The wind is free, but the sand goes where it is blown.
"What is one grain of sand in the desert? What is one grain of sand in the storm?"
Prince of Persia is another Continuity Reboot for the action-adventure and platforming Prince of Persia series, developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released in the United States on December 2, 2008 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and on December 9, 2008 for Microsoft Windows. It was later released on March 24, 2009 for Mac OS X via the Cider engine.
The game is set in Ancient Persia, with the eponymous Prince as the main character, reimagined as a roguish thief. When a freak sandstorm diverts him from his course and separates him from his donkey, Farah (and the gold she's carrying), he stumbles into a canyon and runs into a woman named Elika. Elika is one of the Ahura, people tasked by the god Ormazd to keep his brother Ahriman imprisoned inside a temple. But Ormazd hasn't been heard in centuries, the land has fallen into neglect, many of the Ahura have abandoned their duties, and those that remain are disillusioned. When Elika's father breaks the seal holding Ahriman, Ahriman's corruption spreads across the land as his generals are unleashed. It's up to the Prince and Elika to purify the land and seal Ahriman back in his prison.
Players traverse many different environments using his acrobatic abilities to scale walls and even crawl on the ceilings. Throughout the journey, players combat various enemies as they attempt to cleanse the land of corruption. A notable feature of gameplay is that the Prince can never be killed. Failing at platforming will result in Elika saving the Prince, resetting you to a safe spot before your attempt, and failing at combat will cause the enemy to regain some health but otherwise the battle will continue without stopping. The game's storyline and setting borrowed several aspects from Zoroastrianism, the world's oldest monotheistic religion.
The next chapter is a downloadable expansion simply titled Epilogue, released on March 5, 2009, exclusively on consoles. A spin-off DS game, Prince of Persia: The Fallen King was released on Dec 2, 2008. Penny Arcade made a thirty-page comic
about the origin of the Hunter.
There has been no word on a true sequel to the game or any continuation of the franchise with Ubisoft mostly focusing on Assassin's Creed, Watch_Dogs, and more additions to the Far Cry series, with Ubisoft Montreal's CEO saying that the franchise was being "paused".note With the announcement of 2024's Prince of Persia, The Lost Crown, set in yet another Continuity Reboot, it seems at though this entry to the franchise will have its story left unfinished.
The game provides examples of following tropes:
- Always Save the Girl: Depressingly so, and subverted at the end of the DLC.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Collecting all 1001 light seeds grants you the "Prototype" skin for Elika and the Prince (you only need 540 in order to complete the actual game). You also unlock it by completing the Epilogue DLC.
- Anti-Hero: The Prince looks to be the Han Solo type.
- Anti-Villain:
- The Warrior.
- The Mourning King. Everything he did was to spare his daughter Elika from having to kill herself to imprison Ahriman.
- Arc Words:
- "If you would have your wish, then give me mine."
- "What is one grain of sand in the desert? What is one grain of sand in the storm?" First stated by Elika then by Ahriman.
- Badass Normal: Compared to creatures twisted by evil and given the power to use corruption as a weapon, a princess who can wield magical light, and a vengeful god who wants to unleash misery and suffering upon the world in a never-ending reign of darkness, the Prince has a sword and a clawed gauntlet. And he's kicking ass.
- Battle Couple: The Prince and Elika are a variation.
- Being Good Sucks: The Prince's opinion of things.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: How the relationship between the Prince and Elika starts.
- Benevolent Architecture: An uncanny amount of the scenery is implausibly handy for jumping/climbing/hanging/swinging/free-running around on. Which is lucky, since there's a distinct imbalance in the ratios of really-high-places to staircases/ladders/jetpacks, smooth stable floors vs. fatal drops etc.
- Better than a Bare Bulb: The Prince loves lampshading everything he sees.
- Big Damn Heroes: Mentioned.Prince: You know how heroes are supposed to arrive in the nick of time? I think we missed our entrance...
- Big "WHY?!": The last dialog of the main game is a resurrected Elika moaning to The Prince, "...Why?" as Ahriman is freed.
- Black-and-Grey Morality: Ahriman is definitely evil, but his brother/counterpart, Ormazd, despite being the god of light is lacking in admirable qualities and at best is a Neglectful Precursor. This may be justified in that being the god of light, and IRL the equivalent of God in Zoroastrianism, he isn't the kind of god that intervenes much in the world affairs... Not personally anyway.
