The Rogue Prince of Persia (PS5) Review: Stylish and Addictive, an Essential Rogue-Lite

Sometimes a game concept is so obvious you wonder why it took this long. The Rogue Prince of Persia takes Prince of Persia’s acrobatic platforming and builds a run-based 2D action game that simply works. I spent time with it during the PC early-access window, and those strengths carry into the finished PS5 release: smoother traversal, cleaner hit feedback, and a rhythm that clicks quickly.

TL;DR

The Rogue Prince of Persia is a confident 2D rogue-lite built on swift wall-runs, readable combat, and a run loop that settles in fast. It doesn’t try to reinvent the genre; it focuses on clean execution, sharp feel, a light story, and a Persian-flavored soundtrack that keeps runs moving. Fresh, familiar, and easy to recommend if you like fast-paced 2D action-platformers

Evil Empire layers classic Prince of Persia aesthetics over fast combat, then threads in an expanding story that fits the repetition-driven loop. After considerable time with the The Rogue Prince of Persia on the PS5, it’s clear this isn’t just another rogue-like trying to capture lightning in a bottle; it understands what made the series special while delivering something that feels genuinely fresh.

Story – A siege rewritten one run at a time

The Rogue Prince of Persia takes place in and around Ctesiphon, the Persian capital. A reckless move from the Prince draws the Huns to the city and their shamanic magic overwhelms the defenders as Ctesiphon burns. The Prince falls in battle.

Three days later he wakes at the Oasis. The reason is his Bola, a mystical relic that returns him to the last time he slept. That one device ties the whole rogue-lite frame together. Each death rewinds the clock, your knowledge carries over, and the city shifts just enough to make the next attempt matter. Your objective is clear: push back the invasion, rescue whoever is left, and fight your way to the warlord behind it.

The story frame is classic Prince of Persia remixed for a run-based game. Short scenes and new lines unlock between attempts, giving context without stopping momentum. You are not restarting for the sake of it; you are bending time to prevent the fall of Ctesiphon and protect your family.

The Prince’s personality also shines. He’s cocky but determined, and his banter with NPCs you encounter adds a lighthearted charm to the otherwise grim backdrop of war.

Gameplay – Movement and Combat on the Same Line

This is where The Rogue Prince of Persia stands out. The core parkour feels natural and responsive. Wall runs, wall jumps, pole swings, vaults, and kicks chain together so you can cross a room, dodge a trap, or set up a backstab without breaking rhythm. The side-on view and uncluttered backgrounds keep action readable even when you are sprinting through spike pits and crowded fights. The wall run can feel a little sticky on occasion, but once the timing clicks you move through levels with real confidence.

Combat in The Rogue Prince of Persia is fast and clear. Each weapon has its own tempo, basic combos, and a charged attack. Secondary tools add ranged options that draw on energy generated by melee hits. Aerial strikes, dashes, and vaults help you reposition and stay safe. It is the kind of game a skilled player could clear with just the starting gear, which says a lot about how crisp the inputs and tells are.

Movement and fighting are built to feed each other. There is a mechanic, Vayu’s Breath, that rewards stylish traversal. Chain wall-runs, vaults, slides, and clean dodges to fill the meter; trigger it, and you get a brief speed burst with slick animation flourishes. It rewards clean lines and keeps you thinking about movement even when a room is almost clear.

Run-to-run progression in The Rogue Prince of Persia is straightforward and effective. You pick up coins for shops and medallions that act like perks. Some boost utility, others change encounters, like leaving a slowing and flammable resin pool after a kick. New weapons can flip your approach to a level in seconds. The game rewards precision and improvisation, and the difficulty curve feels steep but fair.

Medallions are where builds come alive. Utility picks tilt the economy; combat picks can flip an encounter. Later, you’ll see corrupted variants that boost output but tack on real penalties. Legendary options change the feel entirely—Vayu’s Effigy, for example, auto-triggers Vayu’s Breath during dashes, turning a good line into a great one if you can keep your rhythm.

Meta progression in The Rogue Prince of Persia lives in the Oasis. Rescue characters, and they move in with new perks, challenges, shops, or short quests, so each attempt feels purposeful. It scratches the same itch as Hades: the hub fills out, NPCs react to your progress, and even failed runs push something forward. You also earn Soul Cinders during runs.

