The Rogue Prince of Persia Review

Taylor Rioux
2 minutes ago
7 min read

Note: This review is for the PS5 version of the game, which is available both in physical and digital formats.

Sometimes, things just start off on the wrong foot. You could be a prince, standing in the desert, staring down your foes, ready to lay down your life to protect your family and your people. Or maybe you’re just a 30-something guy who wants to sit down and play a game after a long day of work and managing a household of multiple cats, dogs, and a child. In either case, things go wrong and leave a foul taste.

Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Evil Empire

Platform: Played on PS5

Availability: Released August 20, 2025 for PC. April 10, 2026 for PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.

For our prince, well, he loses that fight. King Nogaï, the leader of the Huns, has personally administered this fateful beating, leaving The Prince for dead in the sands outside the city. Thankfully, the mysterious Paachi was nearby to assist The Prince, nursing him back to health before sending him on his way to seek revenge against the Huns. With very little exposition to start, we are quickly shunted into the fray — a quick, clean, and convenient intro sequence!

On the other side of the screen, things are not so quick to resolve, nor are they convenient. Upon booting up the game, you are prompted to press a button to begin, but rather than taking you to a menu screen or throwing you into the thick of things in-game, you are asked to sign into (or make) an Ubisoft account. This is not a new phenomenon by any metric, as many games have online functionality built into the workings via leaderboards, online multiplayer, and so on. The Rogue Prince of Persia is one such game, with leaderboards that allow players to compare scores.

What is novel is the fact that you cannot play the game until you sign up for an account (at least while your PlayStation is connected to the internet). There is no option to forgo the connectivity, and no way to see game options or anything else before signing away whatever rights are laid out in the multiple agreements thrown your way. I find this extraordinarily distasteful in a single-player game. It’s a naked admission that Ubisoft's priorities are not in delivering interesting or meaningful experiences, but in data collection. Nothing, it seems, could be more important than sending the player a newsletter.

Well, signing up shouldn’t be much of a hassle; it’s only a 5-15 minute process in most circumstances when it works.

When it works.

I find myself wondering if I am simply a curmudgeon, too old to understand the nuance and benefits hidden beyond the endless pop-ups and spinning wheels of the loading icons. For the two days I attempted to log in, there was some form of error that did not allow me to do so. The only way around this is to close the game (backing out to the main menu is not an option), and change the system settings to disconnect from the internet entirely.

I am spending a long time on this aspect of the experience in part because it is the first thing a player must contend with when booting up The Rogue Prince of Persia. Before even seeing the title screen, you must comply. And while disconnecting the PS5 from the internet is a minor task, it is an unacceptable ask for a single-player game. This should not exist in this capacity in any game. It is taunting the player, as if the game wants nothing more than to never be played at all.

But enough about the couch guy — let’s hear about The Prince!

It is taunting the player, as if the game wants nothing more than to never be played at all.

Movement is fluid and free, with The Prince able to climb and cling to walls, dash across gaps, and leap from pole to pole. The wall run is particularly interesting, as it allows him to scale walls in any direction to reach a destination or even avoid enemy attacks. He can run straight across a wall horizontally to reach a far-off platform, or even dash straight up to cling to a conspicuously placed pole that can then be clambered up.

The afforded control of movement is precise, allowing for some quick, engaging platforming that feels rewarding when given a moment to work through a level or encounter while utilizing it. Despite that precise control, none of the challenges of the normal gameplay and boss encounters are exacting — players can mostly just wing their way through a scenario without getting stuck.

Combat comes with a multitude of different weapon types to choose from, such as the fast-attacking daggers or a heavier-hitting axe, but all amount to the same experience — tap square for a fast attack and triangle for a special move. The dodge button can be used to vault over the seemingly magicked Huns, allowing The Prince to wail away for a bit without fear of retribution. Interestingly, the vault is not nearly as effective against bosses.

While vaulting the regular guys is readily available, bosses seem not to be susceptible to it at all times, and some moves can absolutely bash through it. Instead, there’s a more concerted push toward forcing players to use their entire skillset, with wallrunning, platforming, and dodging effective in equal measure.

