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A new [[Continuity Reboot]] game series was created, beginning with ''The Sands of Time''. Originally Mechner intended it to be a vague prequel to the other games, but his input was left out of ''Warrior Within'', which firmly established it as a new continuity. The new series is also well-known for popularizing [[Le Parkour]] moves as a refinement to the [[Platformer]] genre, something that has been duplicated to a limited extent in several recent ninja-themed (or, you know, [[Assassin's Creed|assassin-themed]]) games.
 
It began with ''Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time'' (2003), which reproduced the series' popular combination of combat and climbing puzzles, and added what is still the most successful use of time-distortion effects (previously seen in such games as ''[[Max Payne (Video Gameseries)|Max Payne]]'' and '' Blinx: The Time Sweeper''), as well as creating an entirely new story with a more complex hero, an expanded role for the princess and one doozy of a plot twist. The Prince is a young man accompanying his father to an Indian-like kingdom, whose Vizier betrayed them to the Prince's armies. Among the spoils of that kingdom is a large hourglass called [[Title Drop|"The Sands of Time"]] and a dagger that the Prince claims. The Vizier then tricks the Prince into opening the hourglass and unleashing the curse of the sands upon the land. Confused over what happened, he finds himself in the company of Farah, a princess of the kingdom he just ransacked and who has knowledge of what he has done, and has to go fix what he [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|broke]].
 
After the immense critical success but modest sales of ''Sands of Time'', the game was followed by ''Prince of Persia: Warrior Within'' (2004), which Ubisoft hoped would be more financially successful by giving the sequel one of the most amusing [[Darker and Edgier]] twists in history. The storybook "Arabian Nights" feel of the first game [[Mood Whiplash|was replaced by]] sexual content (including several [[Stripperific]] female characters, one of which is introduced via a [[Male Gaze|five second focus]] on her [[Thong of Shielding|metal thong]]), graphic violence (the loading screen is a waterfall of blood), language and heavy metal music by the band Godsmack. While the gameplay was refined and improved (especially the combat), the Prince himself was reduced to an arrogant thug instead of the more cheerful character of the first game. Following the events of the previous game, the Prince is being hunted by an unstoppable beast, the Dahaka. The creature is apparently a guardian of the timeline and wants to ensure that the Prince dies like he was supposed to. In a desperate effort to avoid this fate, he travels to the island where the Sands of Time were originally created, hoping to find a way to avoid this whole mess.
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''Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones'' (2005) attempted to balance it out by returning somewhat to the original's fairy-tale tone (with the arrogant Prince as a "dark side" of the character). It retained the basic combat changes made in ''Warrior Within'' with minor adjustments, but toned down the graphic violence. As well, the Prince was much more likable, and even had [[Author's Saving Throw|regrets over his behavior in the previous game]]. Again following the events of the previous game, the Prince returns to his home Kingdom of Babylon only to find war erupting and enemies everywhere. He learns that messing with the timeline so much has skewed any sense of proper history and the Vizier of the first game is still alive. Seeking to complete his original goal of the first game, the Vizier unleashes the curse of the sands once more, this time partially corrupting the Prince himself. Finding a darkness within himself that transforms him into a dark creature, the Prince seeks to stop the Vizier once more and return things to their proper state. [[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]] [http://penny-arcade.com/presents/page/prince-of-persia-the-two-thrones-page-1 made an eight-page comic] for it.
 
'''[[Prince of Persia (2008 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Prince of Persia (2008)]]'''
{{quote| ''"What is one grain of sand in the desert, one grain amongst the storm?"''}}
 
[[Prince of Persia (2008 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Has its own page]]. A new game, simply ''Prince of Persia'' is another [[Continuity Reboot]]. It made radical changes to the platforming, similar to [[Assassin's Creed]]. The new game was given a [[Art Evolution|new art style]], similar to [[Cel Shading]], to give the impression of a colorful "Arabian Nights" story book feel, compared to the more realistic feel of the Sands of Time trilogy. Combat was also reworked. Rather than facing hordes of [[Mooks]] as in previous games, it instead focuses upon 1 of 4 boss monsters, each with a distinct personality and [[Backstory]]. The "Prince" of this game is actually a bandit/thief, returning from looting a tomb only to be caught up in a strange sandstorm. After falling into a canyon he comes across a mysterious woman, Elika, fleeing capture by soldiers. Her father is working to unleash the dark god Ahriman and the efforts are corrupting the land all about them. Elika has the power to cleanse the land but needs the Prince's protection to defeat the various creatures that are hunting her down.
 
