Remember the good old days when Ubisoft used to make games that were not buggy, had great gameplay, amazing stories, and were immensely fun to play? And at the peak of it were the Prince of Persia games, some of the most beloved games for most gamers even today. Sadly, the franchise has fell through the cracks and disappeared, being replaced by annualized franchises with formulaic open world systems that repeat over and over till you never want to play another one of them ever again. But what really happened to the Prince of Persia franchise, and will we ever see another one of them ever?
The thing is that the Assassin’s Creed games are born directly out of the Prince Of Persia lineage. The initial story was that you played as the bodyguard to the Prince. However, design decisions were made, and they opted for a more realistic open world with a historical setting. The parkour was also re-designed, losing the wallruns from the Prince of Persia games, and opting for a more contemporary alternative. While I do like some of what the Assassin’s Creed games have to offer, I still do yearn for the more combat focused nature of the PoP titles.
Some ask if the Prince of Persia games were ever all that good? Or is it just nostalgia talking?
Sands of Time still ranks as one of my favorite games of all time, and I have played the game recently as well. I can say with certainty that it’s not just nostalgia, and that the game does hold up. The way the narratives weaves back to the beginning at the end of the game still feels masterful, and as memorable as playing it for the first time. Sure, some of the combat could benefit from some tweaking, but that can be said for any old video game.
The sequels were also really popular, but never really attained the heights of the first game in the trilogy. And the 2008 Prince of Persia release just shook things up way too much, and lost a significant portion of the audience along the way.
As much as Ubisoft says that they have not abandoned the franchise, with so many other franchises working so well for them, it’s hard to imagine the Prince making a return anytime soon. At this point, I would happily settle for a remake of the Sands of Time trilogy, as I am sure many other fans of the series would too.
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