Taking its cue from The Sands of Time, Ubisoft has decided to rewind the entire Prince of Persia series back to its now classic 3D reboot. The Forgotten Sands effectively ignores the beautiful – but misunderstood – new Prince of Persia and takes place before the well-selling but less fondly remembered sequels, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones.

The story of The Forgotten Sands revolves around the Prince traveling to his brother’s kingdom, which has been plagued by war. In an effort to deliver his enemies a crushing final blow, the brother decides to unleash the fabled Sand Army. As is the case with apparently all ancient, powerful, and undead armies, they quickly become uncontrollable. This of course leaves the Prince in the sole position to clean up his well-intentioned but dim-witted brother’s mess.

Just like every other Prince of Persia title before it, The Forgotten Sands is divided nicely into platforming, combat and puzzle solving sections – and the PAX East demo reflects this. It begins outside a large Persian palace that is currently under siege. If you’ve played any other Prince of Persia title before, you’ll soon be scaling walls, shimmying and wall-running before you know it. As I worked my way up the side of the palace I was treated to a ton of background action that served to place me within the larger conflict that is happening all around. The Ubisoft representative on-hand was quick to mention The Forgotten Sands runs on the Anvil engine – the same as Assassin’s Creed II – and can render hundreds of characters on screen at once and provide some truly large crowds, or in this case, battles.

Once I reached the interior of the palace I found myself in a large tower that needed to be descended. With a little intuition and a lot of style, it wasn’t long before I was using my sword to tear my way down via a series of banners to the floor below. Once getting back to firm ground I stepped onto a pressure plate, which opened a door to a new corridor and a new game mechanic. The major thing that separates The Forgotten Sands from The Sands of Times is the Prince’s ability to manipulate various elements in addition to rewinding time. Within this new corridor I was able to freeze a series of waterfalls, thus allowing me to wall-run across an area that would have been otherwise impassable.

After I had played with the freeze and the waterfalls for a few moments, the next area introduced the lone appearance of the Sand Army within the demo. Combat in The Forgotten Sands is built around a single normal attack, a push-back attack, jumping, dodging and elemental magic. Using the jump ability in conjunction with the attack button is the best way to remain on your opponents’ heads literally. With a few presses of the jump button and some deft analogue stick movements I was able to leap from one skeleton head to another, which turned out to be the safest mode of transit among the 50+ enemies. After identifying a few special baddies that were resurrecting their fallen comrades, I was able to use some of the Prince’s fancy new magic – namely the devastating whirlwind – to quickly blow away the remaining Sand Army agents.

This battle was another moment the representative specifically mentioned as something that was simply impossible during The Sands of Time days, which was true, but it also made me question whether this huge combat scenario would have been even necessary within that game’s context; the answer is no. The biggest critique of The Sands of Time back then was the combat and it still seems Ubisoft is pawing blindly for the right solution for the series. The combat here feels satisfactory - and as evidenced through the head jumping has some nuance - but without any kind of enemy lock-on or block/deflection system, the combat feels unfinished.

Once the last few grains of the Sand Army were whisked away I proceeded through a door and activated a pair of waterfalls. Using the freeze I was able to quickly jump back-and-forth between them to reach the platform above and move into the next larger puzzle area. Populating the next room was a large mix of pillars and flag poles, along with their water stream and geyser equivalents. Alternating between freezing, waiting and unfreezing, I was able to climb, swing and run from frozen surface to normal surface and reach the end of the demo.

Given the limited time during the demo it was left unclear whether the Prince will be able to bend the other elements to his will for puzzle solving and platforming purposes later in the adventure. Given the reliance on the freeze mechanic it seems possible, unfortunately the representative on-hand was unaware of the Prince’s abilities and how they may or may not evolve over the course of the game. What I was able to ascertain with my time with the Prince is that Ubisoft is well on their way to yet another quality entry in the venerable franchise. What remains to be seen is whether or not The Forgotten Sands will be able to evoke that same sense of romance and adventure that its sibling is remembered for.