- Body Horror: What the Corruption does to its victims.
- Book Ends: The opening and closing scenes. "What is one grain of sand in the desert? One grain amongst the storm?"
- Bottomless Pit Rescue Service: Elika is happy to help.
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Elika dies to seal away Ahriman. Then immediately subverted by the Prince who breaks the seal of Ahriman's prison in order to revive Elika again.
- Cel Shading: Taken to an extreme, combined with wide, sweeping vistas for maximum Scenery Porn.
- Character Development: The left trigger/L2 is a dialogue button for the "Prince" to talk to Elika, which may dole out a hint, more about the backstory of the land or characters, or simply Han-and-Leia-esque playful banter.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: All the incarnations of the Prince are inhumanly agile. The Prince in this game might take the cake, however. The boss fights make it clear that he is more than strong enough to block and parry the blows of a massive stone behemoth, that he's physically stronger than the rest of the Corrupted (who are larger than him and empowered with darkness), and that his head is harder than the Mourning King's helmet. He can generally throw the Corrupted in the air one-handed, as well.
- Clothing Damage: Elika's lacy blouse gets slightly more torn each time the plot advances, and it's subtle enough that the player may not even notice. This is also a Fanservice Mythology Gag, because a player who remembers the Prince's Shirtless Scene from Sands of Time may expect Elika to repeat it. (She doesn't.)
- Continuity Reboot: This game is unconnected to the Sands of Time trilogy. Pity it was abandoned in order to return to that series.
- Counter-Attack: In combat, the Prince is able to counter most enemy attacks and deal them a devastating blow.
- The Corruption: Ahriman's influence.
- Cutscene Power to the Max: The Prince is able to grab hold of specific ledges and bars to move around the area. In certain cutscenes, though, he is shown to be capable of much more elaborate manuevers. This style was actually moved into Assassin's Creed made by the same people, where you can literally grab onto almost anything.
- Cut Short: The reboot had only two games and epilogue DLC, resolving nothing.
- Crash-Into Hello: Elika and the Prince.
- Deadpan Snarker:
- The Prince is constantly snarking in the cutscenes, and once you exhaust the optional conversations with Elika, the dialogue button basically becomes a snark button.
- Even Elika snarks from time to time.Prince: That's a nice blouse.
Elika: I think I have a spare if you'd like it.
- Death Course: Lots.
- Deuteragonist: The Prince and Elika take turns swapping between that and being the protagonist. A lot of the time, the story is about Elika and her thoughts on the whole situation, but the focus sometimes shifts to the Prince and how his relationship with Elika is changing him.
- Developer's Foresight:
- The Prince and Elika have special animations if Elika lands on the Prince.
- There are unique conversation options available for the Prince and Elika during pretty much every single section of the game, even before Ahriman is released, and many of them pertain specifically to the events happening right then. For example, if you try to talk to Elika while climbing a collapsing tower, she'll yell at you to keep going instead of standing around.
- Although the sword and gauntlet have no purpose when the Prince is standing on a flat surface, pressing the attack button will make the Prince wiggle the sword a little, while pressing the gauntlet button will make the Prince adjust his gauntlet so it's more snug.
- Dialog During Gameplay: There's even a button for it.
- Downer Ending:
- The Prince releases Ahriman in order to revive Elika. The Prince calmly walks away as Ahriman's darkness engulfs the land. Somewhat subverted in the Epilogue, where it's revealed that the Prince revived Elika because her power is the only thing that can defeat Ahriman for good; if she'd stayed dead, it would have just been a waiting game until Ahriman's seal broke and he took over the land without resistance. Then it's played straight again when Elika leaves the Prince high and dry to go look for her people, and it's implied that Ahriman attacks him shortly after.
- The DS game The Fallen King, which could be considered a sequel to both the main 2008 game and Epilogue, at least leaves some hope for a happy ending. It has The Prince go after the king of the City of New Dawn in an attempt to summon Ormazd, and gains a temporary ally, Zal, the "good half" of the king, who ends up dying after killing his other half. The Prince's other new ally, the Ancestor, leaves a message of hope for the Prince, promising that, in time, an inner power would be revealed and new ally would be found.
