The Rogue Prince of Persia turns one and Ubisoft celebrates with a free update

Ubisoft and Evil Empire have decided that the first birthday of The Rogue Prince of Persia should not go unnoticed. As reported by Vandal, the roguelite has received the so-called Anniversary Update, a sizeable free update arriving on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2 and PC. The game reached version 1.0 on 20 August 2025, so this patch lands just over a year after that release.

The package is no mere bug fix: it brings new arenas, new modes and challenges, a freezing mechanic, additional gear, companions and, perhaps most relevant for the community, an overall rebalancing of difficulty and run pacing. That all of this arrives at no cost, and right as the title has just passed one million players, says a lot about the studio's intention to keep an active player base alive rather than let the game fade after launch.

What you need to know

• The Anniversary Update is free and already available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Switch 2 and PC.
• It introduces the ice element: with two stacks the enemy is frozen and their attack is interrupted; enemies standing in water receive two stacks at once.
• It adds new arenas, modes and challenges, along with additional gear and companions.
• It rebalances the difficulty and pacing of runs, with both newcomers and veterans in mind.
• It arrives after passing one million players and just over a year after the launch of version 1.0.

What actually changes in runs

The addition that will most alter how you play is ice. According to Vandal's report, it is not just extra damage: applying two freeze stacks to an enemy locks them in place and cancels their attack. In other words, ice works as a control tool, not only a damage tool, and that opens the door to combos that did not exist before. The detail that enemies submerged in water receive two stacks in one go turns the environment into part of the strategy: luring an enemy toward a patch of water and freezing them instantly can be the difference between a clean room and a ruined run.

On top of that come new modes and challenges, which in a roguelite are pure fuel for those who already know every biome by heart, plus additional gear and companions that expand the possible builds. All of it, moreover, comes with a difficulty and pacing rebalance. The source does not detail which direction each change moves in, but the underlying message is clear: the studio has listened to two different audiences, those who crashed and burned at the start and those already asking for more challenge, and has tried to cater to both.

One year in and a familiar model

Evil Empire is no ordinary studio in this genre: it is the team that kept Dead Cells fed with content for years, and that same pattern can be sensed here. Launch, measure, fix and add. That The Rogue Prince of Persia has reached one million players in just over a year gives Ubisoft a strong reason to keep investing, and a free anniversary update is the most direct way to tell that community the game is not finished.

For anyone who did not try it at the time, this patch also works as a second entry point: more content, revised difficulty and the same price as always.

Our take

From the Underworld Lordz newsroom we will say it plainly: this is the kind of support we want to see. A roguelite lives or dies by its replayability, and adding a control mechanic like ice, alongside new modes and challenges, is exactly what extends the life of a game like this. For competitive players, ice looks set to be the tool that redefines the most aggressive routes: reliably cancelling an attack is gold in any speedrun or no-hit attempt.

There is plenty for content creators too. New arenas and modes mean fresh material for streams and videos, and the difficulty rebalance could lead to before-and-after comparisons that always land well with an audience. And all without opening your wallet, which is no small thing in a market where every addition tends to turn into DLC.

Our critical note: the source talks about rebalancing difficulty and pacing without specifying in which direction, and that puts us on alert. When a studio touches the balance of a game with an already established competitive community, there is a risk that the strategies and timings many had perfected become invalidated overnight. We hope Evil Empire backs these changes with clear patch notes, because good balancing without transparency ends up generating more frustration than it set out to fix.

What do you think?

Ice, the new modes and the difficulty rebalance promise to change the experience quite a bit, but the real test will be seeing how it feels after a few runs. Do you think this Anniversary Update is reason enough to return to The Rogue Prince of Persia, or to try it for the first time? Tell us in the team chat or on our Discord.