The structure of the game is similar to nearly every other action roguelike released in the last few years, though it is more closely in conversation with Dead Cells (Evil Empire's other roguelike metroidvania). There’s a hub area for upgrades and conversations, from which The Prince travels to the first zone. This zone (and every other) is filled with smaller enemies The Prince can fight or avoid to get through the level. There are also weapons and medallions he can pick up along the way to change or bolster his current loadout. The level ends when The Prince finds and walks through a glowing door marked with the name of the next area.

As The Prince enters the door, there is a transitional loading screen. I am not sure why this is the case, but the load times in between zones are very long — at least by PS5 standards. That’s not the only performance woe, either. Multiple instances of hitching and frame drops lead to a frustrating experience in a game that encourages (and sometimes requires) precise control of movement and actions. Coupled with the occasional glitch that may send you careening off into the depths, this can make for a frustrating time. The game doesn’t look like it would be so taxing as to warrant these issues, but I digress.

Every few levels sees The Prince face off against a boss. The bosses are well-designed from a mechanical perspective; threatening, but not cheap, they keep him on his toes at all phases of a fight. Being patient is key until each move is fully understood. Once learned, defeating these generals is little more than a formality, and they certainly do not require an error-free fight to advance. After a boss fight, the journey continues in the same way as before — run through levels, get currency, beat the boss, etc.

Being patient is key until each move is fully understood. Once learned, defeating these generals is little more than a formality, and they certainly do not require an error-free fight to advance.

How is that guy on the couch doing? Well, after some time fiddling with the logging-in issue for a second day, I just skipped it by turning the internet off again. Not ideal! Those aforementioned performance and loading issues were also beginning to take their toll. A few extra hits taken here, a missed jump there — caused in whole or in part by the framerate issues — begin to wear on the soul a bit.

More interesting events transpire in-game when The Prince crosses paths with NPCs who offer a short quest or direct him to previously unseen locations. These moments offer some reprieve from the combat and platforming trials, fleshing out the characters and the world. And while many interactions and conversations require a return to the Oasis (the hub zone), I would advise trying to progress further into a run rather than abandoning or purposefully consigning The Prince to death via Hun. Advancing means more NPC interaction and unlocks for future runs, and a return to the Oasis can always come another day.

For The Prince, the goings on of the game’s story are deeply affecting, with concern for the invasion weighing heavily on his heart. Stopping the Huns is of paramount importance, as is ensuring the safety of his family and the people of Persia. For the person on the couch? It is mostly an afterthought — background noise that is barely registered in the moment-to-moment gameplay. That isn’t to say it is bad, or that it is delivered poorly; on the contrary, the story is handled earnestly, and the artwork does an excellent job of conveying The Prince’s oscillation between confident rogue and tortured statesman. It is simply not a large element, comparatively speaking.

There is artistry here, certainly. The backgrounds are gorgeous, painterly vistas that breathe life into every frame, and the character portraits are slick, stylized looks into each person’s psyche (though many such characters are decidedly one-note). On the gameplay side, that same visual artistry translates to a flowing series of actions that read more like a cartoon than a video game. But a game is more than visuals, and the team behind The Rogue Prince of Persia has no shortage of artists across the spectrum. The level design is stellar, offering alternative pathways to traverse and myriad ways to do so; walk, jump, slide, and climb to your heart’s content.

Still, there is an ache. Despite the competency in so many different areas, the feeling of frustration creeps in. Each instance is minor but coalesces into a less-than-ideal whole, with missed inputs or framerate issues causing disruption — a bitter aftertaste when so much of the meal was good. Starting the game is annoying enough; playing it should not be.

Verdict

The technical annoyances, combined with the more samey nature of the combat over long periods of time, do bring down the overall impression of The Rogue Prince of Persia. Perhaps the technical side of things will be ironed out upon release (I would certainly hope so, anyway), but as it stands, I’m reticent to give a full-throated recommendation. It is a fine game, and if the team behind it ever gets a crack at another roguelike, I hope the executives consider prioritizing the player experience first and foremost.

A large greenish-yellow six is superimposed upon a controller.

Image Credits: Ubisoft

Disclosure: We received a free copy of this game from the publisher.