Honestly, just wow. This was my very first Prince of Persia game, and what a banger game it turned out to be. I didn’t expect much from it, but on all accounts it surprised me and surpassed my expectations. The story, for example, was a lot more engaging than I thought it would be. Metroidvania’s are often gameplay-first, after all, but the characters feel well-realised and the dialogue well-written, without ever overstaying their welcome. Its mastery doesn’t lie in the quality of this all alone, but how it all stays very snappy. Never did I feel like a story sequence was dragging on, it says what it needs to say, says it well with bombastic cutscenes left and right, then launches you right back into the action. The gameplay has a certain flow to it, both in the combat and the exploration. It’s all about speed and zooming left and right, up and down with every upgrade essentially allowing for quicker traversal or more opportunities for complex puzzles. Said puzzles never really got that difficult, but never braindead either. The combat feels like a constant dance of long range, close range, parrying and dodging, ground and air, where all of these options work in harmony to allow you to juggle enemies in the air but with plenty of ways for them to bring you back to the ground if you get overconfident and just start button mashing. The bosses especially can be punishing, with one encounter in particular forcing me to rethink my play style to overcome it. I played on Hard, but no challenge felt insurmountable even though battles move at breakneck speeds sometimes. I even sometimes felt like with all the upgrades I got I could brute-force certain bosses a little, but not to a degree that hampered the enjoyability.

The music and visuals are also quite impressive, with a painterly quality to the visuals and especially the ‘time effects’ having a very distinct look and sound that I found particularly satisfying. Music is quality across the board, with every theme feeling fitting for the area, and a few standout tracks for bosses that got my blood pumping, even if admittedly nothing really stuck with me in my head.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes metroidvanias, I don’t think one needs to be a fan of Prince of Persia to enjoy this one, it’s a great time!