- Double Jump: Elika can use her magic to swing the Prince farther through the air, although he doesn't gain any additional height.
- Dramatic Wind: There's always some wind blowing in the land of the Ahura.
- The Dulcinea Effect: Discussed and subverted. At the end, the Prince resurrects Elika partially because it's the only way to defeat Ahriman for good, but also partially because he's fallen for her. But to be fair, he did just spend a good chunk of time fighting the forces of world-ending darkness with her, which tends to bring people together.Elika: Why are you doing this? You're not doing this for me, are you? I've seen you looking at me. I recognize that look.Prince: Hey, you're cute, but not 'stay to fight a dark god' cute.Elika: Would you have helped my father if he had asked you?Prince: He's not that cute, either.
...
Elika: I have experience with men doing stupid things for women.note - Escort Mission: The developers went out of their way to avoid this feel with Elika, with an explicit intent of changing the way player's look at AI-controlled allies. They succeeded. In a lot of ways, the escortee actually helps the escorter, so it's a mutual benefit.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: There are plenty of towers in the game, but only a few qualify for this.
- The Martyrs' Tower, which the Prince speculates is from the 'ominous and forbidding' school of architecture, is where the Hunter strung up the corpses of those he caught.
- The Alchemist's lair is a hodgepodge affair held up by balloons with an observatory located at the very top.
- Failure Is the Only Option:
- The Concubine's final illusion, in her sixth and final encounter, is to create many illusory duplicates of Elika. You can attack these illusions — which you'd have done throughout the Concubine's path with other illusions — but all of them will seem to be false with no true Elika present. The way to solve it is to jump off the tower and let the real Elika save you — something that ordinarily only happens if you mess up.
- If you want to actually finish the game, you have to release Ahriman despite having spent the past god-knows-how-many hours sealing him away.
- Fallen Hero: The Warrior, who accepted Ahriman's offer of power so he could protect his people. Also, the Prince at the end.
- Fall-in Angel: this is how Prince meets Elika. Doubles as an Establishing Character Moment, as Prince's first response to a strange woman falling on him is to smile and say "Hi".
- Fashionable Asymmetry:
- The Prince has an armored gauntlet on one hand, and two different-colored scarves are wrapped differently around his head.
- Elika's shirt is missing a sleeve. She also wears a bracelet on one wrist and an anklet on the opposite leg.
- Fire-Forged Friends: The Prince and Elika. Ruined when the Prince re-unleashes Ahriman. Elika never forgives him for that, even when he's revealed to have had a very good reason for doing it.
- Flaw Exploitation: Whenever the Prince and Elika fight the Warrior, she tries to appeal to the Warrior's honor to get him to reject Ahriman, often against the Prince's wishes. The Warrior finally accepts her offers in his dying moments.
- Foreshadowing:
- The Prince refers to both the war his parents died in and his fight against Ahriman as "someone else's war", in addition to expressing doubt that someone could fight for something other than themselves. When Elika gives up her life to re-seal Ahriman, the Prince releases Ahriman again to resurrect her. There are also several hints to Elika's earlier death, which is in itself more foreshadowing the above spoiler.
- Also this conversation, which hints a lot at what happens in the ending:Elika: Trusting your own judgement can get lonely.
Prince: You rely on someone else, they'll just let you down.
Elika: You haven't let me down.
Prince: You haven't known me long enough. - Sharp listeners would have realized Elika was going to perform a Heroic Sacrifice.
- The Prince also states flatly he doesn't believe in fate, and that no one is destined for anything, including Heroic Sacrifices.
- For Science!: Stated word-for-word to be The Alchemist's reason for turning to Ahriman.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: At one point, the Concubine creates a dozen Elikas, daring you to figure out which one is the real deal. The answer is to leap off the side of the structure, revealing the real Elika because she saves you as usual.
- Gameplay Protagonist, Story Protagonist: The gameplay protagonist is the Prince, a wandering vagabond who stumbles into a remote oasis kingdom, but the story is largely about Elika, the princess of said kingdom, whose father handed his kingdom over to the God of Evil and who has to come to terms with the fact that her own death was the reason for her father's actions and that to stop said god of evil, she has to sacrifice her life again.
