Early Access journey. We also want to give Hades 2 a head start before we start running, it's only fair."^[8] The early access version includes the first of the three acts planned for the final game.^[4]