Info about The Rogue Prince of Persia:

Official game description:
_The Rogue Prince of Persia_ is an action-platformer roguelite that takes the iconic wall-run and acrobatic combat from the beloved _Prince of Persia_ series and crams it into a juicy, fast-paced, ‘just one more run’ adventure by Evil Empire – a studio that cut its teeth working on post-launch content for one of the most acclaimed action roguelites out there.
Flow seamlessly between platforming and combat, using your acrobatic skill to outmaneuver and outsmart your enemies. Run on the walls to open new routes of attack, avoid traps and explore hard to reach areas, or chain it with kicks, dodges and stomps to fight through swathes of enemies without a scratch. 
Awakening in an Oasis outside the capital after a furious battle with magic-wielding invaders, you rush to the city to stop the brutal invasion. When you die, your mysterious bola returns you back in time to the Oasis, ready to throw yourself into the fray again and again. Discover new areas, characters and knowledge through non-linear storytelling as you strive to find a way to save Persia. 
Switch between a wide variety of deadly weapons during each run and equip & upgrade medallions to enhance both them and your moveset, unleashing devastating synergies. Change your loadout mid-run to adapt to new challenges or stick with your favourites – the choice is yours! 
New weapons, medallions, difficulty modifiers & more are unlocked with each run, so there’s always something new to explore. Every level is also procedurally generated - renewing the challenge with each foray into the city. 
Join us for the game's evolution and be part of the community as we create the best possible version of the game together, and add more story acts, levels, enemies, bosses, weapons & more through frequent updates. Follow the news in our Steam announcements here - .

Release date: 27 May, 2024

Categories: Action Platformer, Roguelike, Parkour Gameplay, Real-time Combat, Procedural Generation, Character Progression, Weapon Customization, Exploration


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Overall enjoyable and polished experience (weight 0.92): Players consistently praise the game's overall quality, finding it fun, engaging, and addictive. Many highlight its polished state, fluid gameplay, and strong core mechanics, even in Early Access, with frequent updates further enhancing the experience.
- Fluid and satisfying parkour movement (weight 0.66): The parkour and movement system is a standout feature, described as fluid, smooth, and incredibly satisfying. Players enjoy the high mobility, wall-running, and acrobatic abilities, which are seamlessly integrated into both traversal and combat, making the game feel unique and dynamic.
- Excellent roguelite with high replayability (weight 0.61): The game is highly lauded as an excellent roguelite, often compared favorably to genre benchmarks like Dead Cells and Hades. Players appreciate its unique blend of roguelite mechanics with Prince of Persia elements, offering strong replayability and a fresh take on the genre.
- Strong developer support and continuous improvement (weight 0.4): The development team is highly praised for their continuous efforts in updating and improving the game, especially during Early Access. Players appreciate their responsiveness to community feedback, leading to significant enhancements in content, visuals, and overall balance, which bodes well for the game's future.
- Dynamic and satisfying combat system (weight 0.35): Combat is consistently praised for being fluid, fast-paced, and highly satisfying. Players appreciate the diverse weapon types, unique abilities, and the strong sense of impact, which combine with the movement system to create dynamic and engaging encounters.
- Stunning art style and excellent soundtrack (weight 0.29): The game's aesthetic, including its art style and soundtrack, receives widespread acclaim. Players love the unique, hand-drawn, cartoonish visuals and the exceptional, immersive music, which significantly enhance the game's atmosphere and overall appeal.
- Challenging and fair boss encounters (weight 0.11): Boss fights are generally well-received, described as challenging yet fair, with unique attack patterns that often incorporate the game's platforming and movement mechanics. Players find defeating them satisfying and appreciate the variety in enemy design.

