As far as remakes go, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time had one of the most rocky development cycles in recent memory – the Knights of the Old Republic remake excluded. It’s gone so far that it has now gone from cool comeback story to a bit of a running joke, and, surprisingly, back again over the last few years.
You know the story; announced, delayed, scrapped, rebooted, turned over to a new studio, and then… nothing. It was starting to feel like one of those projects that live only in some dubious investor slides – and in our dreams. However, this changed this week as leaks suggest Ubisoft could drop the remake as early as January 2026.
It finally looks like the game could actually come out, as multiple reports point to a specific month, and a chunky internal presentation has leaked with actual gameplay and some design details.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake Release Date
On the official side of things, Ubisoft is still being overly cautious with giving us any concrete information about the release date. The Prince of Persia remake is currently listed for a broad 2026 release, but that really doesn’t confirm much. The financial material the company has tied the remake to the fiscal year that ends on March 31, so that means that the plan is to get it out before April 2026. Theoretically.
Off the record, though, things look a little different. Several recent reports from other sources now claim Ubisoft is targeting mid-January 2026 for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, with the idea of landing it in a quieter early year slot before bigger tentpoles crowd the schedule. Insiders also keep pointing to The Game Awards 2025 as the likely moment for the proper re-reveal and final date drop.
Between the corporate guidance and the January rumours, the days of shrugging and saying maybe one day are over. Players can reasonably expect to have their hands on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake somewhere in that early 2026 window, assuming nothing explodes behind the scenes again.
What is the Remake Going to Change in Comparison to the Original Sands of Time?
Let’s face it, the biggest fear with any remake of a beloved game is that you either get a lazy, upscaled reskin or a complete personality swap, disregarding what made the original great. It is decidedly difficult to catch lightning in a bottle twice, so the best thing to do is stick to the source material as closely as possible, right?
There are two philosophies there, because, for one, you want to get the players who played the original, but truth be told, the game came out in 2003. Secondly, you want the new players, who didn’t play the original, and you don’t want them facing old game design and antiquated graphics, so really, as a developer, you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.
So, what is Ubisoft’s approach? The game is being rebuilt in a newer engine, with much higher fidelity character movement and more detailed environments. Platforming is still the spine, but the slides talk about tighter air control, more complex layouts, and levels that are rebuilt from the ground up rather than simply traced over the old geometry.
There is even mention of two brand new locations added to the original route, so it is not a one-to-one copy.
As to what stays’ Time powers are back, obviously. Rewind, slow, stop and a stronger freeze style ability all return, but they are now framed as tools that need to be used more creatively in both puzzles and combat, so that’s a strong departure from the original already. Instead of relying on rewind as a panic button, the design pushes you to think about chaining powers, playing with physics, and solving duo puzzles that lean on both the Prince and Farah.
Combat gets a big overhaul too, with the presentation mentioning more advanced and more prince-ish acrobatic moves, and some cool boss fights added. The most important bit was that the prince’s time powers now have options in combat, so the idea seems to be to capture the athletic feel of the OG SoT, while getting rid of some of the clunky repetition that doesn’t hold up in 2026 anymore.
Farah gets a revamp too, which is good – she annoyed us to no end in the original. She was a memorable character, but frankly, her fragility whenever you actually were accompanied by her and her survival depended on you, really, was a big drawback whenever that happened. In the remake, Farah seems to be a more capable partner, instead of just an NPC you need to protect.
Which Platforms Will Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake Be Playable On?
The talk around the Sand of Time remake has been messy, but we can pretty confidently say that the game is not going to be available on PS4 – that might’ve been fine in 2020, but considering the planned 2026 release, this seems like a no-brainer. So that leaves the PC, Xbox One, and the PS5.
Right now, the safest assumption is that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake will be a current-gen project first, with PS5, Series X, and S, and PC at the front of the line. If scaled-back PS4 or Xbox One versions exist at all, they will likely be a lower priority and may not show up until closer to release, if ever.
There is also some vague speculation about Nintendo’s hardware getting a version, but nothing concrete enough to treat as more than wishful thinking.
Should We Still Be Excited About the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake?
It’s fair to be skeptical, absolutely. If you’re a fan of Prince of Persia from way back when, however, or even if you just like action adventures with a decidedly old-school charm attached to it, there is reason to be excited.
The recent wave of leaks at least suggests there is a real project taking shape now. Ubisoft Montreal, who are joined by The Sands of Time remake co-developer Ubisoft Toronto, has a memorable history with the series; the internal deck shows a team that understands what made the original work, and the shift toward proper modernisation rather than minimal touch-up is the right call for a 2003 game being dropped into a 2026 library.
We can only hope that this remake is going to capture what made the original so magical, because it wasn’t just the visuals. The age-old tale of good vs evil, which seemed taken out of a book of a 1000 nights, the characters, the prince, the acrobatics – it just needs to feel right. If they manage to modernize the game, without making it too hand-holdy or, god forbid, into some icon-filled open world, we’re happy.
