Buttonbasher

Ubisoft Montreal has announced plans for a follow up on the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time trilogy, with a promise of a ‘new breed of gameplay’. If you recall the great Ubisoft leak of 2006 included art for a new Prince of Persia game. It had a unique look to it, which this announcement describes as a ‘brand-new illustrative art style’.

The game features a corrupted world that the prince will need to heal. It seems that the prince in this version isn’t the same prince from the Sands of Time trilogy. The story is less focused on reality, but more magical fantasy. When you “heal” parts of the world, the transformation occurs in real time (sky returns to normal color, plants regrow, etc.).

Some notable differences between this and the Sands of Time Trilogy, is the lack of time control. This was a big feature for the last games, and it will be interesting to see it go. The environments won’t be as linear, but instead more open organic, ala Zelda. It’s not as open world as Assassins Creed, but the paths will offer multiple options. As seen in leaked concept art, the prince has a Glove which allows him to slide along walls. He can use it for combat situations too. Ubisoft seems to be taking a different approach to combat as well. Instead of a room full of enemies to hack and slash to pieces, there will be fewer enemies and they will be more powerful leading to more interesting battles.

Ubisoft release a video on their site of one of their artists doing an exclusive illustration of the Prince. It can be viewed Here.

I’m interested in the new art style, and really can’t wait to go hands on with the new Prince of Persia this holiday season.

KLind