Summary
There’s still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the idea of early access, and there’s good reason for that. Whileearly accesscan be a great way for developers to get their product out as soon as possible and use fan feedback to make it a much better experience, it’s been used in the past by companies as a way to release an unfinished product and get fans to pay a premium to play it. Thankfully,The Rogue Prince of Persiais far from a half-baked cash grab.
Being made by some of the same developers behindDead Cells,The Rogue Prince of Persiais adopting a similar early access approach. In its current state,The Rogue Prince of Persiahas a solid amount of content that should keep players engaged for at least 15 hours. But, of course, there’s a lot that’s missing fromThe Rogue Prince of Persia’s current build, and while developer Evil Empire has promised to add new weapons, tools, upgrades, and more, the team might be better off prioritizing a specific set of features first.
Features The Rogue Prince of Persia Should Prioritize During Early Access
The Rogue Prince of Persia Needs Steam Deck Support
The Steam Deck continues to be one of the best handhelds on the market, and though it’s more than capable of running 100-hour open-world epics, it’s smaller games likeThe Rogue Prince of Persiathat often end up being the most popular titles on the console. With each run inThe Rogue Prince of Persialasting only about an hour at maximum, it’s the perfect title for shorter play sessions on the Steam Deck. However,The Rogue Prince of Persia’s Steam Deck supportisn’t quite there yet.
Officially,The Rogue Prince of Persia’s Steam page suggests that the game is “Unsupported” on the Steam Deck, meaning that Valve has not yet reviewed the game’s performance. That being said,The Rogue Prince of Persiadoes run surprisingly well on the handheld, though it’s far from perfect. Framerate drops are constant when players encounter larger groups of enemies and load into new biomes, and even when those drops aren’t occurring, the game can struggle to get past 30fps. Players also don’t have many graphical or performance settings available to them inthe currentRogue Prince of Persiabuild. There’s so much potential forThe Rogue Prince of Persiato find a large audience on Steam Deck, but it’s going to need to prioritize its support first.
The Rogue Prince of Persia Should Prioritize Story Content
For an early access game,The Rogue Prince of Persiaactually has some really satisfying gameplay systems, and quite a bit of content for players to experiment with. There are a total of eight weapons in the game, along with six tools, and 30 Medallions, all of which allow the player to experiment with a few different playstyles. There are also quite a few different enemy types inRogue Prince of Persia. While all of these gameplay features are presumably going to be added to and evolve over the course ofRogue Prince of Persia’s early access period, they shouldn’t actually be the developer’s main focus.
Instead, it’sRogue Prince of Persia’s storythat needs more priority during this early access phase. There are currently only a handful of NPCs inRogue Prince of Persia, and very few of them have much to say about the game’s world, current events, or their relationship with the Prince. But the little that is there right now shows promise. Over the next few months, it’d be great to see more NPCs, more unique interactions, and more story-based objectives come toThe Rogue Prince of Persia, as it’s currently a little lacking in story incentives.
The Rogue Prince of Persia
WHERE TO PLAY
Experience a fast-paced, challenging but accessible roguelite as you master acrobatic moves and flow seamlessly between platforming and combat. Find new weapons, equip trinkets with special effects and upgrade them to make your own builds. Discover new characters, information and areas as you try to find a way to save Persia from a Hun invasion and become the hero you have always wanted to be.Lead the Prince in his fight against a Hun army corrupted by dark shamanic magic and find your place in the royal family as you explore a vibrant reinterpretation of Persia. Put the pieces of the puzzle together and discover new areas as you enter the fight again and again, meeting a cast of colorful characters through non-linear story progression.Flow seamlessly between platforming and combat, using your acrobatic moves to outmaneuver and outsmart your enemies. Use the iconic wall-run to open new routes of attack, avoid traps and explore hard to reach areas. Kick and dodge to manage groups of enemies when the odds are against you.Choose from a variety of deadly weapons and equip new medallions each run to unleash devastating effects, giving you the freedom to change your fighting style as you wish. Secondary weapons offer even more options, from bows to shields to grappling hooks. Switch your loadout mid-run to adapt to new challenges.
