During Ubisoft's latest UbiFoward presentation yesterday, the company announced that Prince of Persia: Sands of Time would be getting a remake coming in January of next year. The news came after a listing leak last month along with the game accidentally appearing on the UPlay store earlier this week. The company went on a relatively deep dive on their approach to the game, but during the show as well as after, viewers couldn't help but talk about the dated-looking visuals that were for a 2021 game. In an interview with The Mako Reactor, Ubisoft India explains why they went the direction they did with the visuals but doesn't really address the fan backlash.
"...we decided to go for a unique visual treatment to make this game stand out from other games," says Game Director Pierre Sylvain-Gires. "It’s not another Assassin’s Creed, it’s not like the same Prince of Persia from 2008. It has to be unique. This magic, this fantasy is shown through the saturation, through the light, so it also a challenge to redefine the visual identity of the game with this remake.” While this is a nice look to see the team's approach, it doesn't explain why the graphics look older than games coming out now.
In the same interview, Deputy Managing Director Syed Abbas confirms that there were no budgetary issues affecting the visuals of the title either. “For us at Ubisoft quality is of the utmost importance and this is something that we have kept in mind from the start," Abbas explains. "The project has been in development for the last two and a half years. We have had at peak 170 members working on this project and not to mention other investments in infrastructure and set up to make a modern game. No there have not been any cutback in budget or timeline for the game.”
Ubisoft did note during the presentation that the footage was an alpha build in the game so we can only hope that things are better shaped once the game is officially out. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake is releasing on January 21, 2021, for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.