After last week's 2-for-1 it seemed logical to expect a bit of a drought… but everything I've seen so far falls squarely into MMO territory, and for that we already have heavy hitters like Fortnite or Apex Legends. Therefore, your free game of the weekend is a true classic, a masterpiece among platformers that wrote several rules in game development. Obviously, I'm referring to Prince of Persia, and thanks to the SDLPoP open-source port, playing on Windows is as easy as double-clicking its executable.
According to the story, in December 1984, a young programmer named Jordan Mechner released, through Broderbund and Ariolasoft, the game we know today as Karateka. At that time, most action games only imitated the 'arcade spirit' with lives, points, and levels. Instead, Karateka tells us a story: the evil Akuma kidnapped Princess Mariko. Our hero must climb the mountain, enter Akuma's fortress, defeat his minions, remind Akuma of his mistakes one punch at a time, and rescue the princess.
Five years later, Mechner partially returned to this concept in Prince of Persia, with some adjustments: the Japanese princess became the sultan's daughter, the martial arts expert villain was replaced by an evil vizier with mastery of sorcery, and the castle on the mountain gave way to the lethal dungeons of the palace. However, the technical and gameplay superiority of Prince of Persia is unquestionable. Its reputation remains intact, and guess what? You can play it for free this weekend thanks to the magic of ports.
Prince of Persia: The Princess Is in the Castle
Why do I recommend coming back to this classic? Mainly, for a comment I've heard more than once: Many players never reached the end. It's twelve levels of pure action that will force you to explore, evade traps, challenge gravity, face master swordsmen, detect potions and poisons, and recognize two essential details. The first is that sometimes you will need help, and the second is that violence doesn't always offer a solution.
Fortunately, SDLPoP port hits the mark twice. On one hand, it guarantees the classic Prince of Persia experience, in which you must be a true master of the Shift key to precisely control the hero's steps, help him hang from ledges, and launch attacks at the exact moment. The up arrow will let you hit false ceilings (be careful with this), jump (whether at full speed or from a static position), and most importantly: Block sword blows! If you don't have perfect control of blocking, reaching the end will be impossible.
And on the other hand, SDLPoP includes several 'quality of life' options that fit perfectly on modern systems. Windowed and fullscreen modes, 4:3 aspect, pixel-perfect scaling, gamepad support, cheats, mods, bug fixes, quicksave and quickload, level editing, and much more. You can also modify its configuration in the .ini file, and since it's a portable game, it doesn't even need a traditional installation.
In short... come on. Twelve levels, one hour. That woman has been waiting for you for years. Return to the dungeons, defeat all the guards, and kick the vizier's ass once and for all. Link below!
Official site and download: Click here
