Prince of Persia Games In Chronological Order

Prince of Persia is now known as the beloved Ubisoft series that blossomed into Assassin’s Creed, featuring familiar parkour and combat elements. The difference is the emphasis on a singular location rather than the more open-ended nature of its successor. Its timeline can get a little confusing, though — where do the originals fit in, the spin-offs, the DS games?

Throughout the entirety of Prince of Persia, three different time periods have been covered following three different Princes. There’s obviously a lot to consider when unpacking the chronology of the series, and there are a few remakes and ports to further muddy the water. At any rate, once this first trilogy wrapped up, Ubisoft took the reins, and a new era of Prince of Persia began.

With many of the games simply being ports or remakes of pre-existing games, those are not taken into consideration when it comes to establishing chronlogical order.

Updated On October xxth, 2024 by Hilton Webster: WPrince of Persia is one of Ubisoft’s most beloved series, and one that has gotten a long overdue resurgence in recent years. Let’s take a closer look at just when all of these games take place.

Is Prince Of Persia Set In One Timeline?

In short, no. While all of the games take place within Persia (or Ubisoft’s rather detached vision of Persia), they all take place in wildly different time periods from one another once you dive into the various subseries.

That said, while the games all take place in distinct historical period of Persia, whether it be ancient or medieval, the games themselves are still split within their own timelines. They don’t follow on from each other chronologically. With the games using time as a central mechanic, this all gets a bit more vague.

The majority of games use a setting most akin to the medieval period of Persia, though outside of the Sand of Time games, the majority of these are not connected to each other, or only lightly so. As such, most games can be played completely independently.

The Ubisoft-Developed Games

In 2001, Ubisoft bought the rights to the Prince of Persia series from Jordan Mechner, and from that point on became the sole developers of the series. The majority of the games created by Ubisoft, even when they feature drastically different names, are mainly connected to or are ports of games from the Sands of Time series.

With the release of The Lost Crown, they became more open with the series. Prior to that, they had made the 2008 reboot, giving another vision for the series. It’s far from consistent, which is what makes it so great. You can choose any game in the series and get a new experience.

Prince of Persia (2008)

While releasing after the Sands of Time trilogy, the 2008 soft reboot is the first chronological game in Ubisoft’s catalog. It’s set in Ancient Persia, though also takes place in a timeline completely independent of the Sands of Time games.

You play as a nameless adventurer who is, in actuality, nicknamed Prince. Whether he is one or not isn’t clear. He meets a Princess when searching for his donkey but her father confronts them at the Tree of Life where, after the fight, he cuts the bark to release Ahriman, the god of darkness. This corrupts the entire world and leads to the princess and Prince’s journey to undo this mess.

The Fallen King

The epilogue for Prince of Persia in 2008 reveals that Prince and Elika – the Princess – survived the events of the game. Well, Prince resurrects her. She isn’t too happy about it, so after they beat her father, they separate.

This is where The Fallen King picks up. Elika is with the Ahura, leading a band of resistance fighters against Ahriman, while the Prince searches for the king of The City of New Dawn. He meets somebody called Zal, and their journey is one to defeat a king whose corruption has resulted in him being split into two — the human and the monster.

The Sands of Time

Taking place in the medieval period, Sands of Time was the first Ubisoft-developed Prince of Persia game. It kicks off a series of events stemming from selfish greed — a desire to bend time simply to extend one’s own life. The Sands of Time, held in an hourglass, are the means to do it.

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Caught up in the fallout, the Prince takes the Dagger of Time and embarks on a journey to remedy this chaos. It was, well, quite a sexist game even for the period in which is released, though it’s got some stellar animations and level design that you can still play on modern systems.

The Forgotten Sands

More sand, more shenanigans, more war, and more messes for the Prince to clean up. In the 2010 title, he travels to his brother Malik’s kingdom to find him losing an unwinnable war. So, naturally, his brother ventures to the treasure vault to unleash Solomon’s Army – an army of creatures made of sand.

The Prince now embarks on a new mission to re-imprison Solomon’s Army by bringing together two halves of the seal. At least he isn’t messing with the fabric of time in this one. Despite releasing in 2010, it actually fits between Sands of Time and Warrior Within.

It was originally
planned to be a tie-in for the movie adaptation of the series
, though was retrofitted into the Sands of Time games with the movie’s delay.

Battles of Prince of Persia

A DS game called Battles of Prince of Persia launched in 2005, telling a story between The Sands of Time and Warrior Within. The Prince discovers that he is being hunted by the Dahaka, a literal manifestation of fate, all because he meddled with time and cheated death in the first game.