Bank them at an altar at the start of a zone or risk smashing the altar for a bigger haul. Back at the hub, cinders unlock weapons and let you craft more medallions for future attempts. The only drawback is that the cinder economy loses steam once the best unlocks are gone.

Level variety and routing do their part. Stages are procedurally assembled with branching paths between convergence points and boss gates. NPC encounters sometimes change based on what the Prince has learned, and a handy mind map tracks goals across loops so you always know what to chase next. No two runs feel identical, though after a handful of clears, you will notice repeated chunks, overused scripted moments, and a limited boss roster.

After your first full clear of The Rogue Prince of Persia, Awakenings unlock. You pick challenge modifiers, each worth 1–5 points, and your total fills an Awakening gauge. Higher totals increase rewards and add global rules at set breakpoints. Hit level 10, for example, and enemies gain about 30% more attack and health. It follows the same post-clear ramp Evil Empire used in Dead Cells with Boss Stem Cells, keeping runs challenging as you improve.

One technical wrinkle I have for The Rogue Prince of Persia on the PS5 is the loading times. Stage transitions often took 20–30 seconds for me, and I hit a single load that stretched past a minute. In a game built on momentum, those pauses stand out. Outside of that, the presentation is tight, and the audiovisual mix pulls you back in run after run.

At its best, the game hits that “one more run” pull. Dash through a district, handle traps and mobs, grab a new tool, choose a route, push your luck, bank your cinders, and try again. The mix of fluid traversal, readable combat, and meaningful rewards makes it hard to step away.

Graphics & Audio – Stylised Art with Slick Feedback

The Rogue Prince of Persia leans into a bold, colourful style that feels like a Saturday morning adventure cartoon set in ancient Persia. It is vibrant without being noisy, with sharp outlines and a painterly finish that suits the mythic tone. It sits comfortably alongside Evil Empire’s prior work, yet still reads as Prince of Persia. Animations sell the fantasy, especially wall runs and vaults, which look slick at full speed and stay readable in the side-on view.

Each biome has a distinct look and purpose. Crumbled aqueducts, flooded gardens, public baths, outer ramparts, and grand academy halls all make smart use of your full movement kit. The palette does real work: rich blues, purples, oranges, and golds make spaces memorable and help you orient on repeat runs. The colored-room system—blue for story, gold for rewards, red for challenges—adds helpful structure. After enough hours, you will start to notice familiar chunks and a few layouts that repeat, but the art direction carries.

The audio matches the pace. ASADI’s score blends traditional Middle Eastern instrumentation with modern rhythms, giving exploration a steady pulse and kicking up a notch when combat starts. Sound effects are crisp and descriptive: swords clang, traps click, spikes whoosh, and the “mystical” pick-up tones hit that Prince of Persia nostalgia. Even simple actions like a jump kick or a clean wall run have satisfying feedback.

Conclusion – Should you get The Rogue Prince of Persia?

The Rogue Prince of Persia nails what matters. The acrobatic traversal feels built for a run-based format, combat is clean, and the loop pulls you back after every failure. It honours the series’ identity while carving out its own, and Evil Empire’s touch shows in the crisp pacing and steady unlocks. Smaller in scope than some genre heavyweights, but focused, fast, and genuinely hard to put down.

It is not without its caveats, though. Biomes start repeating, the boss roster is on the light side, and parts of the progression feel shallow once the best unlocks are in hand. The story takes a back seat to action. On the PS5, I also hit longer loading times between stages that dinged the momentum. None of that breaks the flow, but it is worth noting.

Taken as a whole, this is a confident spin-off that plays to the Prince’s strengths. It is stylish, challenging, and addictive in the right ways. Not revolutionary, and it doesn’t need to be. If you like rogue-lite(s) that reward skill, persistence, and experimentation—or you have any affection for Prince of Persia—this is an easy recommendation. Given Evil Empire’s history of long-term support, I would expect the foundation here to grow over time.

The Rogue Prince of Persia is in the PlayStation Plus Game Catalogue and Xbox Game Pass, alongside a standard €29.99 purchase option on all storefronts. If you’re already subscribed, it’s an easy download; otherwise, the asking price feels fair for a focused, replay-driven rogue-lite.

Huge thanks to CD Media for providing us with the review copy!