The next chapter for the the new series is a downloadable expansion simply titled ''Epilogue'', released on March 5, 2009, exclusively on consoles. [[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]] made [http://prince-of-persia.us.ubi.com/PA/html/index.php a thirty-page comic] about the origin of the Hunter.
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'''The Sands of Time Return'''
 
A [[Prince of Persia: theThe Sands of Time (Film)|film adaptation]] of ''The Sands of Time'' was released in late May 2010, with the involvement of Jordan Mechner. The aim, according to Mechner, was to use the broad story elements of the ''The Sands of Time'' game, to "take the cool elements of the game and use them to craft a new story." In that vein, the film features Prince Dastan, an orphan adopted by the king, and Princess Tamina as opposed to the [[No Name Given|nameless]] Prince and Farah from the games. After Dastan is accused of murdering the king, he and Tamina must return the Dagger of Time to a hidden temple to keep it safe from sinister forces.
 
Due to the movie's release, Ubisoft has apparently abandoned the new ''Prince of Persia'' storyline in favor of [[Trilogy Creep|a new chapter]] in the ''Sands of Time'' series, entitled ''Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands''. Set between ''Sands of Time'' and ''Warrior Within'', ''The Forgotten Sands'' sees the Prince fight to save his brother's kingdom. The HD version of the game features [[Elemental Powers]], while the Wii version allows the Prince to control sand for various purposes.
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* [[Action Girl]]: Farah in ''The Sands Of Time''.
* [[Actionized Sequel]]: ''Warrior Within'' was tauted as having a more complex combat system than its predecessor, as is implied by its title.
* [[Affably Evil]]: The Dark Prince in ''Two Thrones'' is often little more than a [[Voice Withwith an Internet Connection]]; it never actually ''lies'' to you, since he's just the shadow of the Prince brought to life by the sands of time. Nor does it seem particularly malicious until much further into the game.
* [[A God Am I]]: In a rather tragic twist of fate, the Prince finds out early in ''The Two Thrones'' that {{spoiler|the Vizier, who he killed in ''Sands of Time'', has returned to life thanks to the Prince's actions in ''Warrior Within'' (since the sands of time were never created, the battle between the two never took place). Worse yet, he has found the Dagger of Time, which he promptly uses to kill Kaileena and become immortal.}}
* [[Alternate Ending]]: In ''Warrior Within'', if you get all the life upgrades, you are able to acquire the Water Sword, {{spoiler|which turns out to be the only weapon that can even harm the Dahaka, who turns out to be the [[True Final Boss]]. By defeating it, the Prince is able to save both him and Kaileena from their fate -- but regardless of the ending the end shows Babylon under attack by a prototypical version of the Dark Prince and Farah being held captive}}. In this case the [[Broad Strokes|basic story]] of the alternate ending is the canon for the next game, which Kaileena [[Lampshade Hanging|acknowledges]] in the opening narration.
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* [[Arbitrary Skepticism]]: in Sands of Time, Farah surely had known about the dagger's time-twisting power before the adventure began, but {{spoiler|after the [[Reset Button]] is pressed, she believes that the whole story told by the Prince could be nothing but a fairy-tale.}}
* [[Armor Is Useless]]: In ''Sands of Time'', the Prince takes the same amount of damage both before and after he removes his armour.
* [[As Long Asas It Sounds Foreign]]: ''Warrior Within'''s combo attacks are Oronte's Grudge, Ptolemaios' Anger, Wrath of Cyrus, Rage of Darius, Azad's Furious Retaliation, Zaroaster's Ire, Asha's Fury, Ahriman's Revenge and Mithra's Vengeance. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY2x1iGK4P4 This video's description] looks up each name and concludes that sure, they're all ancient Persia-y, but "it is quite clear that only a few are actually suitable to name combat attacks after."
* [[Artifact of Doom]]: The Dagger of Time.
* [[Ascended Fanboy]]: A 17 year old John Romero [http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/83366654 wrote] 21 year old Jordan Mechner a letter about the original game.
* [[Autobots Rock Out]]: In ''Warrior Within'', the title song is "Straight Out Of Line" by Godsmack and the combat music by Inon Zur is heavily stylized on Godsmack's typical sound. The music blaring when you're being pursued by the Dahaka is an instrumental version of ''I Stand Alone''.
* [[Bash Brothers]]: The Ax and Sword twins in ''The Two Thrones'', which are only beaten when you know that they work together.
* [[Battle in Thethe Center of Thethe Mind]]: The climax of ''The Two Thrones'', where the Prince {{spoiler|pursues and finally rejects the Dark Prince.}}
* [[Benevolent Architecture]]: An uncanny amount of the scenery is implausibly handy for jumping/climbing/hanging/swinging/[[Le Parkour|free-running]] around on. Which is lucky, since there's a distinct imbalance in the ratios of really-high-places to staircases/ladders/jetpacks, smooth stable floors vs. [[Spikes of Doom|fatal]] [[Bottomless Pit|drops]] etc.
