While the promise of a Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake disappeared along with several other games earlier this year, Prince of Persia fans still have spin-off The Rogue Prince of Persia — and now its team has unveiled a sizable 2026 spring roadmap.
Via Steam, developer Evil Empire wished its community a happy 2026, and confirmed the addition of a Flaming Horses tool as a nod to lunar new Year of the Horse. This tool unleashes a herd of flaming horses that "charge forward, leaving a burning trail behind them."
"We’ve always wanted a burning tool that works like Altan’s Bracelets, and the year of the fire horse provided the perfect creative spark," the team teased. "Plus, when you talk about Persian culture, you have to talk about the horse! From the Nisean Horse and the Royal Road to the legendary Rakhsh from the Shahnameh, horses are legendary."
That's not all, though. The "Breathless" update is slated to arrive with a public beta at the end of March, promising a "quicker and more intense" experience. This includes a rework of the game's first hour, tighter pacing and improvements to when and how you unlock new game content and new mechanics, as well as changes to bosses' difficulty. "Reworks of the level design of the first few biomes will also highlight our iconic wall-run move and make each biome quicker and tougher," developer Evil Empire said.
There are changes for established players, too, including a new Freeze element, which is coming with a new weapon, the slingshot, arenas — "zones that lock you in, and the only way out is to defeat wave after wave of enemies!" — and weapon affixes which can "make each weapon that appears in your run much more interesting and varied, giving you some difficult choices to take…"
Here's the full update:
Ubisoft began this year by announcing a sizable company restructure, resulting in the cancelation of six games, including its Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake, and a delay to a further seven titles. Two Ubisoft studios will close completely as a result of the changes, while others are subject to further layoffs.
Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner recently reacted to Ubisoft's cancelation of its Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, describing the loss of any project as a "brutal experience" for developers. "A cancelation so close to release can be particularly devastating for younger team members who don't have decades of past shipped titles on their resumé," he said. "It's tough to suddenly absorb that the past four years of hard work you were proud of, and looking forward to seeing out in the world as your new calling card, will now never see daylight."
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
