Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame

About Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame

Similar to the first Prince of Persia, the character explores various deadly areas by running, jumping, crawling, avoiding traps, solving puzzles and drinking magic potions. Prince of Persia 2 is more combat-heavy than its predecessor. In the first game, enemies appear only occasionally and are always alone, while in the sequel, up to four enemies may appear at once, sometimes flanking the player, and may even be instantly replaced by reinforcements upon being killed. As in Prince of Persia, the goal is to complete the game under a strict time limit from 75 minutes (which start at a certain point in the game) that passes in real time. Lives are unlimited, but time cannot be regained (except by reverting to a previously saved game). In other areas, more significant improvements have been made. The graphics are far more complex than the simple look of the game's predecessor, the areas explored are larger, and the variety of backdrops is greater.

The game takes place 11 days after the events of the first game. During this period, the Prince was hailed as a hero who defeated the evil Jaffar. He turns down all riches and instead asks for the Princess's hand in marriage as his reward, to which the Sultan of Persia reluctantly agrees. The game begins as the Prince enters the royal courts of the palace. Before he enters, his appearance changes into that of a beggar. Nobody recognizes him, and when he attempts to speak with the Princess, a man who shares his appearance (Jaffar, who is magically disguised) emerges from the shadows, ordering him to be thrown out. With guards pursuing him, the Prince jumps through a window and flees the city by way of a ship.

Falling asleep on the ship, the Prince dreams of a mysterious woman who asks the Prince to come to her. At this time, the ship is struck by lightning, cast by Jaffar. When the Prince regains consciousness, he finds himself on the shore of a foreign island. He enters a cave full of reanimated human skeletons that attack him. After defeating their leader and losing his sword shortly after, he finally escapes on a magic carpet. In the meantime, in Persia, Jaffar seizes the throne in the guise of the Prince. The Princess falls ill under Jaffar's spell of gradual death.

The magic carpet takes the Prince to the ruins of Basra, filled with screaming flying goblin heads, snakes, and traps. He finds a dagger. Arriving at what appears to have once been a throne room, the Prince loses consciousness after touching a sword on the ground and has another vision. The mysterious woman, revealed to be his mother, appears again. She explains that the Prince is of a royal lineage, the only survivor of the massacre by "armies of darkness" after his parents sacrificed their own lives to save him, and that the sword belonged to his father. She implores him to take the sword and avenge the fallen.