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: In Two Thrones, when the Prince and Farah attempt to get inside the palace, they quickly find themselves surrounded by a literal army of hundreds of sand monsters of all sizes; far too many to fight. Just when it seems like the heroes are about to be slaughtered, {{spoiler|the voice of [[Blind Seer|the Old Man]] rings across the noise, and everyone turns to see him standing at the front of what appears to be the ''entire'' population of Babylon.}}
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* [[Clothing Damage]]: In ''The Sands of Time'', it starts with [[Sleeves Are for Wimps]] (one at a time) and goes all the way up to [[Shirtless Scene]]. The 2008 game is more subtle, and Elika's lacy blouse gets only slightly more torn each time the plot advances. This is also a [[Fan Service]] [[Mythology Gag]], because a player who remembers the prince's [[Shirtless Scene]] from SOT may expect Elika to repeat it. (She doesn't.)
* [[Colossus Climb]]: Several bosses in Warrior Within and The Two Thrones.
* [[Continuity Reboot]]: Happened twice, first in 2003 with the release of ''The Sands of Time'', and then in [[Prince of Persia (2008 (Videovideo Gamegame)|2008]].
* [[Counter Attack]]: Plenty of it in the ''Sands of Time'' trilogy. In combat, the Prince is able to counter most enemy attacks and deal them a devastating blow. However, enemies can sometimes counter the counter attack, forcing the Prince to block or counter the enemy's counter attack. There are instances where the Prince and his opponent will exchange half a dozen counter attacks before one misses their timing and gets hit.
* [[The Corruption]]: The Sands of Time.
* [[Cutscene Power to Thethe Max]]: The Prince is able to grab hold of specific ledges and bars to move around the area. In certain cutscenes, though, he is shown to be capable of much more elaborate manuevers. This style was actually moved into ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' made by the same people, where you can literally grab onto almost anything.
** ''Sands of Time'' features the worst example, where in one cutscene the Prince runs ''down'' a wall to survive what would otherwise be a [[No One Could Survive That|fatal drop]]. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaNPmpDHTh8&t=6m14s Seen here]
* [[Damage Over Time]]: In ''Warrior Within'' and ''The Two Thrones'', the player slowly loses health while playing as the Sand Wraith or the Dark Prince.
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* [[Escort Mission]]: Much of ''The Sands of Time'' you work with Farah but it isn't as frustrating as most other examples because Farah is very competent with a simple bow, so she can slow down the creatures while you hack away at them.
* [[Evil Chancellor]]: The Vizier. He's even [[Grand Vizier Jafar|named properly]], though the movie Vizier is named Nizam instead.
* [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]]: "He Who Would Steal The Flame Must Die". {{spoiler|This isn't a threat, it's the instructions for how to finish that level. You have to die in order to steal the Flame.}}
* [[Failure Is the Only Option]]: In ''Warrior Within'', the Prince discovers that the only way to get The Dahaka to stop chasing him is {{spoiler|to let Dahaka kill his past self.}}
* [[Fake Difficulty]]: An accusation being thrown at ''The Forgotten Sands'' by some reviewers due to sometimes lackluster camera angles and some [[Trial and Error Gameplay]]. For instance, unlike previous games in the series, some collapsing floors won't start collapsing until after you've already stepped on them, forcing you to use a rewind.
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** Finding and collecting all the life upgrades in ''Warrior Within'' to unlock the alternate ending could be a pain in the ass.
** Lampshaded in ''The Forgotten Sands''. One of the achievements requires you to find and break every sarcophagus. The name of this achievement? "Got walkthrough?"
* [[Hand in Thethe Hole]]: In ''Prince of Persia 3D''.
* [[Heads I Win, Tails You Lose]]: The {{spoiler|very first}} boss battle in ''Warrior Within''.
* [[Heroic Resolve]]: In ''The Two Thrones'', when the Prince finds {{spoiler|the dead body of his father, he decides to quit trying to change the past and accept his fate, which gives him the strength he needs to reject the Dark Prince once and for all.}}
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** ''The Two Thrones'' had several unlockable examples.
** ''Warrior Within'' also had them, however they were usually hidden in secret weapon racks so it was possible to miss them all together.
* [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold]]: The Prince in ''The Sands of Time'' also qualifies, more [[Jerkass]] with less (but still present) gold in the second game and, finally, ''both [[Jerkass]] and [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold]] at once'' in the third. With both voice actors.
* [[Kill It Withwith Water]]: The Dahaka.
* [[King Incognito]]: {{spoiler|Kaileena}} in ''Warrior Within''.
* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: The Prince does a lot of this in ''The Forgotten Sands''. Noting that every time he gets into one of "these situations" there's a woman ordering him around. Noting that just once he'd like a trap system that could tell him from the enemy. Asking [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|why it's always sand]], and who built a particular puzzle that needed to be solved in order to reach some stairs. Complaining that Razia didn't warn him about certain traps.
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* [[Living Legend]]: The Prince toils in obscurity <ref> Well, as much obscurity as any prince can achieve.</ref> during ''Sands of Time'' and ''Warrior Within'', but he returns to his home and becomes beloved by the people as a liberating hero in ''The Two Thrones''.
* [[Locked Out of the Fight]]: To defeat Ratash in ''Forgotten Sands'', Razia becomes a part of the Prince's sword. She then promptly {{spoiler|loses her magic}} when the final battle begins due to Ratash's interference.
* [[Magic Aa Is Magic A]]: The usage of time powers is very clearly outlined that you can't exist in two places at the same time, merely move through time. {{spoiler|The Sand Wraith mask is explicitly the only way to circumvent that rule.}}
* [[Male Gaze]]: [[Dark Action Girl|Shahdee]]'s ass-first introduction in Warrior Within is a particularly blatant example.
* [[Malevolent Architecture]]: Horrible splatty demises are freely available in most localities even without you encountering any enemies. Try [[Spikes of Doom|spike pits]], buzzsaws, sets of scimitars on revolving axles, [[Temporary Platform|collapsing floors]], bladed pendulums, and [[Gravity Barrier|enormous drops]] -- many of which may be found combined as [[Death Course|death courses]]. Fortunately often overlaps with [[Benevolent Architecture]], or else you'd never get anywhere.
* [[The Many Deaths of You]]: The above-mentioned selection box of unpleasant exits gives rise to an exciting assortment of death animations. The original game alone memorably had [[Nightmare Fuel|nightmare inducing]] clanging metal jaws in mid-corridor that ''guillotined you in half'' if you mistimed stepping through them. Alternatives were being run through by enemy swords, [[Impaled Withwith Extreme Prejudice|impaled on spikes]] and hitting the bottom of [[Death Trap|deep pits]] with a skull-cracking ''smack''.
* [[Mental Time Travel]]: The "rewind" feature or the ''Sands of Time'' series.
* [[Mind Screw]]: The final level of ''PoP 2: The Shadow and the Flame''.
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* [[Scenery Porn]]: The ''Sands of Time'' series has this as well.
* [[Screw Destiny]]: The motive behind the Prince's actions in ''Warrior Within''.
* [[Sealed Army in Aa Can]]: Pretty much any major army from ''Sands of Time'' onwards. At some point, one of the characters will even warn everyone present about what will happen when said army is released. Naturally, no one listens.
* [[Second-Hour Superpower]]: The Dagger of Time from Sands of Time.
* [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]]: In ''Warrior Within'', {{spoiler|Kaileena sees her own death in the timeline and attempts to correct it by sending her army after the Prince, which of course brings him to the island and gives him motive to kill her. Because the Prince had no prior knowledge of this and only sought to prevent the Sands of Time (which had already affected his life) from being created, his own quest to change his fate counts as more of a [[Stable Time Loop]].}}
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** On the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 versions of ''The Forgotten Sands'', through uPlay, you can unlock Ezio's (from ''Assassin's Creed 2'') costume for use in the game.
** During [http://www.gametrailers.com/player/43148.html one of the featurettes for the Next-Gen game], Producer Ben Mattes mentions that the Prince doesn't "[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/12/03/ smolder with generic rage]".
** Kicking 20 enemies off cliffs in ''The Forgotten Sands'' nets you a trophy named [[Three Hundred300|This Is Persia]].
* [[Spiritual Successor]]: ''[[Karateka]]'' was the initiator of the rotoscoping technique used in the first ''Prince of Persia'' and the sprites are very similar looking.
** [[Spiritual Predecessor]]: ''[[Tomb Raider]]'''s gameplay clearly borrows from ''Prince of Persia''; specifically, the way running/walking, [[Spikes of Doom]] and falling platforms are handled.
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* [[Warrior Prince]]
* [[The War Sequence]]: One of the selling points of ''The Forgotten Sands'' was the massive amounts of enemies onscreen at one time. Near the end, the Prince fights his way up a staircase on the outside of a tower, killing around ''two hundred'' enemies as he does so.
* [[What Happened to Thethe Mouse?]]: Considering its chronological placement between the first two games of the Sands trilogy, many fans of the series wonder why the Dahaka never made an appearance in ''Forgotten Sands''.
* [[Whip Sword]]: The Daggertail in ''The Two Thrones''.
* [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]]: In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcQQq7xwn9U Forgotten Sands], the Prince lampshades this after his brother releases a mystical sand-based army. An entirely different one from the earlier games.
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