Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is a 2004 action-adventure game created and sold by Ubisoft for the GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. It is the fifth main part of the Prince of Persia series and follows Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, released in 2003. A version for the PlayStation Portable, developed by Pipeworks Software and called Prince of Persia: Revelations, was released in 2005. Two mobile versions of Warrior Within were made by Gameloft for J2ME and iOS in 2004 and 2010. The iOS version was temporarily removed from the App Store for two weeks due to problems with the in-game menu.
Set seven years after the previous game, the story follows the Prince as he searches for a way to stop an entity named the Dahaka, which is chasing him as punishment for interfering with the Sands of Time. He travels to the mysterious Island of Time, where he tries to stop the Empress of Time from creating the Sands in the first place, hoping this will satisfy the Dahaka.
In Warrior Within, gameplay improves on The Sands of Time by adding new combat features. The Prince can now use two weapons at once and take weapons from enemies to throw at them. His combat moves are more varied, allowing players to attack enemies in more complex ways than before. The game has a darker tone than its predecessor, including more intense ways for the Prince to defeat enemies. In addition to the rewind, slow-down, and speed-up abilities from The Sands of Time, the Prince gains a new sand power: a circular "wave" of sand that knocks down and harms nearby enemies.
When the game was released, critics generally gave it positive reviews, praising the improved combat, level design, story, and soundtrack. However, some critics had mixed opinions about the game’s darker tone compared to its earlier, more lighthearted version and the Prince’s character development. After Warrior Within, two more games set in the Sands of Time story were released: Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones in 2005, which directly follows Warrior Within; and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands in 2010, which takes place between The Sands of Time and Warrior Within.
Gameplay
Warrior Within is a 3D platformer game that focuses on exploration and hand-to-hand combat. Players move through dangerous environments using acrobatic moves inspired by parkour and freerunning. Unlike Sands of Time, the game world is not linear; players often return to the same areas from different directions. Time portals allow players to visit the same locations in the past and present to find solutions to obstacles that cannot be overcome in one time period alone. Secret areas can be discovered to collect extra health and unique weapons. Finding a specific weapon that can harm the Dahaka unlocks the game's official ending. In addition to regular platforming, the game includes sections where the Prince must escape the Dahaka by navigating trap-filled hallways. The game has a darker, more serious tone compared to the brighter style of the previous game.
The combat system keeps elements from the earlier game’s style of using two weapons at once but adds new features. In Sands of Time, the Prince used a sword as his main weapon and the Dagger of Time as his secondary weapon. In Warrior Within, the sword is required as the main weapon, while the secondary weapon must be found from enemies or weapon racks. This change allows for more flexible combat, using the environment, 58 different secondary weapons, and acrobatic moves to defeat enemies. Players can choose to enable graphic violence effects in the game’s settings. Using two hands for fighting adds more acrobatic moves to defeat enemies quickly. Secondary weapons have different effects on the player’s damage and health. Some can be thrown for ranged attacks, but most break after being used several times. Enemies are sand-based creatures of different sizes. Unlike Sands of Time, where combat and exploration were separated, enemies can be found anywhere, alone or in groups, and often reappear when players revisit areas.
The Prince can control time using the Medallion of Time. He can use time to improve combat, slow down time, or rewind to fix mistakes, such as failed jumps or escaping the Dahaka. Later in the game, he gains stronger time-based abilities that cause area damage. These abilities now use a single shared resource (sand tanks) instead of separate ones, with more powerful abilities requiring more sand tanks.
The Xbox version of the game allows players to download extra maps through Xbox Live and supports online leaderboards. However, online features stopped working on April 15, 2010. The game is now playable online through Insignia, a service that restores online features for original Xbox games.
Plot
Seven years after the events in The Sands of Time, the Prince is hunted by a creature called the Dahaka. This happens because the Prince was destined to die after releasing the Sands in the palace of Azad. He seeks advice from a wise man, who tells him the Sands were created on a distant island by the Empress of Time. Despite the wise man’s warnings about changing fate, the Prince decides to travel to the island to stop the Sands from being made. His ship is attacked by Shahdee, a servant of the Empress, but he survives and reaches the island. He follows Shahdee into the ruins and through a time portal to the past. There, he fights and kills Shahdee after discovering her attacking a woman named Kaileena. Though she believes his efforts are pointless, Kaileena helps him enter the Empress’s throne room. During his journey, the Prince is chased by a creature called the Sand Wraith, which is captured and killed by the Dahaka. Before facing the Empress, the Prince offers to take Kaileena to Babylon, but she refuses.
