Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (2005)

This title brings the Sands of Time trilogy to a strong and satisfying close. After the darker and more violent tone of Warrior Within, this entry strikes a better balance between the emotional storytelling of the first game and the intense action of the second. The Prince returns to Babylon, only to find his kingdom in ruins and his past actions coming back to haunt him. What follows is a tightly woven tale of redemption, inner conflict, and fate. As for the gameplay, it refines the series’ signature mix of fluid platforming, acrobatics, and time manipulation.

The parkour sequences remain the highlight, leaping across walls, swinging from poles, and dodging deadly traps feels as smooth and rewarding as ever. Combat has been improved with the addition of the “Speed Kill” system, allowing for stealthy and cinematic takedowns. The introduction of the “Dark Prince,” a twisted version of the protagonist who uses a chain weapon and gradually loses health over time, adds an exciting layer of risk and variety to the experience. In my opinion this mechanic was not explored enough since the scale of this game was insanely small compared to Warrior Within, which in comparison, can even start to make it feel like the previous entry was almost an open-world metriodvania, even if it is not one.

Visually, the PlayStation 2 version shows the hardware’s limits, but the game’s art direction, moody lighting, and atmospheric OST help maintain a sense of grandeur. The story’s pacing, combined with a heartfelt ending, gives the trilogy a strong emotional closure. While occasional camera issues and some dated textures remain, it succeeds in blending action, puzzle-solving, and storytelling into a cohesive and memorable adventure, a fitting farewell to one of the most iconic heroes of the PS2 era. This was one of the first PlayStation 2 games that I've ever played, and I finished it without using a memory card simply because I was blown away by it, one of the best of it's platform.

The third one, the "Return of the King" of this trilogy, the end of the saga... and my least favorite??? Yeah, my least favorite.

It is still a great game. It is really fun and I always remember it for the new mechanics, which make it feel like the most dynamic of them all, although I was just reading the Wikipedia page and some critics said that "took stuff from other games, like God of War" and I was like "ohhhhh, yeah, that is were that comes from". And I don't necessarily think is a bad thing, actually it makes for a more cinematic, enthralling experience.

But... I don't know. I am having trouble putting into words what about this game just does not connect with me. It is too short, I feel that the story stretches too much between the main conflict and the inner struggle of the protagonist. Kaileena is (again) extremely under used, she's the f***ing Empress of Time in the previous game and now is a McGuffin used at the service of the Prince's path of revenge. Man, so much wasted potential...

In a hypotetical remake/remaster, I think this is the one that needs the most remork.

Prince of persia the two thrones is a 2005 action, adventure, platform and cut-and-shoot game.Ubisoft Montreal, the producer of the game, and Ubisoft, the distributor, have done a great job.The story of the game is as follows.Prince takes Kaileena to his own country, but Prince sees that his own country is under occupation.The gameplay is as follows.in this game consisting of 42 sections, you are trying to kill enemies and cross the section.The music of the game is beautiful.The graphics of the game are not bad.My rating for the game: 10/10 (y) Good games to everyone 🙂

Many years ago, I tried playing this game. And I failed, miserably.

Now I picked it up again! And I can totally see why I decided to quit it. I feel like gameplay mechanics derailed starting from the 2nd game in the series, and it just kept snowballing downhill with this entry. I think the issue simply is trying to cram too many features into the game, making it more and more broken.

The platforming is still solid and even better than Warrior Within. Some new mechanics are added like the dagger holes and springboard mechanics. The platforming feels fun and intuitive in true PoP fashion! There are some issues with certain puzzles being really far out and sometimes to progress to the next area I ended up flailing around for a long time before realizing there was a dagger hole against some random wall in the area... This happened several times.

Now that's the good part, then to the broken part: the combat. I really disliked the combat from Warrior Within but it's even worse in Two Thrones. Every time I get to a fighting sequence I felt my heart plummet. There's an obscene amount of enemies in this game and they are all equally boring to fight. It's really difficult since this time all the enemies won't wait in line to attack, they will simply attack whenever they want, meaning I would just never do any special or cool moves in fear of being attacked mid-combo. The entire game I literally just blocked and slashed repeatedly through every single encounter.

