The Rogue Prince of Persia terrifically blends the series’ often-cinematic platforming magic with rogue-like gameplay, and on Switch 2 it’s as smooth as ever.
The Prince of Persia is having a bit of a renaissance over the last few years, at least in 2D form. The latest, The Rogue Prince of Persia, has Ubisoft partnering with Dead Cells developer Evil Empire to add a few new layers to the IP with some impressive roguelike touches.
Focusing on acrobatic traversal and combat, the game is a roguelike in that the Prince, hell bent on defeating the invading destructive Huns, dies as he tries to turn them back, being revived by a Shaman over and over and improving his abilities in the process. The runs are based on which regions of the world we take on, and thanks to an innovative Mindmap we can see what we’ve unlocked, where we’ve unlocked it and where we should look next. It makes a roguelike like this a bit more accessible and streamlined, and yet keeps the structure intact without feeling overly repetitive. It’s also a pretty great way to keep the story going, which is surpisingly crucial within the runs, not just between them. It almost has a Metroidvania motion to it in how we need to choose where to use specific unlocks that can move us forward.
The gameplay within the runs is fast, and FAST. It feels great to move, and almost circus-like. Walls, floors, jumps, slides — everything we do acts as if it’s almost cinematic, and yet we know how our movesets will react. It’s freeing. Battling is fresh and furious, and we can tune our hero how best suits us.
It’s good. It’s REALLY good. And it’s what PoP and similar games need to make us feel like we’re not trapped in a world but rather using it to do our bidding.
Now, the game actually released in full last year, as prior to that it was in Early Access. It finally hit the Switch and Switch 2 in December. The Switch 2 version, which we reviewed, looks incredibly fluid on the small screen and when docked, its bright and bold visuals having an animation-level of design.
Even with over a dozen hours into a game like this it still continues to deliver, and makes for a great file to have saved onto my console in between other games or when on break. We can now include a physical version, too, which has just launched last week across platforms.
This review is based on a Switch 2 eShop code sent to SideQuesting by the publisher. It first appeared on The SideQuest Live on April 10, 2026.
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