In the throne room, Kaileena reveals she is the Empress. She attacks the Prince, trying to change her fate of being killed by him. The Prince fights and kills her, returning to the present. However, the Dahaka still pursues him because the Empress’s death in the past caused the Sands of Time to be created. Feeling hopeless, the Prince finds a carving from an ancient army that describes an artifact called the Mask of the Wraith. This mask allows the wearer to change their fate. He plans to use a time portal to bring Kaileena into the present, so the Sands can be created but not discovered or taken to Azad, freeing him from the Dahaka. The Mask transforms the Prince into the Sand Wraith. As the Wraith, he sees Kaileena’s efforts to change her fate despite Shahdee’s doubts and learns she was fighting with a rebellious Shahdee when he arrived. The Prince, as the Sand Wraith, ensures his other self is taken by the Dahaka instead, freeing himself from the Mask. He returns to the throne room, but Kaileena attacks him again despite his pleas to change fate.
The story has two endings, depending on whether the Prince obtains a mythical weapon called the Water Sword. If he does not have the Water Sword, he kills Kaileena as planned. The Dahaka absorbs her and all remnants of the Sands of Time, along with the medallion of time, and vanishes, freeing the Prince. In the alternate ending (which continues into the next game), the Prince protects Kaileena from the Dahaka and uses the Water Sword to kill the creature. They then build a boat and leave the island, growing close during their journey. In both endings, Babylon is shown burning and under attack by an army led by the Vizier and Farah (from The Sands of Time). Farah is shown as a prisoner, and the wise man from earlier narrates, “You cannot change your fate; no man can.” In the canonical ending, a hooded figure is seen crowning himself as the Prince, setting up events for the next game.
Development
The planning for Warrior Within began at Ubisoft Montreal during the final stages of making The Sands of Time in 2003. Jordan Mechner, the creator of The Sands of Time, was not involved in Warrior Within because he was working on writing a movie script based on The Sands of Time. During early planning meetings, the team decided to create a darker version of The Sands of Time that would expand on the game’s existing features. The production of Warrior Within took about one year, and 60 new employees joined the team to help with the work. They used feedback from The Sands of Time to guide their progress. Lead producer Bertrand Hélias said the game had many challenges and successes during development. Warrior Within used the same game engine as The Sands of Time, called Jade. A Sony representative told the team that the PlayStation 2 had reached its technical limits, but the team found ways to improve the engine’s performance and create larger environments. They also aimed to improve the game’s graphics for the Xbox platform. The game was designed to run at 30 frames per second, allowing more computing power to be used for other parts of the game.
Senior producer Yannis Mallat said The Sands of Time was too short, so Warrior Within would be three times longer and include more detailed level design and combat. The team decided to use the time-based powers from The Sands of Time more often in Warrior Within, requiring players to perform specific actions. The game’s world was more open, allowing players greater freedom, and different time periods were used to change level designs. Some ideas and enemies that were removed from The Sands of Time were added back into Warrior Within. The Prince’s ability to slide down drapes using his swords came from suggestions made by fans on Ubisoft forums. A new combat system allowed players to switch weapons and use the environment during fights, inspired by the Prince’s role as a more experienced fighter. An early plan to let the Prince fight without a weapon was dropped. Attack animations were influenced by fight scenes from Jackie Chan. Time-based powers remained central to the game’s design, adding new gameplay elements. The team improved the final boss battle based on player feedback and included more boss fights. The Prince’s expanded abilities required changes to enemy behavior and environments to keep the game challenging.
One major change from The Sands of Time was the Prince’s visual design. Yannis Mallat worked with the pre-production team to make the Prince look darker than in The Sands of Time. Mallat felt the Prince in The Sands of Time needed more depth, and the darker look was approved by Ubisoft’s marketing team. An early idea for a game called Prince of Persia: Assassin, where players controlled assassins guarding the Prince, became its own game, Assassin’s Creed, and removed the original director from Warrior Within. The story of Warrior Within focused on the Prince’s personal journey rather than saving the world or a damsel. The game’s tone was described as closer to survival horror, with the Prince becoming a more mature and relatable character. Some story elements were shown through gameplay instead of cutscenes, aiming for a more interactive experience. Hugues Martel, an animator from The Triplets of Belleville, helped design cutscenes and storyboards with art director Raphaël Lacoste.