In the midst of this, he unleashes a war between Persia and India while fighting demons. It gets a little unhinged after the first outing. The real value of this entry is that it shows how the Prince became the more hardened, gruff warrior.

Warrior Within

Released in 2004, Warrior Within takes place seven years after The Sands of Time with the Prince on the run from the Dahaka. Looking for advice, he is told by an older, wise man that he has to die — that’s the only way to get the hounds off his back.

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However, he is also told of the Island of Time, where the Sands were created. He sets off on a paradoxical mission to stop them from ever being made.

The Two Thrones

In 2005, The Two Thrones showed that the second Warrior Within ending (with the Water Sword) is the canonical one. It follows the narrative where the Prince kills the Dahaka and prevents the Sands of Time from ever being made while saving Kaileena. The Vizier and Maharajah traveled to the Island of Time but instead of finding a full hourglass with this magical artifact, they find an empty one.

Farah has also never met the Prince because of the change in the timeline. At any rate, he and Kaileena return to Babylon and find it under siege. Vizier has the Dagger of Time, unleashes the Sands, and makes himself immortal. The Sands infect the Prince’s wounds, giving him a newfound power, all while he has a newfound goal.

This, humorously, makes it both a sequel to the previous games due to the Prince’s awareness of events, but chronologically around the same period as Sands of Time.

Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown

After a long hiatus, the series returned with new blood. Taking place once again in Ubisoft’s fictional version of Persia, it takes place separately from both the 2008 reboot and the Sands of Time games, carving out a new identity for itself.

A Metroidvania, The Lost Crown introduces another major change on top of this – you don’t play as the Prince at all. As Sargon, it is instead your goal to save the Prince of Persia from his enemies as his bodyguard. It’s a bold new direction for the series unhampered by past decisions.

The Rogue Prince of Persia

One of the rare Prince of Persia games not developed by Ubisoft, The Rogue Prince of Persia is made by Evil Empire, the creators of Dead Cells. Pulling from a similar style of gameplay, it is a side-scrolling roguelite game, though with an increased focus on platforming.

As with previous games, it exists completely in its own timeline, one more reminiscent of actual Ancient Persia within the city of Ctesiphon.

The Original Prince Of Persia Games

Firstly, the original games aren’t connected to the modern Prince but they’re still worth playing. Making up a trilogy of their own, the first game came from Jordan Mechner in 1989 and it was a 2D sidescroller about an orphan falling in love with a Princess.

It’s incredibly short, running at around one hour, but it was a hit, leading into Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame. Though the second game ended on a cliffhanger, it was not resolved by the third installment Prince Of Persia 3D, which tells an entirely different story.

Prince Of Persia

Before there was the groundbreaking Sands Of Time adventure, there was the original Prince of Persia. Revisiting this game reveals just how far the Prince has come and just how much he has changed. Released in 1989 as computer games were growing in popularity, this game took the form of a slow-paced puzzle-platformer similar to titles such as Out of This World.

Taking place in Medieval Persia, it follows the unnamed Prince as he escapes the palace dungeon in order to save the Sultan’s daughter from the evil Vizier wizard. Over the course of his journey, he overcomes numerous death traps, armed guards, and even his magical clone to save the Princess.

Prince Of Persia 2: The Shadow And The Flame

Following the moderate success of the first game, The Shadow And The Flame was released a few years later in 1993 and is set only 11 days after where the previous one ended. Though the core feel and mechanics of the game are kept intact, there was more effort and focus put into the combat aspect with far more enemies to encounter.

This time around, the Prince is cursed with a stranger’s appearance by the evil Vizier which causes everyone in the palace to turn on him. He escapes on a ship, and despite the Vizier’s attempts to kill him, the Prince is determined to return. After destroying the Vizier for good, he reunites with the Princess — unaware that a sinister figure is watching the both of them.

Prince Of Persia 3D

Despite the fact that Prince of Persia 2 ended on a cliffhanger, Prince of Persia 3D takes place in the future while telling a completely different story. On the edge of the millennium, explorations into 3D were popping up everywhere. This 1999 title was meant to take the Prince into this new world. But sadly, it was not received as favorably as its predecessors.

This story follows the Prince as he accompanies the Sultan to visit the latter’s brother, Assan. Soon after arriving, the Prince is imprisoned and Assan takes the Sultan hostage. The Prince has to navigate the 3D space of Assan’s dungeon while being restricted by gradual movement controls akin to older Resident Evil games.