GameIn
YEAR 2003
GENRE Adventure, Action, Action-Adventure
PLATFORM Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, mobile phone, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube
ABOUT THE GAME

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a 2003 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. The game was released on the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox and Windows in November 2003. The Sands of Time is a reboot of the Prince of Persia series created by Jordan Mechner, who served as creative consultant, designer, and scenario writer for The Sands of Time. The game follows an unnamed Prince whose father sacks an ancient city at the instigation of a traitorous Vizier. During the attack, the Prince obtains an artifact called the Dagger of Time, while his father's army captures an hourglass containing the mysterious Sands of Time. Visiting the palace of the Sultan of Azad to present the Sands as a gift, the Vizier tricks the Prince into releasing the Sands, transforming the people of Azad into savage monsters under his control. Together with Farah, a young Princess who knows the power of the Sands, the Prince works to correct his mistake and foil the Vizier's evil plans. The gameplay revolves around the Prince's platforming abilities, broken up by fights with the creatures created by the Sands. A key mechanic in the game is using the Dagger to rewind time if the Prince makes a mistake while platforming and use it to kill and freeze enemies. Concept work began in spring of 2001, after Ubisoft acquired the Prince of Persia catalog. After Mechner was brought on board, production began in June of that year. After the initial story draft was scrapped as it was too complex, the team began with four guiding concepts, including the ability to rewind time: this idea grew into the Dagger, the Sands, and the various powers related to them. Mechner's script drew inspiration from the Shahnameh, with the main focus on creating a simple narrative that worked with the pace of gameplay. The game used Ubisoft's Jade engine, originally designed for Beyond Good & Evil, another game published by the company.

Source: Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0 — Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time · retrieved October 19, 2026

Text is shortened from the original article; the full version is linked.

PROVENANCE

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RECORD FACTS
Developer
Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher
Sony Interactive Entertainment, Ubisoft
First release
October 28, 2003
Series
Prince of Persia
Cover
Official thumbnail
Record ID
Q715292

TIME SHELF

Across decades

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