- The Ghost: Ormazd never appears in the game, and we only learn about him second-hand through Elika.
- Grave Robbing: The Prince admits to this. Shamelessly. Hey, it's not like they need it anymore, right?The Prince: I reclaim abandoned property!
- Guide Dang It!: Plenty.
- Finding all the Light Seeds, for one.
- If you want the "Precious Time" achievement, you have to hold completely still after Elika dies. Do not touch any buttons, not even ones that don't make the Prince move. Hell, set down the controller, just to be safe.
- After you seal the evil back into the can, you get to walk around while credits roll, trigger a cutscene, and then find yourself trapped in a relatively small area of the game and expected to somehow figure out what you're supposed to do next - let the sealed evil out of the can you've just spent the entire game going to great lengths to seal him back into - with only a cryptic camera shot that could be showing off the restored landscape, and a flashback sequence explaining one of the game's unanswered questions as hints...
- A fourth is the game never explaining that you can press the jump button while on vines to have the Prince speed up his climbing. This makes going over them much less arduous, as vines often slow the normally quick traversal down to a literal crawl without this move.
- Heads-Up Display: Surprisingly averted. Aside from a counter of light seeds that pops up and disappears, there is no permanent HUD whatsoever. Health bars aren't needed because the Prince doesn't literally die anyway, thanks to Elika.
- Here We Go Again!: A fairly somber example, invoked by the Prince.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Elika dies at the end in order to reseal Ahriman. The Prince promptly releases Ahriman to free her. She's not happy about it.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: The Hunter's reason for selling his soul.
- Impostor-Exposing Test: The Concubine conjures up a whole helluva lot of fake Elikas and the player has to figure out which is the real one. The solution is to jump off a ledge; the real Elika will save the Prince like usual.
- Insistent Terminology: You'll quickly lose track of how many times the Prince or Elika mention Fertile Ground and the slightly odd emphasis of the word fertile will stay with you.
- Interface Screw: The Hunter likes to spit gobs of corruption, which obscure the centre of the screen. When the Prince is infected with Corruption by the Alchemist, the screen has a sickly green and black border. The same effect happens in red and black if the Prince is injured during a fight.
- "Jaws" First-Person Perspective: The end boss is played entirely from Ahriman's perspective.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The Prince.
- Knight in Sour Armor:
- Elika is a rare female example.
- The Prince becomes this as the game progresses.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: "Run, jump, die, repeat. Run, jump, die, repeat. I'm starting to get the hang of this."
- Leap of Faith: The Prince must leap off a tower to defeat the Concubine's illusory Elikas by making the real one save him.
- Left Hanging: The ending, and frustratingly, the Epilogue as well.
- Le Parkour: Probably the defining game of the genre. Taken to ridiculous extremes in this game, almost outing the Prince as a relative of Spider-Man. The game even includes a ceiling run move:Elika: We have to cross over there!
Prince: Sure, climb on the roof. It's not like gravity ever killed anyone. - Load-Bearing Boss: Each of the Corrupted has their own private lair, which collapses as you leave after defeating them.
- Lovable Rogue: The Prince to a T.
- Malevolent Architecture: The land was falling into decay even before Ahriman broke out, and the Corruption just made everything worse. Lampshaded by the Prince: "When you rebuild this place, find a better architect."
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The Prince chalks up his involvement in everything to (bad) luck, while Elika claims it was Ormazd's doing. Ultimately, the truth of the matter is left ambiguous.
- Metroidvania: The game is a 3D version of this genre. Played with, as you choose which powerups you unlock.
- Mundane Made Awesome: The Prince describes mountain ice with more than a little awe in his voice and borderline Purple Prose. Given that he's from Persia, he probably barely sees ice.
- Mythology Gag:
- The game opens with The Prince calling for Farah (the name of the Love Interest from the Sands of Time trilogy). Later when asked if Farah is his girlfriend, he reveals it to be the name of his donkey.
- In one of the featurette videos, producer Ben Mattes mentions that the Prince doesn't "smolder with generic rage".
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Invoked at the end. After sealing away Ahriman (at the cost of Elika's life), the Prince almost immediately undoes the same seal he worked his hands to the bone to put in place. See Sadistic Choice.
- No Ending: The Epilogue just ends with Elika abandoning the Prince. And there never be resolution, either.
