It is the seventh main installment in the Prince of Persia franchise, and the second reboot, establishing a new continuity that is separate from other games in the series.

The game was also released on November 11, 2008, by Gameloft for mobile phones that runs on the Java platform taking place in a 2D environment, and has a feature of enabling the players to control a second character at certain points of levels.

The game is set in ancient Persia, and follows an unnamed player-character, who finds himself in a mysterious land after a large sandstorm diverted him from his course.

Throughout the journey, players traverse many different environments using his acrobatic abilities to scale walls and even crawl on the ceilings, and combat various enemies.

Prince of Persia received generally positive reviews from critics, and has sold over 2.5 million copies as of November 2009.

The only other game in the series set in this continuity is Prince of Persia: The Fallen King, also released in December 2008 for the Nintendo DS.

[5] The premise of Prince of Persia is that the player travels around the game world to heal specially designated spots of land.

The traps are manifested in various forms of the antagonist Ahriman's Corruption; black-colored blobs that coat the land and swallow the player if touched.

[8][9] Prince of Persia takes place in an undefined ancient Persian city-state[10] based heavily around the religion of Zoroastrianism.

[11] A thousand years before the events of the game take place, there was a struggle for power between the gods Ahriman and Ormazd.

[14] The Mourning King appears as an antagonist, intent on fulfilling his deal with Ahriman in return for the resurrection of his daughter, Elika.

The Alchemist asked Ormazd for a longer lifespan to complete his research, but when he was refused, Ahriman offered him immortality in exchange for his soul.

Elika tells the Prince that in order to restore the world and rid the corruption inhabiting it, they must heal all the Fertile Grounds in the kingdom.

They then begin restoring the Fertile Grounds, encountering the Warrior, the Hunter, the Concubine and the Alchemist, four corrupted leaders Ahriman chose to set free.

The game ends with the Prince carrying Elika across the desert while Ahriman's darkness envelops the world and the Temple is destroyed.

In Epilogue, an optional expansion pack set after the main story, it is shown that the Prince and Elika survive, and retreat to an underground palace.

While on their way, Elika shows her frustration with the Prince multiple times, believing bringing her back was not worth the price of the evil it unleashed.

Producer Ben Mattes said that the intent in changing the combat so drastically was to give players the impression that each enemy was a unique and dramatic experience in itself.

[21] Unlike previous Ubisoft games such as Assassin's Creed, the PC version of Prince of Persia contains no digital rights protection.

[22] Mattes said that when Ubisoft was initially developing the game, cooperative gameplay with an AI-controlled partner was the main idea they wanted to build on.

[23] Downloadable content for Prince of Persia, titled Epilogue, includes new areas to explore, new enemies, new combat maneuvers, and a new power for Elika to use.

[31][32][33] IGN writer Hilary Goldstein praised the game for its simple but visually spectacular acrobatics and combat, but noted that one must "embrace the change [to the series]" in order to "fall in love [with it]".

[48] ' GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd shared a similar opinion and in addition praised its excellent artistic design.

Examples include Mirror's Edge[54] and Ubisoft's own Assassin's Creed with unique platforming and timing-based combat.

[37][41] The vast open-world environment with intense boss fights have been compared to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus,[54] and the watercolor looks to Ōkami.