What if Prince of Persia was also a musical rhythm game?

Well, that game exists.

It’s called The Land of the Magnates and it’s made by two indie devs from Turkey. Which is a big deal to me because if you’re going to have a Middle Eastern aesthetic, it might as well be authentic.

This, of course, is a platformer. And while it’s fairly indebted to Prince of Persia, it’s actually not quite like the Apple II original nor the Sands of Time reboot by Ubisoft—but somewhere in between.

It’s a 3D platformer, but you don’t have camera control, and it’s got a fixed isometric perspective. There’s polygons, but they’re cel-shaded. And the cutscenes are full of hand-drawn watercolour paintings.

A big part of this game is jumping from ledge to ledge. But there’s also wall-running, and sliding.

What’s makes this unique is the musical aspect. You fight enemies and solve puzzles with the power of music, which demands precise timed inputs. Which is so damn charming.

The voice acting is over-the-top. But this reminds me of early 2000s titles when, yes, games were expected to have a bit of ham.

Devs want you to play with a gamepad. Which is indeed the better experience. Keyboard controls are a little too dependent on the left hand to the point you could cramp up, but it’s serviceable.

And there’s the occasional bug. I won’t pretend this game is perfect. Sometimes I experienced frame drops, and a few assets out of place.

However, did I have fun? Definitely. And I think most people would enjoy it too.

Too bad about the title, which would make you think it would be a real estate simulator. It is, instead, a pleasant 3D platformer with parkour and music aspects.