How Rogue Prince of Persia Fits into the Historical Timeline

2024 has already been quite the year for the Prince of Persia franchise, and it’s about to get even better thanks to the upcoming The Rogue Prince of Persia. The first mainline Prince of Persia game in 14 years, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown brought the franchise back in style earlier this year, offering a stellar Metroidvania experience that not only pushed the franchise forward into exciting new territory, but the entire Metroidvania genre as a whole.

But it turns out the Prince of Persia franchise had a lot more cooking than many thought. Announced just a week ago, The Rogue Prince of Persia is, as the name implies, a roguelike action-platformer that sees the player take control of the titular Prince once more, this time battling against the dark magics of an oncoming Hun invasion. That invasion gives The Rogue Prince of Persia a fairly clear time setting, though fitting that into the wider Prince of Persia timeline isn’t quite as straightforward.

How The Rogue Prince of Persia Fits Into the Series Timeline

The Current Prince of Persia Timeline

Put simply, the Prince of Persia timeline is incredibly convoluted. In real-world history, the ancient Persian Empire is thought to have lasted between 559 BC and 331 BC, though, obviously, Persia existed as a named nation right up until the 1930s. Many Prince of Persia games never officially state when they are set, making establishing a concrete timeline virtually impossible, with some potentially taking place during the reign of the ancient Persian Empire, and some possibly being set in medieval-era Persia.

The original Prince of Persia trilogy, released in 1989, 1993, and 1999 respectively, is believed to be set at some point during Persia’s medieval era. In real-world history, this medieval era began sometime during the early 7th century with an event known as the Islamic Conquest of Persia, and lasted all the way up to the early 16th century with the fall of the Timurid Empire. The original Prince of Persia trilogy likely takes place towards the beginning of this medieval period, though there’s no clear evidence to support that.

The beloved Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and its sequels – Warrior Within, Two Thrones, and technically The Forgotten Sands – are all set during the 9th century according to some old developer comments, though some fans have since questioned the validity of these claims with the real-world timeline not quite matching up to in-game events. For instance, in Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, players visit Babylon, a city believed to have fallen all the way back in 539 BC, over 1000 years before the events of The Two Thrones.

As if that wasn’t all vague enough already, the Prince of Persia timeline is further marred by a severe lack of continuity between entries. With every reboot that the Prince of Persia series undergoes, the less connected the entire franchise becomes. The Prince is rarely the same character between entries, and thus the era each game is set in is also rarely consistent. Essentially, there is no concrete Prince of Persia timeline.

When The Rogue Prince of Persia Takes Place

That all being said, The Rogue Prince of Persia could technically fit into the wider franchise timeline if it needed to. According to developer Evil Empire, The Rogue Prince of Persia will take place during a Hun invasion of the Persian capital, Ctesiphon. Though the in-game conflict hasn’t been directly connected with a real-world invasion, there is one historical period that lines up well, and that’s the Hunnic Invasion of 395 AD, where Hun commanders Basiq and Kursich threatened to seize the Persian capital of Ctesiphon, eventually retreating upon hearing that the Sasanian army was on its way. This could technically place The Rogue Prince of Persia between the original trilogy and Sands of Time, though it’s likely that all Prince of Persia sub-series are pretty much standalone at this point.

The Rogue Prince of Persia

Evil Empire’s The Rogue Prince of Persia is a 2D action-platformer with roguelite elements. With Persia under attack by a Hun invasion, the Prince must find a way to protect the city while unraveling a mystery. 

Released

May 14, 2024

Developer(s)

Evil Empire

Genre(s)

Action-Adventure , Roguelike