Earlier this year, gamers who had been waiting for the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake got bad news when Ubisoft announced that the project had been abruptly canceled. Between Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and The Rogue Prince of Persia, it felt like the franchise was coming back in a big way. Unfortunately, the remake was left on the cutting room floor, leaving many fans wondering what’s next for the series. Thankfully, a new indie game on Steam may be the surprising answer that Prince of Persia fans have been looking for. Its setting is very different from the Prince of Persia games, but it boasts plenty of action-packed parkour.
Steam is filled with some of the best indie offerings, and Motorslice is a fresh take on the parkour genre. Parkour-based games are a special niche with mechanics that are hard to nail down, but Motorslice looks like it has what it takes to be a promising newcomer. Motorslice‘s three main sources of inspiration are Prince of Persia, Mirror’s Edge, and Shadow of the Colossus, teasing a fun and unexpected blend of some great titles.
A Brief Look Into Motorslice’s Features
- Acrobatic-focused parkour gameplay and traversal
- Difficult fast-paced combat
- Giant machine enemies
- Brutalist scenery
- Minimalist atmosphere
- Physics-based puzzles
- Stylized low-poly graphics
Motorslice Takes Prince of Persia’s Third-Person Parkour and Brings It Into a Brutalist Sci-Fi Setting
At first glance, it’s quite obvious that Motorslice does not share the same setting as Prince of Persia. While Prince of Persia takes place in the past, Motorslice takes place in a distant future filled with huge, dangerous machines. The story follows protagonist P, a “Slicer” who has an important job to do. Slicers are basically exterminators, but instead of bugs, they have to deal with hulking machinery that can kill P in an instant. It’s a very different premise from Prince of Persia‘s story, but that shouldn’t deter longtime fans from giving it a try. When it comes to gameplay, the Prince of Persia influence is crystal clear.
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Jumping back and forth between large walls and swinging from ledges are staple obstacles in Prince of Persia, and Motorslice replicates this in a dystopian sci-fi world. The world design is clearly more inspired by Mirror’s Edge, but the third-person parkour is taken right out of Prince of Persia‘s playbook. There aren’t many games like Prince of Persia out there, so that makes Motorslice that much more intriguing. The main descriptor for the game reads, “Parkour through the ruins of a megastructure, climb massive bosses, and hunt down every construction equipment in this slice-of-life action-adventure with immaculate vibes.” Mirror’s Edge, Prince of Persia, and Shadow of the Colossus usually aren’t games that get lumped together. They all have their own takes on climbing mechanics, but Motorslice is a fun example of how all of these concepts can work together.
Fast-Paced Combat Means That Motorslice Players Have to Think Quickly
One of the reasons Prince of Persia is so great is because of the fast thinking it requires of players. Parkour gameplay means that any wrong move can mean death. Motorslice takes Prince of Persia‘s combat and parkour combination and utilizes it as the ideal way to cut through the machinery standing in P’s way.
Of course, the titular Prince isn’t taking down machinery, but the core spirit of using the environment to one’s advantage and making quick decisions is a major part of Motorslice. One of the main features that really sets P apart from the Prince, though, is that she doesn’t wield the Dagger of Time. Instead, she brandishes a chainsaw. Taking on massive machines requires some serious weaponry, and a chainsaw is the perfect item of choice to hack and slash away at these futuristic enemies. Although much of Motorslice‘s gameplay is taken from Prince of Persia, there is one major feature that’s not there: time manipulation. This is bad news for Prince of Persia fans who enjoyed the series’ time manipulation mechanics the most, but parkour lovers still have plenty to enjoy with Motorslice.
Prince of Persia’s Cancellation Leaves the Future of the Series Uncertain, But Motorslice is Arriving at the Perfect Time
Right now, Motorslice doesn’t have an official release date set in stone, but developer Regular Studio is anticipating a 2026 launch. Considering that Motorslice‘s Steam page has plenty of in-game footage and a demo available, it’s hopefully nearly ready for release. The game could be delayed down the road, but it at least looks like it’s on track right now. There are already a lot of new indie games on Steam set to launch this year, and Motorslice stands out with its unique premise.
Despite the remake’s cancellation, Ubisoft claims that the company isn’t done with the series. An official statement from the team has stated, “Prince of Persia as a universe and a legacy continues to matter deeply to us, and this decision does not mean we’re stepping away from the franchise.”
Games Like Motorslice and Prince of Persia Are Few and Far Between
Motorslice will hopefully bring forth the parkour-heavy gameplay that the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake promised. Games with parkour mechanics seem to only come around once every few years. Well, it at least seems that way when it comes to making parkour a central mechanic. There are plenty of games that dabble in parkour elements, but making it an essential piece of gameplay like Prince of Persia is less common. One of the most recent parkour-based games was last year’s Dying Light: The Beast. Between games like Dying Light: The Beast and Cyberpunk 2077, there have been some solid first-person games that feature parkour.
Motorslice marks a much-needed return of third-person parkour, though. Some of the closest games that have met this criteria in recent years are Watch Dogs: Legion, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Prince of Persia‘s parkour mechanics were something special, though. It’s disappointing that the list of canceled Ubisoft games includes the Prince of Persia remake, but Motorslice is waiting in the wings to finally bring some more third-person parkour into the spotlight.
