The Rogue Prince of Persia is a promising start with unfavorable odds

polygon.com:

For a story about someone who can cheat time, the timing of The Rogue Prince of Persia could not be more unfortunate.

Amid the release of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown in January of this year, as well as the much more recent surprise launch of roguelite phenomenon Hades 2 in Steam Early Access — the latter of which actually resulted in developer Evil Empire delaying this game’s original May 14 release — Rogue finds itself on uneven ground. What could have been a fresh and promising spinoff for a franchise that had been dormant for years now has to unfairly share the spotlight, facing sky-high expectations and inevitable comparisons to not only its surrounding peers, but the studio’s own legacy as the support team for Dead Cells.

Released in Steam Early Access on May 27, The Rogue Prince of Persia marries Ubisoft’s popular franchise with the institutional knowledge of Evil Empire around the roguelite genre. In the 2D roguelite, Persia is attacked by a Hun army, a nomadic group wielding dark magic. Thanks to an artifact in his possession, the Prince can travel back in time whenever he’s about to meet his demise, ready to dash through another attempt to stop the invasion.

During the tutorial, it doesn’t take long to see how Evil Empire is sprinkling Prince of Persia flair into a scaled-down action platformer. As you navigate a series of procedurally generated 2D biomes, you’re free to wall-run horizontally and vertically on any suitable structure in the background. You can also vault over enemies (yes, this was inspired by The Sands of Time), perform a kick, and do a dive attack from midair — which isn’t as aggressively snappy as Dead Cells’ ground pound, but it still feels quite satisfactory.

Each of these actions has a simple mechanical purpose with some additional benefits if used in the right scenario. The kick is great for interrupting attacks or just throwing somebody toward the nearest trap or cliff. It can also stun enemies if they hit a wall or a fellow