A few years after the announcement that the challenge had been handed over to Ubisoft Montreal, at Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake obtained a really transient replace on the latest Ubisoft Ahead showcase with a short teaser trailer that exposed that the sport will likely be releasing sooner or later in 2026.
And although no gameplay footage was proven within the teaser in any respect, an interview with the builders revealed later by Ubisoft has revealed some particulars on what we will anticipate from the long-in-development remake.
Speaking in regards to the improvement workforce’s method to the challenge as a complete, artistic director Bio Jade Adam Granger talked about “sanctify, respect, modernize, and add” because the “4 pillars” which might be getting used to “outline all the pieces within the recreation”. Whereas some elements of the expertise are being introduced over with minimal modifications – just like the wall-running mechanic – different elements will see modifications to various levels, like the extent design, the size of the world, and the way the sport approaches problem.
“Remaking a basic could be very daring and thrilling to me,” Granger mentioned. “What I wished to carry is the thought of ‘sanctify, respect, modernize, and add.’ So these 4 pillars are what we use to outline all the pieces within the recreation. If we take an enemy, for instance: Can we need to sanctify it, hold it as-is as a result of it’s so iconic? Can we need to respect it, simply repair it a little bit bit? Modernize it, which is a little more change – or is it one thing fully new? All the things that was within the authentic goes by way of that lens, in addition to some issues that we need to enhance – for instance, accessibility choices are one thing that we’re including.
“We now have issues which might be staying as-is, just like the wall run, which is so iconic that we’ll attempt to match it as a lot as we will. The dagger as nicely. There are core components of the unique recipe that we respect and sanctify: time powers, the tone of the sport, and the gravity-defying gameplay. However we modernize stuff like the extent design, for instance, and actually improve the size of the world. We additionally fluctuate problem a bit extra.”
Granger spoke additional about how the remake is seeking to improve the unique recreation’s world, saying that the workforce has “multiplied the size and the surprise” of the Palace of Azad.
“I need folks to be amazed! Surprise is super-important to me,” Granger mentioned. “As a result of it’s a story informed by the Prince, and Azad is a fictitious place. We now have multiplied the size and the surprise of that place. It’s bigger than life, on the fringe of fantasy; not absolutely fantasy, however enhanced fairly than real looking. We name it “the poetic odyssey.” Poetry is within the visuals and the tone, with the music and sound. If we will actually be sure that folks really feel transported into that world, I feel we’ve received.”
Recreation director Michael McIntyre chimed in as nicely, elaborating on how the bigger scale of the palace will make for “elevated sense of connectivity” throughout the construction, amongst different issues.
“On account of technical limitations, the unique recreation – although it did a tremendous job of making a way of place and that sense of being in a storybook citadel – was restricted when it comes to what you possibly can see and the way related the areas had been,” he mentioned. “As instance, one of many issues that gamers are experiencing now in our recreation is a way of vertigo, due to the scope of the citadel, due to how excessive the heights can appear. Within the authentic recreation, it must be a really cloudy mist that type of was the ground down beneath, and it hindered that dizzying sense of top – which we’re in a position to obtain now with trendy engines and such. We’re embracing that augmented scale, that elevated sense of connectivity of the citadel, of feeling extra oriented as a result of you’ll be able to see faraway landmarks.”
Elsewhere within the interview, McIntyre revealed that fight is one other space the place the remake is seeking to modernize the expertise is fight, even when some components will stay largely much like how they had been executed within the authentic.
“I feel fight is an effective instance,” he mentioned. “The unique fight, for lots of gamers in the present day, would really feel fairly dated. Fight in video games like Prince of Persia has superior loads within the 21 years since that recreation, and sure latest video games, like Darkish Souls and God of Battle, have actually elevated much more informal gamers’ competency in fight. It’s an space the place modernity actually wanted to be injected.
“However there are specific issues which might be iconic in regards to the Prince of Persia combating fashion, just like the vault strike, the place you vault over an enemy and hit them, or rolling onto the bottom and stabbing a inclined enemy in an effort to drain sand from them with the dagger. There are moments that should be preserved visually and pacing-wise, and likewise simply the sensation of fight as an acrobatic hero who’s gracefully staying one step forward of the horde that outnumbers him.”
Elsewhere within the interview, the builders additionally revealed that the remake will function a bigger and extra concerned function for Farah, with new story content material associated to the character being added in, a lot of which will likely be optionally available content material. Learn extra on that by way of right here.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is due out in 2026 for PS5, Xbox Collection X/S, and PC.
