How Prince of Persia Split the Timeline

news.ubisoft.com:

Prince of Persia celebrates its 35^th anniversary this month, and we're continuing our look back at the series with two entries from the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 generation: the 2008 re-imagining known simply as Prince of Persia, and 2010's Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, an interquel that explored the Prince's adventures between Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. 

"We had told the trilogy we envisioned, and closed the story of the Prince," says Jean-Christophe Guyot, creative director for 2008's Prince of Persia (as well as for Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones). "It was bittersweet, but it was done. It was a good moment to start a new Prince of Persia cycle, especially with the transition to next-gen hardware. We embraced that, and one of the starting ideas we used for this game was: Could you betray someone out of love?"

Prince of Persia 2008 was an all-new story, with a new Prince who worked together with a powerful magic-wielding princess named Elika to cleanse corruption from a vast, interconnected world. It was also a top-to-bottom reinvention of Prince of Persia, featuring cel-shaded visuals, a more fantastical setting, and gameplay that emphasized exploring open outdoor areas. It made Elika a key part of parkour - she could fling the Prince across gaps too wide to jump - and combat, with magic attacks that could combo with the Prince's sword strikes. Elika also replaced the rewind feature, automatically (and inexhaustibly) rescuing the Prince from death whenever he slipped up.

In fact, Prince of Persia 2008 was built around Elika in the same way Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was built around its rewind feature. Combat is one