1UP: Prince of Persia has a Hidden Message

As part of today's 1UP interview with Prince of Persia team members Ben Mattes (producer) and Michael McIntyre (level designer), Mattes discussed the idea of having hidden messages in games and revealed that for Prince of Persia the team at Ubisoft Montreal came up with a written statement to guide them during development -- one they intend to keep secret upon the game's release.

"I think one of the things we really want people to take away from this game is that there's more to it than meets the eye," said Mattes. "There's a surface layer, which is: Fight the bad guys, heal the world, collect the Light Seeds, kill Ahriman, you win. But there's a lot of imbued meaning in all of that that we went spent weeks and months discussing. What does the Corruption represent to us? And what does healing the world represent to us? And what does Elika represent in terms of the guardian of light? And who is the Prince in terms of this noble savage who wanders in and helps her out? And what does it mean that he eventually helps her?"