The game is set in ancient Persia, with a player-character whose name is not revealed in the game. He is accompanied by a woman named Elika, whom he met after a large sandstorm diverted him from his course and he ended up in a mysterious land. Players traverse many different environments using his acrobatic abilities to scale walls and even crawl on the ceilings. Throughout the journey, players combat various enemies as they attempt to cleanse the land of corruption. The game's storyline and setting borrowed some aspects from Zoroastrianism. Prince of Persia takes place in an undefined ancient Persian city-state. A thousand years before the events of the game take place, there was a struggle for power between the gods Ahriman and Ormazd. The outcome of the struggle was that Ormazd and his people, the Ahura, managed to imprison Ahriman and his minions, the Corrupted, in a tree. Ormazd then left the world, leaving the Ahura to make sure Ahriman remains secure. They are successful for a thousand years, at which point the Ahura started to believe that Ahriman and Ormazd were myths due to their inactivity, and most departed. Shortly before the events of the game, Ahriman is about to be freed again.