Common complaints:
- Insufficient content and high price (weight 0.46): Players consistently report that the game lacks sufficient content, including weapons, enemies, and levels, making it feel short and repetitive. This issue is frequently tied to the game's price, with many feeling it's overpriced for the amount of content offered.
- Significant bugs and performance issues (weight 0.21): The game is plagued by numerous bugs, including game-breaking issues, visual glitches, and performance problems like frame drops and freezes. These technical issues significantly detract from the gameplay experience, even on high-end PCs.
- Too similar to Dead Cells (weight 0.18): Many players feel the game is too similar to Dead Cells, often being described as a 'reskin' or a 'lesser' version. It struggles to establish its own identity and fails to match the depth, variety, and overall quality of Dead Cells.
- Inconsistent and frustrating difficulty (weight 0.09): The game's difficulty is a point of contention, with some finding it excessively hard, especially early on or after updates, leading to a grindy and frustrating experience. Others find it too easy once mechanics are understood.
- Slow and unrewarding progression (weight 0.04): The progression system is criticized for being too slow, grindy, and not providing a meaningful sense of impact or reward. Experience gain is low, and unlocking skills or weapons feels tedious.
- Poor keyboard and mouse controls (weight 0.04): The game's keyboard and mouse controls are widely criticized as atrocious and sub-optimal, with the game even suggesting a controller. Players find the control scheme complex and unintuitive, hindering gameplay.

Gameplay feedback:
- Roguelite Parkour Platformer (weight 0.38): The game is a 2D roguelite platformer that heavily integrates parkour mechanics into both traversal and combat. Players explore procedurally generated levels, utilizing wall running, climbing, and jumping to navigate complex environments and engage diverse enemies. The roguelite structure ensures varied runs with in-run power-ups and out-of-run progression.
- Dead Cells Meets Prince of Persia (weight 0.33): The game is frequently compared to Dead Cells due to its roguelite structure, progression, and visual style, with many noting it feels like a spiritual successor or a 'Dead Cells with parkour.' It also draws heavily from the Prince of Persia IP, incorporating classic parkour elements and a new narrative within that universe, creating a unique blend of both influences.
- Diverse Weapons & Progression (weight 0.27): The game offers a wide variety of main and sub-weapons, each with unique mechanics, special attacks, and upgrade paths. Players can unlock new weapons and medallions (passive buffs) through in-run exploration and out-of-run progression, allowing for diverse build crafting and playstyles. Weapons acquired in a run are lost upon death, reinforcing the roguelite loop.
- Impactful Medallion System (weight 0.2): The medallion system is a core roguelite element, offering passive buffs that significantly alter gameplay and build potential. Players can equip multiple medallions, with strategic placement affecting adjacent ones. While initial slots are limited, more can be unlocked, allowing for diverse character customization and synergy with weapons.
- Amnesiac Prince & Time Loop (weight 0.18): Players control an agile Prince of Persia, who, after each death, is sent back in time to an oasis by a mysterious pendant. This time-loop narrative is central to the roguelite progression, as the Prince repeatedly embarks on adventures, utilizing his parkour abilities and accumulating 'Wind God's Breath' for speed boosts to save his kingdom.
- Early Access & Ongoing Updates (weight 0.17): The game is currently in Early Access, which means content is still limited, with a smaller number of levels and bosses compared to fully released roguelikes. However, the developers are actively updating the game, having already introduced significant changes, new content, and improved mechanics since its initial release, indicating ongoing development and expansion.
- Strategic Kick Mechanic (weight 0.15): A standout combat mechanic is the kick, which deals no direct damage but is crucial for crowd control, breaking enemy shields, interrupting attacks, and environmental kills. Players can kick enemies into traps, off ledges, or into other enemies to stun them, adding a strategic layer to combat encounters.
- Unique Wall Run & Dodge (weight 0.12): The game features a unique wall-running mechanic on background walls, which, along with wall climbing, replaces a traditional double jump for vertical and long-distance movement. The dodge mechanic involves vaulting over enemies, providing momentary invincibility, but it does not grant full i-frames, requiring precise timing and positioning.

Performance notes:
- Inconsistent PC performance and optimization (weight 0.1): While many players report good overall performance and improvements since launch, there are still frequent mentions of stuttering and frame drops, especially during loading screens or intense combat. Some users also note that optimization is still needed in specific areas.
- Mixed Steam Deck performance (weight 0.1): The game generally runs well on Steam Deck, with many users reporting a flawless experience. However, some players experience frame drops during loading or specific animations, and there's mixed feedback on achieving a consistent 60 FPS, with some suggesting a 30 FPS cap for smoother gameplay.
- Good controller compatibility (weight 0.01): The game supports various controllers, with one user specifically confirming full functionality, including vibration, with an IINE Retro Pocket Wireless Game Controller in Xbox mode.
- Moderate system requirements (weight 0.01): Based on limited feedback, the game appears to have medium system requirements, running fine on most systems without needing a powerful PC.
- Stable experience for some (weight 0.01): One player reported no technical issues, bugs, or crashes during their gameplay experience, indicating a stable experience for some users.
- System stability improved via BIOS (weight 0): A specific, niche solution was found by one user to improve system stability on 13th/14th Gen Intel CPUs by modifying BIOS power consumption settings, which is not a direct game issue but an environmental factor.