The script for Warrior Within was written by Corey May and Dooma Wendschuh of Sekretagent Productions. They joined the team after proposing to adapt a Ubisoft game for television and worked with the production team to integrate the story into gameplay. Hiring professional writers helped make the Prince and his story feel more realistic. The story’s theme showed that hard work could achieve the impossible, as the Prince tried to change his fate. The Prince was portrayed as scared and desperate due to being hunted by the Dahaka. Female characters, like Kaileena, were initially written as stereotypes but later surprised players. Dialogue between the Prince and enemies helped develop enemy personalities. The narration style from The Sands of Time was removed, which some felt made the story less engaging. Lead designer Kevin Guillemette compared the Prince’s journey in The Sands of Time to a teenager growing up, while Warrior Within showed him entering adulthood. Jean-Christophe Guyot, who became the game’s director, said the team wanted to explore time-related paradoxes more deeply.
The Prince’s voice actor was changed from Yuri Lowenthal to Robin Atkin Downes. Lowenthal later said this decision matched the game’s darker tone. Lead sound designer Jonathan Pilon said the new voice fit the Prince’s more hardened appearance. Kaileena was voiced by Monica Bellucci, an Italian actress who liked the story and Kaileena’s character. She used a voice coach to prepare for the role. The game’s art style became darker and more oppressive, using a monochromatic color palette to reflect the story and gameplay. Different time periods used contrasting colors: the present had dull colors and overgrown buildings, while the past had bright, luxurious, and intimidating designs. Ancient Near East locations like Babylon and its Hanging Gardens influenced the art. Artists used computers to create the game’s visuals, starting with broad strokes to set the mood and adding details later. The design was inspired by movie adaptations of The Lord of the Rings.
The Prince’s appearance was redesigned by artists Mikael Labat and Nicolas Bouvier. Early designs mixed elements from The Sands of Time, but the final look was different.
Reception
According to Ubisoft, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within sold 1.9 million copies worldwide during its first month, with 1.8 million copies sold in the first two weeks. The PlayStation 2 version of the game received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), which means it sold at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.
Reviewers had mixed opinions about Warrior Within. The GameCube, PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox versions received "favorable" reviews, while the iOS and PSP versions received "mixed or average" reviews, according to Metacritic. The mobile phone version received "universal acclaim" from GameRankings. Reviewers noted that the game included familiar platforming elements from the previous game but had mixed reactions to the new combat features. Warrior Within also had more content than The Sands of Time, requiring players to spend 15–20 hours to complete it.
Jordan Mechner, the creator of the original Prince of Persia and a contributor to The Sands of Time, did not work on Warrior Within. In an interview with Wired, he said he did not like the game’s artistic style or the violent content that earned it an M rating. He also mentioned that the story, characters, dialogue, voice acting, and visual style were not to his liking. Guyot, the game’s director, said the team tried to make the sequel "a little darker" but may have gone too far, disappointing fans of The Sands of Time.
Eurogamer criticized the game for losing its charm, saying the visuals became darker, the story was less engaging, and the addition of blood and scantily-clad female characters was inappropriate. Penny Arcade made a comic parody of the Prince, saying the character changed from a witty, likeable hero to a generic, brooding tough guy with no personality. GameSpot noted that the game’s tone shift caused the series to lose some of its original charm and criticized the uneven difficulty and glitches.
IGN gave the mobile version a score of 9.6 out of 10, calling it "Gameloft's triumph" and "likely the best game of the year." GameSpot gave the same version 9.2 out of 10, saying it was a strong game but similar to the first game in some ways. In Japan, Famitsu gave the PlayStation 2 version scores of 9, 8, 8, and 9 out of 10 for a total of 34.
Non-video game publications also had mixed reactions. The Detroit Free Press gave the Xbox version four stars, noting that the Prince character became more serious and the combat system improved. The Sydney Morning Herald gave the game four stars out of five, saying exploring the game’s complex environments was rewarding but backtracking and frequent deaths could be frustrating. The New York Times gave the game an unfavorable review, saying the tone changed from a fun Arabian Nights fantasy to a dark, intense style similar to a Marilyn Manson music video.
Computer Gaming World editors nominated Warrior Within for their 2004 "Action Game of the Year" award, which was won by The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. At the 8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences gave Warrior Within the "Console Platform Action/Adventure Game of the Year" award and also recognized it for outstanding achievements in "Animation" and "Art Direction."