They tried to put in some stealth mechanics as well, which honestly just sucks. Some weird quick-time event things that feel incredibly unintuitive and unfair. Oftentimes it was just less agonizing to fight everyone, which says a whole lot about the stealth. Then there's the cart race/escape thing. These segments take the price as the most stupid, and unnecessary, and frustrating part of the game that could have been skipped entirely. At this point, they just feel really random and just don't fit in. Luckily there aren't too many. Boss fights are nothing but a nuisance and the last boss feels like some kind of personal insult.

This game simply does not hold up against the first Prince of Persia (which in my opinion no other pop game ever had) and not even against Warrior Within, which I also thought was kind of crappy. If you're playing them in order you should play this one and just mash through it, it ties the ends really well with the first game in a pretty satisfying way. If you're looking to play a good Prince of Persia game tho, look elsewhere, there are better options.

Over & out.

Just finished this.

The locations aren't as interesting as WW, but the combat isn't nearly as frustrating and it splits the difference between its predecessors tonally. Overall, I liked it as much as SoT, I might even prefer Two Thrones. The platforming feels as great as always, which is complimented by the addition of stealth kills, encouraging you to use the environment to your advantage.

The return of Farah means the return of charming banter. Even the inclusion of the dark prince wasn't as insufferable as I expected, his personality not quite WW broody pap. He adds some light variation to the platforming, a silly weapon imported from God of War, as well as a sense of geniune urgency.

In general the storytelling was quite good, except for the return of the Vizier whose design felt a little cartoonish. Oh, and the music wasn't garbage. A pretty great end to a mostly good trilogy.

Не прошёл. Меня хватило только на 2 часа — до первого босса.

Занятная трилогия. Все части построены на неизменных механиках, но в разных пропорциях, а разительно отличаются только настроением. Первая часть была детской сказкой. Вторая — крутым боевиком для подростков, с кровищей, мрачняком и расчлененкой. Третья — иллюстрирует кризис среднего возраста.

Про сюжет мне сказать, очевидно, нечего. Разве что напомнить, что выбирать каноном для продолжения бонусную концовку прошлой части — это гадство.

«Два трона» явно сделана наспех, и пытается использовать лучшие элементы двух предыдущих игр. Но получается не очень. Боёвка как в «Схватке с судьбой», с кровищей, но без расчлененки. Окружение выглядит лучше, модельки и анимация персонажей — хуже. Вернули Фару, но она мелькает на вторых ролях. Убрали мрачняк и серость и снова дали света, но Вавилон всё равно смотрится скучнее дворца из первой части.

Все новинки в геймплее этой части вымученные и делают игру не интереснее, а примитивнее. Принц в определенные моменты превращается в свою «злую» версию. В «злом» виде он постоянно теряет здоровье, которое восстанавливается песком, а ещё может при помощи цепи хвататься за разные светильники и дальше прыгать. В итоге, каждое превращение Принца означает повышенное количество драк и быстрые зрелищные забеги, в духе погонь с Дахакой.

Из других новинок у нас настенные трамплины для прыжков по диагонали и «розетки», за которые можно цепляться во время пробежок по стенам. Дурацкие стелс-убийства при помощи QTE, которые можно объединять в цепочки. И убогие заезды на колесницах с ужасным управлением.

Всё это, по идее, нужно для динамики и зрелищности, но ощущается как безыдейность и лень. Акробатика в серии всегда была про нахождение правильных маршрутов, а здесь её меняют на полёты в духе китайских боевиков вроде «Героя».

Битвы с боссами — God of War для бедных. Ещё и с дико неудобной камерой и кривыми хитбоксами.

«Два трона» не ужасная игра, если рассматривать её отдельно. Но на фоне прошлых частей она очень разочаровывает: странный монстр Франкенштейна, который никак не может решить — копировать ли ему самого себя или других.