Credit: Source: Ubisoft Entertainment

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Gaming has been Samarveer’s greatest passion, and the Literature graduate in him takes immense joy in dissecting games for their themes, messages, and impact. Samarveer holds a deep appreciation of gaming, and considers the platform to be the most immersive and impactful across all media. He can be found engaging with gaming communities online, always ready to debate the finer points of ray tracing or itching to write an 8-page collegiate thesis on any game that impacts him emotionally.

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There are very few trilogies in gaming that feel sacred. The original Prince of Persia: Sands of Time trilogy is definitely one of them. Sands of Time, Warrior Within, and *The Two Thrones *were fantastic games, and more importantly, they were formative. They taught an entire generation what fluid movement could feel like, what time manipulation could mean mechanically, and how atmosphere, music, and momentum could fuse into something unforgettable. The Dahaka chases alone rewired my brain chemistry as a kid.

So, when Ubisoft announced a remake of The Sands of Time, I was all in. Like millions of others, I was ready to relive something I still carry around in my head exactly as it felt. Then, 2020 happened. And everything went wrong. Sadly, it only seems to be getting worse.

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The Sands trilogy’s heritage is being made a mess of

A series that laid the foundation for modern 3D platforming deserves better

We didn’t fall in love with the *Sands *trilogy just because we were young. We all loved it because it was downright brilliant. The parkour was flashy, precise, readable, and deeply expressive, all at the same time. The combat incorporated parkour elements so fantastically that nobody could get enough of it, and when *Warrior Within *came around, it pushed things further with its dark, gritty tone and deeper combat. Two Thrones, in the end, tried (sometimes awkwardly) to reconcile these two visions at once, and what we ultimately got was a childhood-and-generation-defining trio of games.

When the first trailer for the remake was revealed all the way back in 2020, I was part of the very small minority that saw no problems at all. Yes, the character models definitely looked dated, but we had Yuri Lowenthal back in the recording booth, the lighting looked great, and the environments — which truly made these games unforgettable — looked fantastic. I didn’t want anything more, and yet, the internet had a field week with the trailer, dogging it for its outdated visuals.

The internet dogged the remake’s trailer in 2020 for its outdated visuals.

That’s a problem for another day, though — the internet blowing things out of proportion and declaring anything bad like it’s the worst thing on the face of the planet. The result, however, was Ubisoft completely scrapping the remake, and deciding to remake the remake, with Ubisoft Montreal leading the charge this time around instead of its Indian studios.

I really need the Sands of Time remake to do well

My real dream goes far beyond this 2003 remake

Here’s the thing – I’m so invested in Ubisoft’s remake of *The Sands of Time *because I need it to succeed, and then keep going. The real dream is to see and play a modern-day *Warrior Within *remake, because that, to me, was the peak of the series. Heck, that’s the game I played first before playing Sands of Time, simply because it ran on my PC’s integrated graphics, while *Sands of Time *is the one that forced me to eventually buy my first graphics card (an ATI Radeon HD 5670).

Warrior Within, when it came out in 2004, was misunderstood in its time. It was edgy in ways that didn’t always land, yes, but mechanically, it was unbelievable. A *Warrior Within remake with modern systems and modern animation fidelity like we’ve seen in AC Shadows *and AC Mirage, with Ubisoft’s Anvil Next (or Jade) engine’s fantastic visuals? That’s genuinely the dream I’d trade anything for. And beyond that? The original vision for the trilogy’s finale. Kindred Blades. The game that *The Two Thrones *was never fully allowed to be, with the ability to switch between a Dark and a Light Prince avatar, being hunted across the streets of Babylon. It would’ve had multiple endings depending on our gameplay, and it also would’ve been more of an open-world game, even featuring day-night cycles.

A successful SoT remake would open the door for Ubisoft to honor the trilogy.

A successful *Sands *remake doesn’t revive just the first game, but it opens the door to an entire course correction. A chance for Ubisoft to not only honor the trilogy that truly made it a behemoth in the 3D industry and laid the foundation of their biggest money-making franchise (Assassin’s Creed), but to also make it the trilogy it was meant to become.

However, that only happens if this remake succeeds, and the odds of that are just not looking good.

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I’m terrified we’re heading for a Dead Space situation

A good remake followed by nothing but silence

My *very real *fear here, however, is that the remake launches quietly, and maybe it will even become the best way to relive the story. Maybe the critics love it and find no fault in it, as has happened in other excellent remakes in the past. And then... nothing. The way things are going right now, with minimal marketing and all the social media handles from Ubisoft barely acknowledging the game on its anniversary, we might have another *Dead Space 2023 *situation on our hands. A perfect remake, but with no future.

I’m afraid we might not see a *Warrior Within *remake, let alone a third game. No continuation. No momentum. Because sales might not justify it. AAA companies do have a bad habit of expecting exorbitant sales numbers from IPs that aren’t as popular as they expect. Right now, that’s the path the *Sands of Time *remake seems to be heading down, and it’s because everyone involved at the company seems to be hell-bent on dropping the ball in some way or another. First, the initial studios working on the remake didn’t handle it well enough, leading to some rather unwarranted but not completely unjustified backlash. Then, Ubisoft Montreal stepped in, and a full half-decade later, all we have to see for five years of work is a melted candle coming back to life and a title card.

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Why does it feel like Ubisoft is hoping we forget about the remake?

Five years of rework and there’s barely anything to show for it

Credit: Source: Ubisoft

A recent leak gave us a glimpse at a pitch deck for the game from 2023, and it couldn’t have looked any more different from what we were expecting. Not only is Yuri Lowenthal not going to be reprising his role as the Prince, which, to longtime fans, is half the damn appeal, but Ubisoft may also have significantly changed the character models and their appearances, which, truth be told, is not going to sit well with at least the customer segment that is guaranteed to buy the game — adults who grew up on the original trilogy. Why are they making so many questionable choices? More importantly, why do they still have so little to show for said choices?

The Game Awards just came and went, and we saw nothing about the game that’s supposed to be coming out in the first quarter of 2026, right before the end of Ubisoft’s fiscal year on March 31, 2026. At this point, I’m actively* hoping* for a delay, just so that it could mean that there’s enough between now and the remake’s release for Ubisoft to actually wake up and start marketing the game like it deserves to be. To give it the same influencer treatment like they did with *AC Shadows *— no, I’m not supporting having gaming influencers and streamers praise your game for money, but it gets the damn word out, and right now, that should be priority uno.

Systems

Released 2026

ESRB m

Developer(s) Ubisoft Montreal

Publisher(s) Ubisoft

Engine Jade

Franchise Prince of Persia

Genre(s) Action, Adventure

Ubisoft’s future, and my childhood, are both riding on this remake

I want the Sands of Time remake to succeed more than any other game in 2026.

This remake isn’t "just another project." It’s a promise that Ubisoft made to an entire generation (myself included) that grew up trying to run up and along walls, breathing heavily and hitting the Pause button when the Dahaka got too close. Right now, that promise feels dangerously fragile.

*Sands of Time *deserves hype, confidence, and belief. What it absolutely does *not *deserve is silence, leaks, and a single teaser stretched across five years. I want this game to succeed more than almost any other remake or 2026 release. Because if it doesn’t, then a whole part of gaming history might never get the second chance it truly deserves.