- No Flow in CGI:
- Averted. There's always a slight wind blowing, and everyone's clothes react to it, even in different ways. The Prince's long scarf and bearskin cape billow dramatically, while Elika's blouse only moves a little.
- Unfortunately played straight when it comes to hair, though. Particularly Elika's father with his long dreadlocks.
- Nominal Importance: Averted. Like in most games in the series, The Prince is never named. He's never even given a nickname. "The Prince" is just a placeholder based on the title. Especially notable in this game as he's the only character of any importance who doesn't have a name (Elika, Ormazd, Ahriman) or nickname (The Mourning King, the Hunter, the Concubine, the Warrior, the Alchemist).
- No Name Given: The Prince.
- Non-Player Companion: Elika, to the Prince.
- "Not So Different" Remark:
- Ahriman pulls this to the Prince near the end.Jailer...
Torturer...
What injury have I done to you
That you have not done to me? - The Concubine tries this card on Elika at one point."And you, Princess? I know the dreams you've dreamed. Your mind traveling distant lands, your body trapped in this decaying place. We are not so distant you and I, we share many desires..."
- Ahriman pulls this to the Prince near the end.
- Now, Where Was I Going Again?: The game's map screen helpfully shows you which Fertile Grounds are corrupted, which are corrupted but you have the powers to access, and which have been cleansed. Additionally, you can press a button at any time for Elika to send a ball of light to your selected destination for you to follow.
- Only Smart People May Pass: The game contains several puzzles. The most notable example of this trope, however, doesn't appear to be one at first. In the final encounter with the Concubine, she creates five illusory copies of Elika, and you must find the real one. However, running into or attacking the six one-by-one reveals that all of them are illusions. How do you uncover the real Elika? By throwing yourself off the tower, of course, prompting her to save you, as always.
- The Only One: The Prince and Elika are the only people capable of stopping Ahriman, his four lieutenants, and an endless horde of mooks. Lampshaded by the Prince: "You know, I wish some more good guys would show up."
- Partially justified; when the Prince talks about spreading the word about Ahriman to get more people to come and keep him trapped, Elika points out that the stories would also bring forth people who want to sell their souls to him. It's better if he remains a secret to the world at large.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The closing moments of the game, the happy-go-lucky, Motor Mouth Deadpan Snarker Prince is serious and quiet.
- Percussive Maintenance: Played (perhaps unintentionally) hilariously straight in the "Epilogue" DLC, which introduces a new type of power plate. Instead of needing to grab dozens or even hundreds of light seeds to power it up, the Prince simply smacks it once.
- Point-and-Click Map: This helps you choose which area to go next and advance the plot, amidst the Open World nature of the game.
- Pragmatic Hero: Ahriman encourages the Prince to be this in the end. Since his prison won't last forever, Elika's death buys only years, maybe decades at most, until he's free, so he may as well restore her stolen life at the cost of Ahriman getting out now.
- Press X to Not Die: Used in combat when the player is about to be defeated, as well as to finish certain bosses off.
- Protagonist Without a Past: The Prince. He tells Elika as much when she starts questioning him. Hell, the game manual even backs him up on this one. If Elika's persistent enough (i.e. if the player keeps hitting that Snark Button) he does reveal that when he was young both of his parents died for someone else's cause, leaving him with an uncle. He's been all over the world and met all kinds of people, but never got strongly attached to anyone. He robs graves and is always getting into trouble, and he's repeatedly gotten his hands on and subsequently lost a great deal of treasure. Where he comes from, rather than inheriting power, people get it by killing each other or bribing their way into it.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Save the world, lose the girl. Then subverted. It is implied in the DLC that Elika is somehow crucial to defeating Ahriman for real. By bringing her back to life, Ahriman has secured his release, but it will ultimately bring about his downfall.
- Real Is Brown: The game does have this, but the areas became much more colorful after being purified. Additionally, each area has a certain color palette before being purified.
- Recycled Title: The original game and this one share the name Prince of Persia. Early in development, subtitles were considered, including Prodigy and Heir Apparent.
- Rescue Romance: Played with. The Prince meets Elika as she's running away from men sent by her father, but it's implied that she would have gotten along just fine without him. Played a bit straighter when Elika saves the Prince from a collapsing bridge, but it's still a while before they begin to warm up to each other.
