The Rogue Prince of Persia: much more than just a Dead Cells re-skin (Early Access Review)

The use of the back wall for parkour is genius.

Note that Motion Twin and Evil Empire are originally the same group of people. One wanting to build something new and another want to continue with DeadCell. Hence, Evil Empire is born.

You forgot to mention an important detail: Those elemental effects that, when used on their own, just "tickle" enemies? They now all synergise. In Dead Cells the only real synergy was between oil and fire. In this game resin (which is basically just DC's oil) not only can be set ablaze, it also turns into toxic sludge when paired with poison, and combining gas clouds with fire causes violent explosions that take out most basic enemies in a single hit. Having the right build can easily turn you into a killing machine that drops entire groups in a matter of seconds. In order to execute those chain reactions in the first place, you still need to play with some degree of skill though.

This video exemplifies why you’re my favorite video game commentator. Not only a great review but a great discussion of the implications this game has to the industry.

Man, can I just say how much I appreciate your review style. You’re not just reviewing the game but you put it in industry context. When watching, I always feel like I’m not only learning about the game but also the circumstances in which it was made, published, advertised, released, trainwrecked, etc. Absolutely love that about this channel. Kudos, sir.

i'd prefer ten smaller games over some 150 hour collectathon quadruple A game

Prince of Persia resurgence in 2024 is crazyyyy, but i'm here for it

Whoever made this games OST was COOKING!!!

Ya Def agree it plays vastly different. Played it like I would normally play roguelites, and got my ass kicked. Then took time the time to learn the game mechanics and had much more successful runs after.

I would rather have one more big budget Prince Of Persia then another hundred Assassins Creeds

I wasn't expecting Ubisoft to suddenly go all in on Prince of Persia, but I'm all for it. It's one of their better IPs to go back to for the sake of a more diverse lineup when it comes to gameplay too. Platforming has only been simplified in most big games and I'd love to see a new 3D POP that figured out a good modernized version of the Sands of Time games movement systems, I won't argue they weren't clunky but they were still something special. On another note I think these smaller releases are something big IPs like Marvel and DC with many smaller franchises that tend to be released individually should try. I wouldn't need to be convinced to get a AAA Legion of Superheroes, Aquaman, or Green Lantern game but I understand most people aren't sold on those characters. Maybe a half priced Aquaman Metroidvania or GLC tactics game would help the big project later on, or at least give those relatively smaller characters a spotlight while resources go into something like Batman and Wonder Woman. That definitely would've been the better way to handle Suicide Squad and maybe it would've even saved the Guardians and Midnight suns games although poor marking and association with the Avengers game were probably the main issues.

It looks like the emphasis on platforming is the greatest thing to set this apart from Dead Cells which was by no means about platforming or traversal.

The art style is reminding me of Sable

The golden age of AA games continues.

Biggest selling point: Doesn't have Ubisoft Connect DRM requirement. Just have that on the box.

Great review. Old school PoP fan here. I'm getting this.

I’ve never played the Prince of Persia games but I might check this one out.

Here's the rub about that outro Ralph: Ubisoft USED to do this and they stopped for seemingly no reason to focus only on AC and Tom Clancy games. Remember a little over a decade ago we were getting all-time bangers like Rayman Legends, Valiant Hearts and Child of Light in between those big AAA swings. I hope this isn't an outlier and Ubisoft goes back to this style but I struggle to see it happen since most of the people that powered that era like Michel Ansel are gone.

The music in games like this and Hades and a lot of other roguelikes are perfect for focusing on a task, whether it is work or running or w/e. They are designed to get you in flow and also slap hard. Cant wait for this OST to go live!