Time Only Knows

Or “Why Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” is a storytelling Masterpiece

This was peak 2003 cover art

Some people think time is like a river, flowing swift and sure in one direction. But I have seen the face of time, and I can assure you: they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm….

The above words are narrated over the opening cinematic to the best video game I have ever played. Not only that, it is likely the best video game yet conceived by man. A bold claim you might say, especially when the 2003  graphics on the original Xbox look like something one would have seen on a mobile game circa 2008 but theres some things that this little gem achieves that remains elusive to the majority of its more streamlined contemporaries: namely nailing its intended atmosphere and delivering amazingly solid storytelling.

How does it succeed where others have failed?

Let’s discuss

The Threat

The beginning of the game finds the titular Prince riding along with his father and his army as they take a short detour while on their way to visit an old family friend to, you know, completely sack the capital of an Indian Maharajah. The city’s gates are thrown open by a traitorous vizier (who was promised his pick of the loot for his cooperation) and the army launches a surprise attack, catching the defenders flat footed and decimating all in their path.

Keen to make ‘ol papa proud, the Prince charges ahead to earn honor and glory but soon discounts slaughtering defenders as a means to obtain it. With the way of the blade out of the question the Prince decides to make being the first into the Maharajah’s treasure vaults his claim to fame. This leads to his discovery of two items: The Hourlgass and the Dagger of Time. The Hourglass contains the Sands of Time and the dagger….well the dagger controls them. Utilizing the dagger he realizes he can literally rewind time for a short period. Get crushed by a rock? Fall to your death? Lol no you didn’t. After escaping the treasure vault the traitorous vizier tries to claim first the dagger, then the hourglass as his prize so as to (you find out later) achieve immortality but he is denied. Instead the Prince keeps the dagger and the Hourlgass is intended as a gift to the aforementioned family friend- along with a certain Indian princess captured during the sack of the city.

Once the party arrives at the fabled Kingdom of Azad the vizier tricks the prince into inserting the dagger into the hourglass, unleashing the titular sands of time. A short incantation later and the vizier sends the sands coursing through the kingdom turning everyone save himself, The Prince and Farah (the Indian princess) into either dust or, worse, sand-zombies- beings subject to an unyielding death that can only be ended by the Prince absorbing the poisonous sands from their ashen corpses via the Dagger.

You’d think that dealing with the tortured souls of the damned would be enough but the prince also has to deal with the palace’s defense system which, naturally manifests as a collection of timed obstacles and traps (the overcoming of which can, admittedly, bestow a certain zen-like state upon the player)

Ahhh calming AF (Yes this is from a sequel but you get the gist)

The Prince

When the prince sets out he’s concerned only about honor and glory.

He is, to put it lightly, a bit of an entitled prick.

There’s a brief glimpse at his merciful side early on when he states how he detests killing, but for the most part he’s basically Indiana jones with parkour and deeper daddy issues. Once he visits Armageddon on his own father, entourage and unsuspecting host kingdom….well lets just say he’s a bit horrified by his own actions.

Upon finding Farah he matches her in royal condescension and angst. Yet, the more they travel together, seeing the horrors wreaked by the sands of time and cleansing the kingdom before its corruption can spread he comes to develop a comraderie with her, allowing his nobility to shine through.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the cold exterior of the Prince falls, allowing a more mature and romantic Prince to shine through. Gone is the brooding teen hell bent on glory. Instead by the end of the tale the Prince is, dare I say, Princely in his demeanor, more open about his emotions, and willing to forego honor and glory to sacrifice all to prevent his mistake from causing the end of the world.

Where before he was issued imperious commands he now prefers kindness and a gentle word, focusing more on undoing the evils of the past (though as the end of the game shows he’s still not above putting down a treacherous vizier or two).

The character arc is sublime, the satisfaction upon it’s completion a work of art. And it makes for one of the most compelling characters ever to grace a console

He’s also a total badass

The Love Interest

Perhaps one of the most overplayed video game tropes is the obligatory love interest. Not only does this wearisome trend wear out it’s welcome by being constantly thrown in your face, but it’s typically done without any consideration for chemistry, forced upon you as a result of the the love interest being the only other interactable character in the narrative (literally saying “here player, your character has affection for this person because reasons”).

