Prince Of Persia: What Could Be Next For The Series?

Prince of Persia is one of those classic video game series that is instantly recognizable to most gamers. Ever since the first game in 1989 as a 2D platformer it has been a hugely popular franchise. There have been multiple Princes and many many games since that first release and with the most recent game, The Forgotten Sands, Ubisoft have let the franchise rest. But now Ubisoft have posted an update on their Prince Of Persia Facebook page stating that news will be coming next week. While it may be too early to be jumping around the room shouting to the heavens about the possibility of a new AAA game in the franchise, it wouldn’t hurt to speculate. What could we see in the future from Prince Of Persia?

A return to the Sands Of Time – Sands of Time was one of the first major 3D Prince Of Persia games. Released on PlayStation 2, the story featured a young Prince (of Persia. Gasp, Spoilers) who has to save his kingdom from the Vizier and the Sands of Time which turned the Kingdom’s inhabitants into monsters. Utilizing the Dagger of Time, the player can travel ten seconds in the past to reverse deaths or problems that they make as many times as they want until the dagger runs out of sand along with slowing down time among other abilities. This first game spawned to sequels, called Warrior Within and Two Thrones, which continued the Prince’s story. A fourth game, The Forgotten Sands was released in 2010 which was set between the first and second games. Although the end of Two Thrones brought the story full circle, Ubisoft could stretch another mile or two out of this series as it is a much beloved franchise while its gameplay mechanics have become mainstays of the industry, such as the acrobatics and time manipulation. It could be set after The Forgotten Sands or could be a full sequel, after the Prince has told his original story.



2008 Prince Of Persia Sequel – This was a wild shot in the dark for Ubi. They released this game completely separate from The Sands of Time series and they made quite sure you could tell the differences. Set in a mythical Persia, the yet again unnamed character, this time not a Prince, meets Elika, a girl with magical powers given to her by the god of light Ormazd. With the protagonist, the two fight against the dark corruption that has engulfed the game world caused by the god of darkness Ahriman. This was an ambitious game for Ubisoft. They had an open world centered upon 4 main areas to explore with one very large open plain in the middle all rendered in beautifully stylized graphics. The wall running and acrobatics were improved in this game as the dynamic of having a powerful ally to help in jumps was fun and easy to use. Your character could never die and all battles were against one individual which was jarring. This game was not looked upon as great game by some and it has been largely dropped except for one piece of DLC which left us a big cliffhanger to pursue. Could Ubisoft finally end the wait for those, like me, who long for a continuation to this story?

Another Reboot? – Last year, some images and a video were leaked which featured a new game that was unnamed. Once these images had done their rounds on the internet, many believed it to be another reboot for the franchise. Ubisoft denied the game was to be made and it was gone out of people’s minds. There is still the possibility of this game being released and, if it is a Prince of Persia game, it could be very interesting to see it on next generation platforms. However, after the success of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, a franchise which shares more than a few similarities with the Prince of Persia games, can Ubisoft really bring two similar franchises to the table and differentiate them enough. The leaked images suggest not as the graphics and setting of the images looked extremely like the Assassin’s games. If this is an option for Ubi, they need to make it a priority to differentiate the new game from Assassin’s Creed, especially to the general public.

Another Mobile Game – Both Deus Ex and Colin McRae have been teased recently, only for it to turn out that the tease was in fact for mobile games based on the series. We already know of a mobile game coming soon, called The Shadow and the Flame. No release date has been set so the announcement could pertain to that. On the flip side we could see more versions of the older games re-released on mobile platforms. The original game was released on iOS and Android. Could we see the trilogy make its way as well? It would certainly be better news than a lazily made iOS game now, wouldn’t it?

What do you think may be coming? A full AAA game or something else? Let us know in the comments.



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