Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

Lore & Background

The story follows the Prince as he returns to his home in Babylon, only to find that his actions in Warrior Within have undone the events of The Sands of Time. The villainous Vizier is back from the dead and kills the Prince's companion Kaileena, absorbing the Sands of Time from her, which transform him into an immortal monster. The Prince must work together with his past love Farah (whom he meets for the first time in this new timeline) to defeat the Vizier, while also struggling against his own Dark Prince persona, which is slowly corrupting him. The game is set immediately after the events of Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, and the story is narrated by Kaileena.

Narrative & The Return of the Vizier

The story of The Two Thrones picks up where Warrior Within left off, but with a devastating twist: the Prince's earlier heroism has actually reversed the timeline, erasing the consequences of The Sands of Time. Back in Babylon, the long-dead Vizier rises again and murders Kaileena, swallowing the Sands of Time into his own body and becoming an unstoppable immortal monster. The Prince's path forward is complicated by the fact that, in this reshaped timeline, he has never met Farah before.

Their first encounter happens here, and the two must join forces to put the Vizier down for good. Running parallel to the external threat is the Prince's internal battle with his Dark Prince persona, a corrupting alter ego that whispers doubts and slowly erodes his sense of self. As the sixth main entry in the franchise and the closing chapter of the Sands of Time trilogy, the game carries enormous narrative weight, yet it is not the final word in that continuity.

Acrobatic Combat & The Speed Kill System

The Two Thrones blends fluid parkour-style traversal with a combat system that rewards creativity. Players guide the Prince through palace corridors by sprinting along walls, leaping between chasms, sliding down chutes, balancing on swinging poles, and launching off vertical shutters at forty-five-degree angles. Interspersed are on-rails chariot sequences that demand quick reflexes as the Prince barrels down a road dodging obstacles and enemies. In fights, the core weapon is a dagger, but the Dagger of Time adds a layer of strategic depth: its sand charges can be spent on time-control powers, and disabling enemy sand gates upgrades its capacity and unlocks multi-target abilities.

Secondary weapons picked up from foes or racks enable dual-wield brawls, though they shatter after limited use. The standout addition is the Speed Kill system, which replaces the older stealth bonus with a timed, multi-hit sequence that instantly dispatches one or two enemies. Miss the rhythm and the target shoves the Prince away. The same mechanic appears in boss encounters, making precision timing a constant thread through the game.

The Dark Prince Transformation

One of the game's most distinctive features is the Prince's involuntary transformation into the Dark Prince, a darker alter ego who bickers with him in his mind throughout the adventure. The player cannot trigger this change at will; it happens automatically at set moments. While in this state, the Prince loses his secondary weapon and instead wields the Daggertail, a bladed whip fused to his arm that can slash at mid-range, pry blocks from walls, and grapple along torches or high bars to cross wide gaps. The Daggertail also has its own Speed Kill input, requiring rapid repeated button presses to saw through enemies.

The transformation comes at a steep cost: the Prince's health steadily drains while he remains in this form, and if he does not collect Sand from a defeated monster or a pickup object, he will eventually die. The only way to snap back to his normal self is to step into water, a transition the player cannot avoid. This mechanic creates a constant tension between the power the Dark Prince offers and the danger of lingering too long in his grip.

Release, Reception & Series Legacy

Developed by Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Casablanca, The Two Thrones launched in 2005 across PlayStation 2, GameCube, Windows PC, Xbox, and Java mobile phones. In 2007 it returned as Prince of Persia: Rival Swords on the PSP and Wii, with the latter adding motion-sensing controls and the former offering exclusive content plus local multiplayer. Critics generally praised the original release, singling out the story, character work, level design, graphics, combat feel, and the new Speed Kill mechanic. The Rival Swords ports, however, drew noticeably weaker reviews.

Commercially, the game was a strong performer, moving more than 1.5 million copies within its first month. In the broader franchise timeline, The Two Thrones serves as the closing chapter of the Sands of Time trilogy, though it is not the last title set in that continuity. The series was rebooted a second time with the 2008 Prince of Persia, and the Sands of Time storyline was later revisited by 2010's The Forgotten Sands, which is set chronologically between The Sands of Time and Warrior Within.

Reader's Guide

The Two Thrones received generally positive reviews upon release, with praise for its story, characters, level design, graphics, combat, and the new speed kill mechanic. The PSP and Wii versions (Rival Swords) reviewed significantly worse than the others. The game was a commercial success, selling over 1.5 million copies within one month of release.

Following The Two Thrones, the series was rebooted a second time with 2008's Prince of Persia before returning to the Sands of Time continuity with 2010's Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, which is set between the events of The Sands of Time and Warrior Within. The game's gameplay combines exploration and combat, utilizing the Prince's acrobatic capability and agility, and introduces the speed kill system for instant enemy defeats. The Dark Prince mechanic adds a unique health-draining transformation with a bladed whip weapon called the Daggertail.