Recommendations:
- Highly Recommended for Genre Fans (weight 0.4): Many players highly recommend this game, especially to fans of roguelites, 2D platformers, and the Prince of Persia series. It's frequently compared to Dead Cells, suggesting a similar fast-paced, challenging action experience.
- Consider Price and Content (weight 0.32): While many recommend the game, a significant portion advises caution or waiting for a sale, citing concerns about the current price, content limitations, or the game's suitability for all players. Some find it hard to recommend over established genre titles like Hades.
- High Anticipation for Future Content (weight 0.28): Players are eagerly anticipating future updates, more content (biomes, enemies, story), and the full 1.0 release. There's a strong belief in the game's potential to become a top-tier roguelite with continued development and polish.
- Desire for Control Customization (weight 0.02): A few players specifically requested more granular control options, such as combining jump and wall climb to one key, disabling auto-grab ledges, and rebinding backflip actions for wall runs.

Other player notes:
- Strong Prince of Persia identity (weight 0.09): Players appreciate the game's connection to the Prince of Persia legacy, seeing it as a revival for the series. They note the inclusion of classic elements like time-sand abilities and express hope for its continued success, especially given the recent release of another Prince of Persia title.
- Developed by Dead Cells team (weight 0.08): Many players recognize the game's strong ties to Dead Cells, noting that it's developed by Evil Empire, the studio behind much of Dead Cells' post-launch support. This connection sets high expectations for the game's quality and future development, though some clarify it's not merely a Dead Cells clone.
- No Ubisoft Connect required (weight 0.07): A significant positive for players is that the game, despite being published by Ubisoft, does not require Ubisoft Connect (or Uplay) to launch on Steam. This is seen as a welcome departure from typical Ubisoft practices, improving loading times and allowing for Steam achievements.
- Underrated with low visibility (weight 0.03): Players feel the game is underrated and has not received sufficient marketing, leading to low sales and awareness. They express a wish for more people to discover and support the game, hoping it will not be abandoned.
- Desire for Metroidvania elements (weight 0.02): Based on limited feedback, some players express a desire for a full Metroidvania experience with the game's style and hope for robust accessibility options, drawing comparisons to classic platformers.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.35): Players are highly satisfied with the game's polished and fluid movement, combat, and platforming mechanics. The beautiful art style, engaging music, and overall high quality, especially in comparison to other titles and after significant improvements from early access, contribute to a rewarding experience. The game's successful blend of roguelike elements with the Prince of Persia IP, along with developer responsiveness to feedback, further enhances player enjoyment.
- Excitement (weight 0.19): Excitement stems from the game's high-quality, fast-paced, and addictive gameplay, particularly its innovative parkour and fluid combat systems. Players are thrilled by the continuous improvements, new content, and the game's potential for long-term engagement and future updates. The unique blend of roguelike and Prince of Persia elements, coupled with excellent art direction and music, generates strong anticipation for the full release and ongoing development.
- Disappointment (weight 0.11): Disappointment is primarily driven by a perceived lack of content, limited replayability, and shallow progression systems, especially for a roguelike. Players also express frustration with performance issues, numerous bugs, and a lack of challenge for veterans of the genre. Some are let down by changes in updates, the game's short length, and a feeling that the parkour mechanics are underutilized or that the game fails to deliver on its roguelike promise.
- Frustration (weight 0.1): Frustration arises from persistent and numerous bugs, including game-breaking issues, UI problems, and optimization challenges, particularly on handheld devices. Players also struggle with difficulty spikes, unresponsive or clunky controls (especially wall-climbing interfering with combat), and a lack of clear progression or effective auxiliary skills. The need to restart runs after death, coupled with unbalanced mechanics and unclear enemy indicators, contributes to a challenging and sometimes infuriating experience.
- Hope (weight 0.04): Players express hope for future content, bug fixes, and overall improvements to the game, particularly anticipating the full release and ongoing updates. There is a strong desire for specific features like language support, more build variety, and better game balance. This hope is often fueled by visible developer efforts and the game's underlying potential to become a top-tier roguelike or a masterpiece within the Prince of Persia series.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.03): Enjoyment is derived from the game's overall fun factor, engaging gameplay loop, and well-crafted world. Players particularly appreciate the smooth movement, satisfying combat, and interesting parkour elements. The game's hand-drawn art style, music, and the ability to create strong builds also contribute to a highly enjoyable experience, even in its early access state.