Luckily the Sands of Time dodges that particular bullet with the character of Farah.

Rather than the stereotypical eye candy Farah is a driving force of the narrative, being first the subject of the Prince’s shame (being princess of the city he and his father sacked), then his redemption (possessing knowledge of the Hourglass, Dagger, and Sands of Time that can help him undo what he has done) and, finally, his heart (sharing danger and letting the relationship grow naturally throughout the narrative until genuine affection is established, followed by desire and, soon after love).

Importantly, rather than a helpless damsel in distress Farah is right beside you in the fight, taking pot shots at sand creatures with her bow and telling you to watch out or crying out as you get hit. Having to manage her healthbar in the numerous fights isn’t much of  chore but its subtle implementation does reinforce the fact that you’re a team, and that the story isn’t worth continuing if either should fall.

The actual relationship between Farah and the Prince expands gradually. While they grudgingly on form an alliance at the start out of desperation this soon evolves into rushing in to save each other when they are in danger out of genuine (if suppressed) affection. Eventually subtle hints start showing through the cracks that they truly care for each other (the Prince wondering aloud if she is alright when they’re separated, Farah gasping as he slips from a ledge, each of them softening the amount of shit they throw each others way until they’re all but tripping over their feelings for each other). The two grow together, maturing out of the spoiled royals they first met each other as until their relationship culminates in an ultimate “feels session” where the Prince shares his fears and Farah soothes him by sharing the magical word her mother whispered to her as a child when she was afraid. A word that supposedly would open a magical door to show her to safety: Kakolukia.

After this milestone the two give into their feelings, have one blissful night in some oil scented baths…and then Farah steals the dagger.

The prince is shocked, he doesn’t know whether to feel worried or betrayed. Only when he catches up with her does he find out that she meant to plunge the dagger back into the hourglass herself because it might kill the person who does and she couldn’t bear to lose him. The Prince finds this out shortly before Farah is knocked off a ledge, the Prince forced to grab a hold of the blade of the dagger to arrest her fall.

Blood flows down the blade as she continues to slip. Knowing she is, in short, fucked, Farah whispers one final “Kakolukia” and let’s go, plummeting to her death.

And so she dies, trying to spare the Prince what she thinks is certain death only to find death herself. Her sacrifice is less of a trope and more of a genuine loss. With Farah ripped away from him you truly get a sense that all the loss the Prince has experienced hits at once nearly overwhelming him.

Her death is what drives the Prince to make one final push laying it all out on the line to sacrifice his life to deny the vizier immortality and undo the havoc wrought by the sands of Time.

This is about when my parents would walk in

 But the Prince doesn’t die.

After he plunges the dagger into the hourglass events pass by in a blur. The hourglass undoes the events of the entire game, rewinding until the Prince awakens in his tent the morning before the assault on the Maharaja’s city. He rushes out of camp and through the jungle to scale the walls of the city, climb up onto a balcony…..and gather himself before walking into the room of a certain princess.

He gently wakes her and, by way of explanation for how he somehow possesses the dagger of time (and as a means to convince her of the danger to her city), recounts the events of the game you’ve played for the several preceding hours. The Prince convinces her he’s telling the truth, kills the traitorous vizier to prevent his betraying the city, and returns the dagger, but not before stealing one final kiss from the Princess- a kiss denied him when she sacrificed herself. He rewinds time so she doesn’t take offense and, upon his preparing to leap off the balcony she asks his name.

The Prince pauses, looks her in the eye and says “Kakolukia” before disappearing back into the jungle. Farah gasps, staring after him as she realizes that, perhaps, there was more truth to the Prince’s tale than she’d thought.

Cue bass guitar riff and a kickass sax solo

The delivery is flawless, the feels unbearable. When the credits roll you feel complete- the only thing missing is the ability to shut a book cover and sigh with content.

It’s a masterpiece, pure and simple.

The Sands of Time consistently lands both its emotional beats and sense of wonder resulting in (ironically) a timeless classic.