The Rogue Prince of Persia Review (Switch 2)

We didn’t have a Dead Cells inspired Prince of Persia rogue-like game on our prediction list but now it’s here we are certainly glad it exists. The team responsible for some of the Dead Cells DLC are behind the wheel here and while it is clear what the template is, it also does enough to stand out. It released digitally a while ago, but with the physical release on the horizon we decided to take a deeper look.

The story is that the kingdom is under siege from the Hun. The Prince is knocked out during a battle on the outskirts of the city and awakens three days later to find the city besieged. He now must make his way through to the inner palace to save the day. It follows the same sort of format as Dead Cells does. You enter an area, are allotted a standard weapon, a tool and an upgrade from the unlocked roster and then search for an exit to the next realm. There is normally more than one route you can discover to add some variety, and more can be added as you discover maps and information in your adventure.

There is a stronger story element than Dead Cells though. As you discover clues and information, you’ll get little mini quests to complete to further the plot. These are normally things like finding out who has been kidnapped or locating certain items, but they add another layer to the game and the gradual unravelling of events is entertaining. There are also NPC’s to talk to and some will return to the Oasis to offer services and more plot specific points. Away from this it’s the standard structure of push forward as far as you can, unlock as many permanent upgrades as possible and rinse and repeat until you win the day.

The pace of the game is also much faster than Dead Cells. The sense of inertia and momentum we now associate with the Prince of Persia has been captured beautifully. There are a whole host of zooms, walls run, wall jumps and other moves that keep the Prince bouncing around the levels, and the combat fits perfectly into the pace as well as you dodge and flip around. It’s clear a lot of thought and feedback has gone into getting this just right and it makes each run a fluid joy. As a result, the game is also far more platform heavy than Dead Cells to the point of being Super Meat Boy like with its traps and contraptions at times.

The ‘Sands of Time’ reversal mechanic is tied into the narrative this time by the fact that when the Prince dies, he reverses back to awakening in the starting Oasis. Only, any people he has rescued or story points he discovers return with him. You can’t rewind time when you make a mistake though, a good choice as that would clash with the genre conventions.

The look of the game is closer to the long-forgotten cell shaded Prince of Persia which came after the ‘Sands’ trilogy. It gives it a story book aesthetic which works well and allows for clear definition on the screen. We are also very grateful to see a host of colour-blind options that can be set - something Dead Cells really needed when we first played it. As a result, it means frustration is kept to your own limits of your skill set rather than things you can’t see on the screen.

Overall, The Rogue Prince of Persia has been put together very well. This may seem like a strange source of a Rogue-like title but it in practice it works perfectly. There’s even an argument to be had here about it being better than the Metroidvania version of the Prince we got not so long ago. We are slightly surprised it wasn’t a piece of extended Dead Cells DLC, but it’s certainly been fleshed out into a rewarding and fun game. It’s very much worth playing if you are a fan of Dead Cells or Prince of Persia.

Overall 8/10

Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf Review (Switch)

We were a little surprised to see Planet of Lana receive a sequel. The charming first game is one of the most beautiful looking and sounding indie platformers out there, but it felt like one of those flashes in the pan moments of genius and it’s not exactly like cinematic platformers are that prevalent.

The second game, somehow, looks even more beautiful and continues the story of Lana and her weird pet Mui as they adventure across the planet of Novo. It’s set two years after the events of the first game (which is deftly recapped) and shows how the various tribes and factions have taken to the now discovered technologies scavenged in the aftermath of the first.

Lana has a host of new ways to move around, with faster movement, sliding and things like wall jumps and the ability to swim now in place. As a result, movement is much more fluid than the original, but the platforming sections or also a bit more fiendish as well. The heart of the game though is about solving puzzles. Early on, Lana will normally be given requests from settlers and then head off to find something. This acts as a good introduction to her new skills while showing off the gorgeous visuals and setting up a healthy chunk of world building.

Almost all puzzles require you to use the two characters in partnership with each other. Mui can manipulate technology and pass control on to other animals. So, most puzzles fall into a pattern of working out how to get Mui to a point they can take control of something, then working out where that goes and then getting Lana to race to the new location. An early example of this is where Lana needs to retrieve a particular piece of seaweed from underwater. It requires getting Mui into a shallow pool of fish, then getting the fish through a dangerous area using its ink special skill and then getting Lana to clear a path and then trap a predatory fish before her air runes out.

It’s quite different from the original game in terms of how it plays out. In the first game you were normally hiding or running away from technological monstrosities. And while that is still the case in places, this is much more about using the different animals and interacting with the population. The game feels much more alive as a result.

With most puzzles having a clear timing element it means players need to be precise and agile to get through as well. Controls are slick and precise though, so frustration rarely comes from a clunky input. The game is also exceptionally well checkpointed, so when you do die there are no long sections to retrace. We also found the game was far less frustrating than the original with regards to its puzzle design with it being clear most of the time what we had to do.

Planet of Lana is a beautiful game, but the sequel is off the charts. From the villages to mountain tops and the technological encampments it all looks astounding. The score that goes with everything is also exceptional, really breathing life into the locations. Progress is rewarded with visual highlight after highlight, and it really does keep players pushing through the game. The art design here is akin to something studio Ghibli would be proud off, it’s simply breathtaking.

Overall, Planet of Lana II manages to somehow be even better than the original. Every aspect has been improved, and the original was already an exceptional game. The sharpening of Lana’s movement is a delight, and the majesty of how the game looks makes it irresistible. It might just be a touch short for a few people but then its still longer than the original. It’s hard to see anyone not liking this. It comes highly recommended.

