Viele Gamer unter euch dürften bereits sehnsüchtig auf das neue Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands Spiel warten. Nun versorgt uns der Publisher Ubisoft neben einer Handvoll Screenshots auch mit einer interessanten Q&A Session mit Graeme Jennings dem Producer des Abenteuerspiels.

Prince of Persia : The Forgotten Sands - Q&A answered by Graeme Jennings - Producer

What's going on with the Prince? What is happening to him in Forgotten Sands?

As the prince is travelling towards his brother's kingdom, he notices smoke billowing in the distance. Still fresh from the events in Azad, the Prince races uphill only to discover his brother's fortress is under siege.  As he gets closer, he notices that the siege is well underway and is now waging war in the inner walls of the fortress and the battle is obviously favouring the attackers. Determined to help, the Prince navigates through the battle's chaos to find his brother, Malik.  In a desperate gamble to save what is left of his people and kingdom, the Prince's brother, Malik decides to unleash the mythical Sand Army; hoping to control it and defeat his assailants.

What happens when the Sand Army is unleashed?

Unfortunately for Malik, the Sand Army is not easily controlled. When unleashed, it effectively repels the invading army but turns both ally and foe in statues of sand. In order to restore peace to his brother's land, the Prince will have to use his signature skill set - acrobatics, combat, wit - and new powers over nature that will help him in his fight against this overwhelming, legendary force.

How will The Forgotten Sands play? How will the Prince control?

We are returning to the classic gameplay and platforming of the Sands of Time universe, and that means a return to fluid, skill-based acrobatics. Familiar moves such as leaping over huge gaps, wall-running and clinging to columns are all coming back. One of our objectives was to tune our environments and the Prince's controls so that these elements chain together organically. We are aiming for a kind of rhythm to the Prince's movement that will make timing your button presses essential to the navigation of levels. Overall, the way the Prince is controlled will feel similar to of Sands of Time.

Speaking of "classic gameplay," the Sands of Time is known for its puzzle elements...

The Forgotten Sands will take a similar approach. From the get-go, we designed every environment around what we call "room philosophy". This is a similar process to the kind used in Sands of Time where getting from point A to point B is, in itself, a sort of puzzle. The platforming in Forgotten Sands is about exploration, observation and puzzle-solving as the Prince tries to negotiate complex environments. Since we are using the Anvil engine (from Assassin's Creed 1 and 2), our level design team was able to craft vast rooms and exterior environments where the player, when he enters a room, will have no choice but to stop, look around the room and think on how he will navigate that space before he can try to pull it off.

What kind of combat can we expect from The Forgotten Sands?

Combat is coming back to the series roots, with a few twists! The Anvil engine is very flexible and allowed us to bring something new to the series to fight sequences. In fact, combat includes up to fifty enemies onscreen. These foes will use different strategies such as encircling the Prince to use their overwhelming number to their advantage. In order to make this fun and manageable, we designed the combat with a unique philosophy - crowd control. Due to the sheer number of enemies the Prince must fight simultaneously, fighting directly the mob is pitting yourself against its greatest strength. As such, combat is about staying very mobile using the Prince's swordplay, his incredible acrobatic talent, the ability to knock down enemies - effectively repelling them - and using the new powers. In other words, the player will have to use all Prince's strengths to turn each fight to your advantage. This adds a layer of strategy, ensuring every combat is fun, challenging and distinct.

How is The Forgotten Sands going to look?

Since Forgotten Sands is set in the Sands of Time trilogy universe, we stayed true to the original series visual style. We are designing the game with a realistic look but with Arabian Night influences, gracing it with fantastical element - basically, the visual signature of the original series. Also, we wanted to bring grandiose environment to Prince of Persia; to achieve this, we exploited the increased graphical abilities of the current generation of consoles. As such, this look will be reflected in every aspect of the game including the environments, so although Malik's Palace will consist of a variety of different settings, they all will appear both plausibly realistic yet fantastic. We believe Forgotten Sands environment are the kind that could only be hinted at in Sands of Time but the team can now show thanks to the graphical prowess current hardware.

If Malik's Palace is in the middle of the desert, why does it haves  lush environments?

Located in a sea of sand, Malik's kingdom is an oasis whose greatest source of prosperity, water, is plentiful. The source of this water has ramifications that reach deep into the lore behind The Forgotten Sands... which you will have to discover for yourself when the game ships! Evidently, since Malik's kingdom is located in the middle of the desert, water is extremely valuable; so much in fact that the desire to own this resource could be a source of conflict... begging to be robbed by rival empire.
If you look at human history, confident monarchs have often displayed their wealth by constructing huge castles, like Louis XIV's Versaille. It was a way of exhibiting their prosperity but also a tactic to astonish diplomats who would be overwhelmed by the empire's might and power. Malik is no different; his palace includes lush environments such as waterfalls and gorgeous water jets who all exhibit his greatest riches - water.

What kind of gameplay innovations will The Forgotten Sands offer the Sands of Time universe?

One of the things we are really proud of adding is this concept of introducing unstable ingredients into the gameplay of The Forgotten Sands. Malik's Palace is a very volatile place to begin with since it's the focal point for a major siege, so we wanted to make sure the gameplay supported this in a dynamic way. As the siege of Malik's Palace progresses, damage will be done that will impact where you can and can't go. There is also the water to consider, since it is the centerpiece of Malik's Palace, we wanted to use the transitive nature of water to add dimensions to the gameplay. Running water can be interacted with by using the ability to slow down its flow, so players will need to be mindful of how water's different physical states can be used to the Prince's advantage.

We are also adding an upgrade system for the Prince's new elemental abilities. As you are playing, you'll earn points that can be spent on customizing the Prince's power set, so if you become enamored with a particular power or notice that you use one more than the rest, you can focus on beefing that power up to become more effective.

Those elemental powers will enable the Prince to gain the upper hand in any situation, enabling him to master both his environment and enemies.

Quelle: Ubisoft