Rogue-like Prince of Persia reportedly on the way from Dead Cells studio Evil Empire

Following its well-received Prince of Persia revival early this year, Ubisoft is reportedly preparing a further series outing for a 2024 release – this time in the form of a Prince of Persia rogue-like from Evil Empire, the studio responsible for Dead Cells' Impressive post-launch support.

That's according to Insider Gaming's Tom Hendersonwho says the plan for the project, titled The Rogue Prince of Persia, is to launch into Steam early access later this year – marking Ubisoft's first day-one Steam release since 2019 – then expand the title based on community feedback.

Henderson says The Rogue Prince of Persia will “receive constant free updates and evolve over time”, but specifics – beyond claims its art direction is heavily inspired Franco-Belgian comics – are limited. The game is said to have been in development for four years now, starting shortly after Evil Empire's inception, but there's no word on when it might be formally announced – although Evil Empire is set to reveal something during the Triple-i indie showcase next week.

Evil Empire revealed it would no longer be working on Dead Cells and teased a number of new projects in the works at the studio earlier this year, writing, “We're extremely proud of our work on countless updates & DLC, but now it's time for something shiny and new, or maybe more than one thing”.

The announcement original developer Motion Twin was pulling the plug on Dead Cells' post-launch support took many by surprise given Evil Empire previously said it had a roadmap of new content until “at least the end of 2024” – and former Dead Cells lead designer Sébastien Benard called Motion Twin's decision “the worst imaginable asshole move”, saying, “I wish the absolute best to [Evil Empire] for their next things, and hope people working there will survive this sudden economic cut.”

Reports of a new rogue-like Prince of Persia game from Evil Empire follows Ubisoft's announcement in March that Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown would be getting four free post-launch updates before the end of 2024, adding the likes of a boss rush mode and new story content. Its troubled Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake, originally due to launch in 2021, is still nowhere to be seen, despite a brief update last year confirming it's still in the works.