When we first saw the first concept art for a new Prince of Persia early last year, we were immediately curious as to why the Prince was sporting a face-covering scarf and metal gauntlet in place of the Dagger of Time and his usual cocky smirk. It wasn't long before the answer was revealed, though: it's a different guy. The new, as-yet-unsubtitled Prince of Persia will be another reboot for the venerable franchise, with zero connection to any previous game in the series. And if its creators are to be believed, it'll be completely different from everything that's come before.
When we first saw the first concept art for a new Prince of Persia early last year, we were immediately curious as to why the Prince was sporting a face-covering scarf and metal gauntlet in place of the Dagger of Time and his usual cocky smirk. It wasn't long before the answer was revealed, though: it's a different guy. The new, as-yet-unsubtitled Prince of Persia will be another reboot for the venerable franchise, with zero connection to any previous game in the series. And if its creators are to be believed, it'll be completely different from everything that's come before.
Above: Under the scarf, the new Prince looks kind of strung out. We're already looking forward to his climactic battle againstheroin addiction
At a recent Ubisoft press event, we learned there'll be some similarities; the new Prince will be even more acrobatic than his predecessors, thanks to the game using some of the same technology behind Assassin's Creed. Unlike Creed, however, Prince of Persia won't strive for realism, instead setting its action in a fantasy world that's rendered in an "illustrative" style, meaning everything looks like it's been drawn with colored pencils. What's more, extremely good players will apparently be able to travel from one end of that world to the other by chaining together a single, lengthy acrobatic combo, thanks to everything being open, seamlessly connected and fully explorable.
During the event, the developers compared the game's open-world approach to a map of the US, in that the game world's regions can be compared to states, while the "action zones" within each region are like cities. You'll apparently be able to visit any of these in any order, although we were assured that there'll be a clear, linear path through the game for those who want to follow it. Eventually, though, you'll have to visit everything if you want to clean up the corruption spread through the world by Ahriman, a dark god who's just been released from his ancient prison.
