Prince of Persia fans attempt to do what Ubisoft couldn't despite 6 years of trying – release a Sands of Time remake

The long-delayed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake was among the projects canceled as part of Ubisoft's "major reset" earlier this year. Now, with no official revival of the PS2-era classic in sight, fans have taken matters into their own hands, announcing their own community-built Sands of Time remake.

"The Prince of Persia community has come together to create its own project following the cancellation of the Sands of Time remake," the devs exclaim in their announcement. "This is not a traditional remake, but a large-scale mod aiming to replace most 3D models with high-quality assets and introduce global illumination through path tracing technology."

The project is still in "early development," and the community is still seeking 3D modelers, texture artists, and programmers to bring it to life. In other words, don't expect to be able to play the remake for yourself anytime soon. This is a non-profit project "focused on long-term development without strict deadlines," so it relies on community members devoting their spare time to it.

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But tools for building remasters like this have become more powerful and easier to use in recent years. Nvidia's RTX Remix has been providing solid results, and it's a tool the Prince of Persia community is interested in using, judging by its call for "experts" in using it.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is one of Ubisoft's most beloved games, releasing across PS2, GameCube, Xbox, and PC in 2003. Its parkour-driven platforming and time-rewinding mechanics were pretty novel at the time, and a lovable story helped to push it to even greater heights. Developer Ubisoft Montreal would go on to build Assassin's Creed a few years later, and you can certainly see some of that franchise's primordial elements here.

But while Assassin's Creed would go on to become Ubisoft's tentpole series, Prince of Persia would fade into the background, going dormant following the release of The Forgotten Sands in 2010. The series isn't truly dead – revivals like The Rogue Prince of Persia and The Lost Crown range from good to excellent – but the new games haven't scratched the same itch as the titles that followed in Sands of Time's footsteps.

That's why the Sands of Time remake itself seemed like such a slam dunk on paper, though the reception to its reveal was, uh, less than stellar. In the wake of the muted response to its graphics, the remake was delayed multiple times over the course of nearly six years, ultimately culminating in the project's cancellation here in 2026. Here's hoping the community's version of the remake fares better than Ubisoft's.

Here are all the upcoming Ubisoft games the publisher still has on the docket.