Prince of Persia

I gambled and tried this out although i never played this one before. I was a fan of the original Sands of Time and had played it through on the ps2 more than once. This game has some pros and cons concerning it and the bad reviews aren't necessarily wrong about some of their points but are harsh in my opinion. You can't die. But it's not so bad. Instead of reloading your game save and working your way back to where you were, you just get saved by your lady-friend and continue on your way. I thought it was a nice idea for the kind of game this is. It keeps the fun factor and immersion up since you don't have to travel over the same place over and over and over and over if you find a semi difficult part. However, semi difficult is as hard as this game gets. That's another problem but it's not that bad. Although the combat has problems (Sands of Time had a lot more diversity) and platforming puzzles can be repetitive (traveling back and forth can get tiring) the world has enough atmosphere about it so that i get lost in this game regardless. And that's the kind of game this is. It's not one to challenge you exactly, but it's a good-looking game with an interesting-looking world to get lost in. I would say the FEEL of this game brought me back to my first time playing ICO. That feeling of isolation and being in mysterious ruins with a massive sense of scale is something i always enjoy in games. This game really succeeds in that department.

underrated game on pc. holds up very well

Possibly like ICO and Shadow Of The Colossus? Possibly. You shouldn't have to include a death mechanic to prove you're a game, and PoP doesn't as it leans more towards enjoying an experience rather than fearing death. The visuals are quite good too using cell shading that isn't gaudy, and a lovely redesigned prince who looks charming.

First caveat: Do not expect any of the 6+ previous Prince of Persia in this one. This is a completely different game. This game is about elegantly dashing (and jumping, and sliding, and ... ) through the corrupted ruins of a once-beautiful land and restoring the land to its former beauty. This is not as much a platformer as a game of elegance – do not look for consistency in the laws of physics or the movements of both characters (the nameless hero and Elika), look for a choreography. Things that I like but not everybody does: - you will never die – Elika will always save you ; - during your first dash through each scenery, you will not have much choice, only one path makes sense and you can always ask Elika for directions – this changes as you return to the healed lands to collect the Seeds of Light that will unlock additional powers/regions; - the regular fights are (also) choreographic, which means that you should expect them to be unrealistic and rather full of spectacular QTEs. I enjoy this game a lot. Also, despite the more personal clashes, I find it much less violent than the previous trilogy. I'd like to see a sequel!

I understand that this game might not be everyone's cup of tea, but overall I think it is very well made: the art direction is stellar, the acrobatic puzzles are not hard and look amazing throughout the whole game, but to me the best part is the interaction between Elika and the protagonist (can't really call him Prince). Yeah, at times the writing is not ideal, but most of the time their dialogues made me smile and want to see where their relationship is going. I did not run into any issues with Windows 10 or unresponsive controls as other reviewers, and I just installed the game via GOG Galaxy. It's a shame there is no PC version of the Prince of Persia Epilogue DLC, but there are plenty of walkthroughs on YouTube, so that's where I am heading next to find out how this story really ends.