Our final piece of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands news today is an internal Ubisoft FAQ with questions answered by producer Graeme Jennings. More details of the story, combat and visual style are revealed.

1. Why are you going back to the Sands of Time storyline?

The Sands of Time universe is one that’s a real favorite of the developers at Ubisoft, as well as fans. A great thing about the Prince of Persia series is that it allows us to tell stories in many different settings, with different Princes, while always retaining some core elements that fans expect. Returning to this series is something that we’ve had in the production for quite a long time now, and we can’t wait for everyone to get a look at what we have coming up.

2. Is there any link between The Forgotten Sands and the upcoming movie?

The Forgotten Sands is not related to the film in any way, other than being based within the same overall universe from our own Sands of Time game series. The Prince from The Forgotten Sands is the same one that players controlled in Sands of Time, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones, and its story is unrelated to the film. We are very happy that the movie will expose so many people to the universe that we love so much, and very happy at the amount of talent involved with it!

3. Where does The Forgotten Sands fit within the Sands of Time timeline??

The Forgotten Sands takes place in the span of time between the original Sands of Time and Warrior Within, soon after the Prince’s adventure in Azad.

4. What is the story for The Forgotten Sands?

Following his adventure in Azad, the Prince journeys to visit his brother, whose kingdom is under siege from an invading army. In defense of his people and kingdom, the Prince’s brother is prepared to go to any lengths necessary. Through his brother’s example and his own adventures, he will learn that the mantle of leadership comes at a severe price.

5. Can you tell us about some of the powers the Prince will have?

The Prince will acquire powers that I can only refer to as mastery over nature. What that exactly means is not something I can talk about at the moment, but I think it will be extremely exciting to fans when we reveal it in more detail.

6. How would you describe the visual style in Forgotten Sands?

We are going for what we call Arabian Nights-inspired realism, in keeping with the other Sands of Time games. We have some very powerful technology at our disposal, which allows us to bring set pieces and memorable moments to life that would not have been possible before.

7. Can you explain what the combat will be like in the game?

Given that we’re designing the game with the Anvil engine, we have a tremendous advantage with the amount of NPCs we are capable of displaying on screen at once. The scale of the battles that you’re going to take be involved in when playing The Forgotten Sands are on a level that have not been seen in the series so far. Also, as was teased in our first trailer, we have some encounters in the game that will pit the Prince against the largest enemies he has ever come across, which we will be showing in more detail later on.