Highlights

  • The Rogue Prince of Persia and Hades 2 both released in quick succession, sharing the spotlight in the roguelike genre.
  • Hades 2 introduces varied upgrades and quality-of-life improvements that Rogue Prince of Persia could learn from.
  • Rogue Prince of Persia could benefit from adding more camp interactions to its gameplay, similar to the liveliness of Hades 2's hub area.

The roguelike genre has only continued to grow more popular over the last decade, so much so that multiple roguelikes are now releasing in quick succession of one another. The latest example of this trend has been The Rogue Prince of Persia and Hades 2, two very high-profile roguelikes that were both released into early access within mere weeks of one another.

When The Rogue Prince of Persia was first announced at the start of April, all that was known about Hades 2 was that it would be dropping onto early access at some unknown point in 2024. The Rogue Prince of Persia set its early access release date for May 14, thinking it would get in early and have plenty of room to breathe, but just days before release, Hades 2 shadow-dropped onto Steam. Rogue Prince of Persia developer Evil Empire made the smart decision to delay its game by a few weeks, and now both roguelikes are sharing the spotlight. While both games co-exist nicely, there are certain comparisons between the two that are just unavoidable, and there are some lessons that Rogue Prince of Persia could still learn from Hades 2.

Rogue Prince of Persia Gameplay x Lost Crown
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How The Rogue Prince of Persia's Gameplay Sets Itself Apart From The Lost Crown

The Rogue Prince of Persia has come out only a few months after the last PoP game, but its gameplay differs quite heavily from that in The Lost Crown.

What The Rogue Prince of Persia Can Learn From Hades 2

The Rogue Prince of Persia Could Use More Varied Upgrades

The first Hades introduced a perk system called "Boons." These Boons gave the player special abilities and stat boosts themed around the Greek god that gifted them. For instance, Poseidon's Boons could allow the player's attack to also send out damaging waves in front of them. These Boons went a long way in shaking up each run in Hades, as different combinations of Boons could drastically alter a playstyle. This mechanic is taken to the next level in Hades 2, with more varied Boons being introduced that affect the player's moveset even more dramatically.

While The Rogue Prince of Persia has a decent arsenal of weapons and tools, they're not enough alone to make each run feel all that different. Similarly, Rogue Prince of Persia's Medallion-based perk system doesn't really alter a playstyle, but simply adds more to it, granting the player add-on status effects for certain moves. In future updates, it would be great to see more Medallions in The Rogue Prince of Persia that more significantly affect gameplay, such as greatly altering the Prince's parkour moves and animations.

The Rogue Prince of Persia Could Use Some Quality-of-Life Improvements

Despite planning to remain in early access for at least the rest of the year, Hades 2 is an incredibly polished, content-rich game already, and with it being a sequel, it's already managed to implement a lot of quality-of-life improvements that fans had wanted to see in its predecessor. It would be nice to see some similar quality-of-life improvements come to The Rogue Prince of Persia, and one such feature would be the ability to select a custom loadout before a run.

In its current build, Rogue Prince of Persia only allows players to set off with Double Daggers and a Composite Bow, which is an effective loadout, but a rather boring one. While players can find new weapons relatively quickly on their run, the moments leading up to that can be a little repetitive for those who have played the game for a good few hours already.

The Rogue Prince of Persia Should Feature More Camp Interactions

One of the biggest highlights of Hades 2 is how lively its hub area is, and how much it evolves during the game. Every time the player returns after a run, they're met with at least one new character interaction, and that constant progression of story and character helps to lessen the blow of a failed run. The Rogue Prince of Persia could definitely use more interactions in its hub area.