Longtime fans of Ubisoft's Prince of Persia series have been patiently awaiting a new game since the last proper release way back in 2010. Since then, the company has shifted focus onto other franchises like Assassin's Creed and Far Cry, leaving Prince Dastan behind in the dust. During its Ubisoft Forward showcase last year, however, the developer formally announced Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, a complete re-imagining of the original game from 2003. This new interpretation would update the graphics to be up to par with today's standards as well as make any additional tweaks to combat and platforming.
Although first set for release this January, the game was pushed back to March in order for developer to further polish the mechanics and visuals. As time went on, however, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake was delayed yet again to an unspecified date, raising concern for the overall status of development. While this extra production time can be seen as a positive thing, giving the developers more opportunity to better the game is always a good thing, it does raise an eyebrow given certain specifics.
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Naturally, game development of any kind can be a strenuous and time consuming effort, so to assume that a remake is any less challenging than creating an original title is faulty. That's not what's being said, though. The story, base gameplay, art style and other aspects are already complete before the remake even begins, easing much of the workload. Bluepoint Games, for example, was able to craft the Shadow of the Colossus remake, and then follow up with the Demon's Souls remake a little over two years later. It is also worth nothing that Bluepoint is a much smaller studio than Ubisoft, with less employees available to work on a project.
Furthermore, although an excellent adventure in its own right, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time isn't exactly as gargantuan or complex as other classic games that have received modern remakes. The aforementioned Demon's Souls is set in a huge world, with even the PS3 version still being a daunting gameplay experience. Final Fantasy 7: Remake is another example of a grand scale quest, with deep RPG mechanics and detailed world building. To properly translate the PS1 original to modern graphical and narrative standards, the game had to be split into different parts, helping to properly balance and pace out the many core events of the story. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, especially in comparison to these two examples, isn't as complex though.
Delays and troubled development procedures are not new in the gaming industry, even within Ubisoft for the past year, but Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake feels more complicated for a smaller thing. It's more the manner in which these delays have occurred and then the absolute silence afterwards that has become troublesome. As stated, the game was set for January, then pushed to March, but then within those two months (without any additional updates or footage), the title was indefinitely delayed. The fact that there is only one trailer for fans to examine thus far since its September Ubisoft Forward 2020 announcement gives little indication of how the development is progressing.
With many hoping for updates during Ubisoft's E3 2021 showcase, the company may be keeping a tight lip on the game's status to save it as a surprise for its presentation. Even so, there still remains plenty of questions as to what Ubisoft is doing with this title. The developer has addressed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake's graphical complaints from fans, but hopefully that reception hasn't caused Ubisoft to completely restart the project from scratch.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake is in development for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.