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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is an action-adventure video 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. Mechner served as creative consultant, designer, and scenario writer for The Sands of Time.

For the film based on this video game, see Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (film).

Prince of Persia:
The Sands of Time

Yannis Mallat

Claude Langlais

Raphaël Lacoste

Jordan Mechner

Game Boy Advance

  • NA: 28 October 2003
  • EU: 14 November 2003
PlayStation 2
  • NA: 11 November 2003
  • EU: 21 November 2003
Xbox
  • NA: 11 November 2003
  • EU: 20 February 2004
GameCube
  • NA: 18 November 2003
  • EU: 20 February 2004
Mobile
  • NA: 21 November 2003
Microsoft Windows
  • NA: 2 December 2003
  • EU: 5 December 2003

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. Production was troubled, with the team facing problems with the engine structure and delays with environment assets, while also managing to create an effective tester network to seek out the game's bugs. In 2004, a version for mobile phones was developed and published in North America by Gameloft.


Upon release, it received critical acclaim, being nominated for and winning numerous awards and has been recognized by many as one of the greatest video games of all time. Sales of the title were initially slow, but it eventually became a commercial success. Its success prompted the development of a sequel, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, which was released in November 2004. Further games set in the Sands of Time continuity have been developed, and is generally cited as the reason for the Prince of Persia series' return to fame. As of 2014, the game has sold over 14 million copies worldwide, across all platforms. A remake is currently in development.

Plot[edit]

The game is set in Persia during the 9th century AD, and begins with the Prince narrating to an unseen listener about his adventures.[4][10] The Prince and the army of his father Shahraman are passing through India to visit the Sultan of Azad. The Vizier of a local Maharaja, wanting to prevent his death using a substance known as the Sands of Time, entices them into attacking the Maharaja's palace, where the Sands are stored. During the fight, the Prince loots an artifact called the Dagger of Time, and the Maharaja's daughter Farah is taken as a gift for the Sultan of Azad. Visiting Azad, the Vizier tricks the Prince into releasing the Sands, turning everyone but the Prince, the Vizier and Farah (protected by the Dagger, a staff and a medallion respectively) into monsters.[11] The Vizier attempts to seize the Dagger from the Prince, but he escapes and eventually allies with Farah to undo the damage he has caused and prevent the Sands from covering the world, even though he has doubts about her loyalties and motives.[11][12]


Despite mistrusting each other, the Prince and Farah gradually fall in love. After navigating the palace of Azad and reaching the hourglass of the Sands in the Tower of Dawn, the Prince hesitates when following Farah's instructions on containing the Sands, unsure of whether to trust her as he has reoccurring visions of her stealing the Dagger from him.[13] The Vizier ambushes them and they barely escape with the Dagger, ending up in a tomb beneath the city. As they try to find their way out of the tomb, Farah recounts a childhood story to the Prince that she has never told anyone else. Eventually finding shelter in a mysterious bathhouse, Farah seduces the Prince into the bath and they spend the night together. When the Prince wakes back in the palace, he realizes that Farah stole the Dagger while he was asleep and left the Prince her medallion to protect himself. He follows her and only just manages to catch her as she is driven over a ledge above the hourglass by monsters by grabbing the blade of the Dagger she holds, cutting his hand. To save the Prince, Farah releases the Dagger and allows herself to fall to her death. As the Prince mourns over her with the Dagger back in his wounded hands, the Vizier offers him eternal life in exchange for the weapon. The Prince refuses and stabs the hourglass with the Dagger.[14]


Time rewinds to before the attack on the Maharaja's palace, and the Prince, still in possession of the Dagger and his memories, runs ahead to warn Farah of the Vizier's treachery. It is now revealed that the Prince has been recounting his tale to Farah, and as he finishes, the Vizier enters to kill him. The Prince kills the Vizier and returns the Dagger to Farah, who believes his narrative was just a story. The Prince passionately kisses Farah but she rebukes him because she no longer has any memory of ever having fallen in love with him. The Prince promptly rewinds time to undo his kiss. In parting, the Prince mentions a private word Farah told him during their time in the tomb, leaving her amazed and proving to her that what he had told her was indeed real.[15]

Reception[edit]

Sales[edit]

By the end of 2003, sales of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time had reached 2 million copies, and Ubisoft highlighted the game's success in Europe in a quarterly business report.[49] Europe accounted for 1.1 million sales by February 2004;[50] worldwide sales rose to 2.4 million units by the end of March.[51] During its North American debut, the game suffered from poor sales: by December, the PS2 version had sold 218,000 copies, the Xbox version 128,000 copies, and the GameCube version 85,000 copies. Its combined sales since release at that time totaled 272,000 (PS2), 172,000 (Xbox), and 100,000 copies (GameCube). It was speculated that its sales were negatively affected by the concurrent release of Beyond Good & Evil, alongside other prominent releases at the time. In response to this, Ubisoft offered copies of their other games free with purchases of The Sands of Time, providing a boost to sales.[52] By July 2006, the game's PlayStation 2 version alone had sold 700,000 copies in North America, bringing an estimated revenue of $24 million.[53] During its week of release in Japan, the game reached seventh place in the charts, selling 14,000 copies. This was noted as being high for a western game released in Japan. By the end of 2004, it had sold 26,116 copies.[37][54] It received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[55] indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[56] As of 2014, the game has sold over 14 million copies worldwide, across all platforms.[57]

on game designer Jordan Mechner's official website

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

originally printed in Edge via the Internet Archive

A retrospective analysis of the game

on GameSpot

The Final Hours of Prince of Persia

at MobyGames

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time