Overall 9/10

Sands of Aura Review (Switch)

While the top down and ismoteric dungeon crawling genre has been an ever present on platforms like Steam, the Switch has seen far fewer titles make it over to the platform. Of course, there is the giant of Diablo and a few games such as Moonlighter but overall it’s all Rogue-likes and Metroidvania’s that dominate the indie sales of the eshops. Sands of Aura it a solid and content filled attempt to change that.

The game is an open world adventure where most of the world is buried beneath a huge sea of sand. Players spend most of their time delving beneath the sand in dungeons, looking for ancient relics with the overall goal of restoring life to the world. The dungeons are dark and complex with well-designed layouts that wind around labyrinthine like. They are perhaps a little too dark at times though as we kept falling off the edge of things we couldn’t see.

You don’t spend the whole time in the dark though as there are numerous settlements and islands above the ground to explore as well and players can take sand ships to sail around the sand ocean looking for new areas to explore. While you do have quests, you can explore fairly freely as long as you can stay alive.

There’s a certain Dark Souls feel to the game as well. It’s certainly not as crushing as the Souls series, but the linking level designs, combat pace and the fact you drop all your money when you die certainly show the rootes winding through this. It did make us wonder what a full isometric Dark Souls game might look like.

There’s certainly a lot for players to get involved with here as well. Your inventory is detailed and upgrading is the only real way to improve weapons and armour. You don’t pick up new weapons as such, but instead different parts such as pommels or blades and then forge them together to create upgrades and imbue special qualities. This goes for armour as well and you’ll find you are always collecting things, sometimes to the point that you aren’t really sure what you hard earned junk collection is useful for.

Combat is solid as well with a good range of moves and options. You have your standard light and heavy attacks along with rolls and dodges and both a shield and parry system. Add in special attacks and spells and you’ll find there are a range of options for players to think about in how they approach the bashing of enemies.

The only real issue with the game is that it’s quite ugly to look at. Its indie routes are very much on show above ground where we had a lot of noticeable pop in and there is a real blandness to colours and textures. A lot of the time you don’t notice this as the camera stays fairly close, but when you are looking out over the sand sea or in certain positions things really show their lack of details. This isn’t a massive issue due to how engaging the game can be, but if you find yourself repeating difficult sections it can quickly become dull and doesn’t help with getting lost in the maze like levels.

Overall, Sands of Aura is an engaging and deep game that if you dig into it will keep you engaged for the hours and hours it will take you to complete it. It does take engagement from the player to get the most out of it though and you’ll need to spend a good few hours getting used to how everything works. It’s the sort of games that Souls and Diablo fans should get on well with and just accessible enough for those not so hardcore to enjoy it as well.

Overall 7/10

The Prisoning: Fletcher's Quest Review (Switch)

Here at Retro 101 we are huge fans of Elden Pixels and everything they put out. The Alwa games remain among our favourite indie games, and we have reviewed and rated the company’s entire output. We even had the good fortune to be able to review the physical NES copy of Alwa’s Awakening when it released some years ago. With that in mind we are always looking forward to a new release and The Prisoning doesn’t disappoint.

The concept of the game is that a developer is working through one of his nightmares and fighting off all those pesky inner demons. Along the way you’ll encounter a cast of very meta characters and there are lots of jokes and quips about the development and publishing process. In terms of the game design, what this amounts to is a platform adventure game with some Metroidvania elements. But one that plays more like an Amiga or old DOS platformer than what we are perhaps used to today.

Graphically, the game matches the Amiga aesthetic as well. It’s not a million miles away from something like Rick Dangerous or the original Duke Nukem platformers. It matches Elden Pixels general approach to the look of their games, although this is closer to a Void Hope than the purposely NES and SNES looking Alwa’s games.

The game plays out over one large level with multiple checkpoints throughout. These take the form of a sort of bar kiosk were every time you die you recycle through the vending machine nearby. Death is a near constant as you can only take two hits before expiring. Even that must be earned as right at the start of the game you are naked and unarmed, meaning you have a few tough sections to get through before the game opens up to you and you get your clothes and handy pistol.

The two-hit mechanic also makes boss fight pretty tough as you’ll need to pretty much perfect them to win. Even taking on a weird mechanical horse thing early on proved a tough obstacle as it was filled with attacks seemingly impossible avoid (until we learned the pattern), with and a health bar that stretched across the screen.

Collision detection is also a tiny bit lose which doesn’t help. Several times we found ourselves losing a hit when we were convinced we had avoided an attack. There’s nothing here that derails the experience, but it certainly can be frustrating at times as the game has a pretty high difficult.

Generally, though, the controls are pretty tight and responsive. Your character moves around at a crazy pace so zipping about from checkpoint to check point is quick and fun. Jumping and attacking is also precise, so everything is satisfying and enjoyable. You can warp from vending machine to vending machine as well which adds even more pace to the game. We can see this becoming a popular speedrun among indie games for sure.

Being in the Metroidvania mould you of course start to unlock new abilities as you progress such as a double jump and a slide which makes you invincible for a second or so. This in turn opens new areas to explore. Early on for instance you’ll find your new double jump allows access to a UFO which then takes flight into a short side scroller shooter phase before crashing into a new location.

Despite how many of these games we have played in the past we did find that the approach that The Prisoning took kept things fresh and pacey. It goes to show how slight changes to approach can keep things interesting and having this slightly closer to games like Switchblade in terms of style certainly helps it.

Overall, The Prisoning is another fun title from Elden Pixel that shows the studios unique humour and its ability to take tried and tested genres and add their own twist to them. This game may not have the same impact as Alwa’s Legacy on the wider market but it deserves to. For retro gamers or those who find humour in the subject matter this is an easy purchase.

Overall 8/10