- Joy (weight 0.03): Joy is experienced through the game's addictive nature, beautiful graphics, and excellent music. Players find delight in the fluid movement, engaging combat, and the overall enjoyable experience, often comparing it favorably to other titles or finding it a dream come true for the Prince of Persia franchise. The game's performance on Steam Deck and the ease of learning controls also contribute to this positive emotion.
- Anticipation (weight 0.02): Anticipation is driven by the game's future potential, especially for the full release and the promise of new content and significant improvements. Players are eagerly awaiting version 1.0 and subsequent updates, hoping for a more refined badge system, additional story elements, and overall enhancements to the gameplay experience. The visible care in development fuels this forward-looking excitement.
- Admiration (weight 0.01): Admiration is directed towards the game's high quality, particularly its innovative parkour system, beautiful art, and amazing music. Players appreciate the game as an underrated gem, recognizing the exemplary movement, character design, and cultural references. The developers' skill and the game's ability to stand out in the genre also garner significant praise.
- Appreciation (weight 0.01): Players appreciate the developers' continuous efforts in updating the game, listening to feedback, and improving the overall experience during early access. The exquisite 2D art style, the handling of the Prince of Persia IP, and the skill of the music composer are also highly valued. The absence of Ubisoft Connect is a notable point of appreciation for many.
- Anger (weight 0.01): Anger stems from a strong negative reaction to perceived poor design choices, such as misleading skill trees, repetitive mechanics, and an insane difficulty that prevents progress. Players are also angered by persistent bugs, a feeling of wasted money due to the game's state, and specific updates that they believe made the game worse. The punishing combat and frustrating 'chasing children' mechanism also contribute to this emotion.
- Love (weight 0.01): Love for the game is expressed through its overall high quality, particularly its art style, music, and the ideal flow achieved through smooth parkour and fun combat. Players who have a long-standing connection to the Prince of Persia franchise find the game deeply appealing, appreciating its fluid movement, combat, and traversal as a core part of the experience.
- Optimism (weight 0.01): Optimism is generated by the game's continuous updates and the developers' responsiveness, leading players to look forward to future improvements and an ever-expanding content base. There is a strong belief in the game's potential to evolve and become a top-tier title, with a well-functioning base already in place.
- Surprise (weight 0.01): Players are surprised by the game's unexpected quality, often exceeding initial skepticism or genre preferences. Many express surprise at enjoying a roguelike despite disliking the genre, or finding the game amazing despite not typically playing side-scrollers. The IP revival, beautiful scenes, and engaging plot also contribute to this positive surprise.
- Confusion (weight 0.01): Confusion arises from difficulty adapting to certain mechanics, such as wall climbing, and unexpected messages like receiving an early access prompt in the 1.0 version. Players are also confused by specific developer design choices, particularly regarding progression systems, and question why the game wasn't developed as a Metroidvania given its potential.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.01): Nostalgia is evoked by the game's strong resemblance to classic Prince of Persia titles and old action-platformers, making players feel a deep connection to the franchise. The game's faithfulness to previous entries and its ability to revive the spirit of the IP, even with a modern twist, contributes to this sentimental feeling.
- Annoyance (weight 0): Annoyance is caused by unintended wall interactions, the game's recommendation for a controller despite keyboard/mouse play, and the presence of bugs and freezes. The climbing mechanic can become tedious and conflict with combat, further contributing to player irritation.
- Interest (weight 0): Interest is sparked by the game's unique power-up mechanics and its compelling comparison to Dead Cells, especially with its distinct twists. The blend of Dead Cells-like gameplay with the Prince of Persia premise, along with the game's approach to the classic series, generates curiosity and engagement.
- Gratitude (weight 0): Players express gratitude for the game's fair progression system, the ability to learn from death, and its status as a classic. The continuous updates, developer dedication, and responsiveness to feedback, particularly after significant updates, are highly appreciated.
- Concern (weight 0): Concern is primarily focused on the future of the game's development, including fears of cancellation, potential price increases, and a lack of developer support due to low sales. There is also concern that the game's current state may not be suitable for a full release.}