Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

About Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

Ubisoft Montreal released this 2004 sequel just before the holidays on PC, Xbox, PS2, GameCube, and iOS. The story follows seven years after the first game. A beast called the Dahaka hunts the Prince because he broke a timeline rule. He heads to an ancient Island of Time to stop the Sands from ever existing. The tone shifts darker here compared to its predecessor. You play through a single-player campaign that mixes acrobatic platforming with intense sword fights. This title expanded the combat system significantly while keeping the fluid movement players loved in the original entry.

Gameplay

Sessions involve sprinting across ledges and solving environmental puzzles before engaging enemies. The Prince now wields dual weapons or steals blades from opponents to throw back at them. Combat strings feel much deeper than before, allowing for complex attack combinations rather than simple button mashing. You can use sand powers to rewind time, slow down attacks, or blast a circular wave that knocks foes down. The level design forces you to navigate between past and present versions of the same fortress using portals. Finishing moves appear frequently when you deplete an enemy health bar. The control scheme demands precision since falling often means restarting a section.

What Players Think

PlayPile data shows this title holds strong approval with a Metacritic score of 83 and an IGDB rating of 80.9 from over five hundred reviews. Average community moods lean heavily toward Story-Driven and Hardcore, though some users also tag it as Emotional. Players report spending significant time mastering the new combat strings and timing their sand abilities correctly. The game maintains a completion rate that suggests most finishers stick around despite the difficulty spikes. Cheapest prices on GOG sit at just 1.99 dollars, making the historical low accessible for anyone willing to try it. Review snippets often mention how the darker tone changed the feel of the series.

PlayPile's Take

This game works best for players who enjoyed the movement of the first title but wanted more combat depth. The price point of 1.99 dollars makes it a no-brainer purchase even if you are unsure about the difficulty. You will earn several achievements by completing all towers and defeating the final boss without taking damage. It is not for those seeking a casual afternoon with no stakes. The story twists keep things interesting until the very end. If you want a challenging action platformer that respects your skill, this one delivers.

Storyline

Set seven years after the events of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the Prince finds himself constantly hunted by a terrible beast known as the Dahaka. The Prince seeks counsel from an old wise man who explains that whoever releases The Sands of Time must die. Because the Prince escaped his fate, it is the Dahaka's mission as guardian of the Timeline to ensure that he dies as he was meant to. The old man also tells of the Island of Time, where the Empress of Time first created the Sands. The Prince sets sail for the Island in an attempt to prevent the Sands from ever being created, an act he believes will appease the Dahaka. After a battle at sea with an enemy force led by a mysterious woman in black capsizes the Prince's ship, the Prince washes ashore unconsciously onto the Island of Time. He later awakens and chases the woman in black through the Empress of Time's fortress into a portal that transports the two into the past. The Prince saves a woman named Kaileena from being killed by the woman in black, whose name is Shahdee. Unable to grant the Prince an audience with the Empress of Time, who is busy preparing to create the Sands, Kaileena instead tells him how to unlock the door to the throne room in which the Empress resides. The Prince makes his way through the fortress, utilizing the sand portals to travel back and forth between the past and present, and narrowly escapes several encounters with the Dahaka, who he discovers cannot pass through water. The Prince activates the mechanisms in the two towers of the fortress - the Garden Tower and the Mechanical Tower - that serve as locks to the door. He returns to the throne room only to discover that Kaileena is actually the Empress of Time herself, who has foreseen in the Timeline that the Prince will kill her and who has decided to attempt to defy her fate, just as the Prince is doing. A battle ensues and the Prince proves victorious; he kills Kaileena and returns to the present. What lies ahead is the most dramatic Twist in the Prince's life, and He starts believing the priest who told him "You cant change your Fate! No Man Can.." But Prince is not going to give up that easily.