Prince of Persia

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.

Let me start by saying this: Objectively, I could never give this game 5 stars. It would get 4 at best for what there is. Like always however, I believe in looking at concepts of what a game tried to be at its time and how someone could actually love it for that. So, the subjective rating, basically. Let me continuing by saying: If I would be salty at how the game ticks me off every time I played it since its initial release, it would not gain 5 stars, either. There is just so much sticking to the game from the era of gaming, where no dev knew how to handle new technical and design gimmicks well, that it makes my head spin. The game suffers from that, as well as from not coming close to executing its ideas in a satisfying long-term fashion. To elaborate on that: Weird control scheme, no matter how you map it. Annoying, unflexible tutorials. Weird structured conversation system. Too systematic map and area design. Quick response windows that are always "that much" too short to feel good to execute in traversing and, especially, combat. Empty locations without that one single pickup you have to traverse mentioned map and areas multiple times, including backtracking. And if you have done it for one location, you already know the drill for the whole game. Despite all this: The art style and atmosphere is right out of an interactive tale. And the mechanics and features would make for such an amazing experience if executed better and further. It simply was too much for the era to handle and would have deserved a sequel or second try nowadays. Such a shame. Again, all of this can be regarded different based on taste, so I am sure what there is can be a great time on its own for some. So I will leave it at that. Technically, the game did what it was supposed to. So no complains there. Recommended - in theory. Try based on your own feeling. (And maybe look up some gameplay.)