Prince of Persia roguelike reportedly to release this year

A roguelike Prince of Persia spin-off developed by Dead Cells co-developer Evil Empire is rumoured to be in the works, according to a report from Insider Gaming. Titled “The Rogue Prince of Persia”, the game is apparently set to launch on Steam Early Access later this year and then grow from there, not unlike Dead Cells.

Insider Gaming’s sources report that The Rogue Prince of Persia has been in development for four years. It also reportedly takes artistic inspiration from Franco-Belgian comic books. While the official existence of this game is as of yet unconfirmed, it would line up with Evil Empire’s announcement earlier this year that it is ceasing additional development on Dead Cells so that it can focus on “something shiny and new“. Could that “something shiny and new” be a roguelike Prince of Persia spin-off? Well, it would fit in their wheelhouse of highly polished 2D roguelike hack-and-slash games supported by additional updates and substantial DLC, so it’s certainly not inconceivable.

Notably, if The Rogue Prince of Persia does release on Steam, it would make it Ubisoft’s first day-one Steam release since 2019. If the game is going to release this year, one would expect a formal announcement before long. Considering Evil Empire is confirmed to be announcing something next week during the III Initiative indie showcase, it is not unlikely that this game may be among the presentation’s announcements.

This would be far from the only Prince of Persia-related project Ubisoft will be supporting in the foreseeable future. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, which released at the beginning of the year, was a critical success and is receiving a healthy amount of post-launch support in the coming months. The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake, which remains trapped in development limbo, received a somewhat cryptic update from Ubisoft last year confirming that “development is progressing” with the beleaguered title. At any rate, we will have to keep an eye on Evil Empire’s announcements in the near future and see if these rumours end up being confirmed.