Dead Cells dev's Prince of Persia roguelike delayed to dodge Hades 2's surprise Early Access launch: "We are not prideful enough to ignore the implications of that"

The Rogue Prince of Persia is being delayed due to the surprise Early Access release of Hades 2, but only slightly. 

That comes from developer Evil Empire, which takes to Twitter to reveal that the Prince of Persia roguelike is still set to launch this month, though you'll need to wait until May 13 to find out when exactly that is.

"Seeing as everyone and their mum is playing that game (including our entire team... and their mums), we have decided to let people have their fun with it before we release The Rogue Prince of Persia," the developer says on Steam.

"While we have every confidence in The Rogue Prince of Persia, it's not every day that a game in the same genre as you, which is one of the most anticipated upcoming games of 2024, will release into Early Access a week before you plan to do the same.

"We are not prideful enough to ignore the implications of that, and we truly believe that this short delay is the best decision for us and our Early Access journey. We also want to give Hades 2 a head start before we start running, it's only fair."

As far as delay announcements go, this is certainly one of the funnier ones we've seen - complete with the yellow box on social media, which might be familiar to those of you who waited for Cyberpunk 2077's eventful release.

Jokes aside, Evil Empire goes on to say the slight delay allows the team to keep polishing the game, add more cool things, and squash some pesky bugs.

"The Day 1 patch was getting pretty hefty, so gaining more time to test it and add more stuff before launch day has considerably lowered the stress levels of our producer and game director already!" the developer says.

"We completely understand that this is annoying news to hear for everyone who was eager to play the game, especially so close to the anticipated release. We can only hold our hands up, apologize, and hope that you understand."

If this all sounds familiar, several indie developers have shifted plans following Hades 2's stealth drop or simply let out a 'well, dang.' We've played The Rogue Prince of Persia ourselves, calling it "an unlikely roguelike slant on the 35-year-old series from one of the best genre developers in the business." In short, the game is good! Thankfully, it seems worth the wait.

"Even Baldur's Gate 3 became so good because of Early Access," which is why the Dead Cells devs are using the same trick for their roguelike Prince of Persia.