Where does the new Prince fit into the PoP saga? What' s the plot for this one?

Mattes: When the game starts you' re not a prince, you' re just an adventurer. You' re a guy who' s used to going from quest to quest, getting a bunch of money and then wasting it all on women and drink.

In our story the adventurer is coming back from a quest in the desert when a huge sandstorm blows in, sending him into the middle of this huge oasis. There are trees and buildings that just weren' t there before, and our hero has no idea what' s going on.

Suddenly, in runs Elika who' s being pursued by these guards and they take off into the centre of the oasis where they come across this gigantic tree, which we call the Tree of Life. Imprisoned inside the Tree of Life is Ahriman, the ancient god of evil and corruption - basically Satan.

Elika is one of the last guardians of the Tree. For hundreds of generations her people have lived within this oasis with no contact with the outside world. So of course as soon as the Prince and Elika get there, certain things happen that causes the tree to come tumbling down and out breaks Ahriman.

He immediately corrupts the world killing everything, and if Elika and the Prince don' t push him back inside the tree eventually the whole world will become corrupt.

That' s the backdrop for the game, and basically what the player is presented with five minutes after they start playing.