- Reverse Grip: The Prince will shift his scimitar from a standard saber grip to this when going into a defensive stance. His sword is actually subtly designed for switching between grips; there's a hole in the hilt for him to stick his index finger in to act as an axle when spinning, and the hilt extends up past the crossguard for him to grab without slicing his hand open on the blade.
- Right Man in the Wrong Place: Had the Prince not happened to fall into the canyon, the game would've turned out very differently, and probably for the worse.
- Ring-Out Boss: The Warrior.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Elika.
- Running Gag: The Prince's game of "I Spy" with Elika.
- Sadistic Choice: The game gives the Prince a pretty hefty one: keep Ahriman trapped and the world safe (for the short time it takes for Ahriman to bust out of the weakened prison), or undo everything he's fought for and release Ahriman to destroy the world in order to bring Elika back from the dead so that she can find a way to put Ahriman back in the seal for good. And because, of course, by then we have completely fallen for her.
- Scenery Gorn: Before the land is healed.
- Scenery Porn:
- After the land is healed.
- The sky after Ahriman is released at the beginning of the game. Yes, it's the sign of evil overtaking the land and plunging the world into an era of darkness, but it sure is pretty.
- Screw Destiny: One of the themes.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Ahriman.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Seal away the Dark God to save the world. And then immediately undo his sealing in order to revive Elika, who sacrificed her life to seal him away in the first place.
- Shirtless Scene: The Prince isn't quite shirtless, but his open vest shows off quite a bit of his lovingly-rendered abdominals.
- Shout-Out:
- You can unlock the Sands Of Time Prince's outfit, as well as Altair's (from Assassin's Creed) outfit. Similarly, Elika can be dressed as either Farah from the Sands of Time trilogy or as Jade from Beyond Good & Evil.
- You also get achievements for standing on the beam on the prow of an airship, and standing on a beam jutting out from a building that provides a spectacular view.
- The game contains a total of one thousand and one light seeds.
- There are also loads of references to ICO and especially Shadow of the Colossus (the pedestal where the Prince places Elika's body on is a direct lift, as is the overall plot of making a pact with the devil to save the one you love).
- Sidekick Ex Machina: Elika.
- A Sinister Clue: Kinda. Looking from the temple, the Corrupted get more evil as you move from right to left.
- The right-most Grounds are guarded by the Warrior, a Tragic Monster and the only Corrupted Elika feels sympathy for.
- Moving left, the Concubine sold her soul in a moment of weakness but is too smug to be sympathetic.
- The Alchemist betrayed and tortured his own people but served Ahriman because he feared death, which is somewhat understandable.
- The left-most is the Hunter, the most decadent of the Corrupted with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He sold his soul simply so he could murder humans.
- Smiting Evil Feels Good: Elika calls the Prince out for this tendency.Elika: You enjoyed that.
The Prince: Teaching that thing a lesson? Taking some revenge for the people it killed? Yes. I enjoyed that. And you enjoyed that side of things too. - Take My Hand!:
- How Elika saves the Prince. Repeatedly.
- Additionally, if Elika attempts to jump to a ledge the Prince is hanging, she'll start to fall, but the Prince will spin around and grab her hand.
- To Be Continued: This is the Achievement that pops up after the Prince resurrects Elika and releases Ahriman. Turns out they've abandoned the new storyline in favor of a fourth installment to the Sands of Time storyline.
- Unflinching Walk: The Prince walks calmly away as he is engulfed by a sandstorm and a dark god flies overhead.
- Unwitting Pawn: Ahriman uses the same sales pitch on both the Prince and the Mourning King and succeeds both times. The Prince seems to think its been subverted in the second case, as he has Elika brought back to life so she can defeat Ahriman for good. Elika herself thinks she can't, and that Ahriman's playing him for a fool..
- Video Game Caring Potential: What makes the final Sadistic Choice hit so hard is that the Prince must choose between undoing the result of many hours of gameplay and giving up on the person he and the player have grown to adore throughout said hours of perfect teamwork and bilateral UST-laden snarking.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: Throw the Prince down pits as many times as you like! And infinitely, because Elika will always save him, although you will miss out on an achievement if you do this too much. Some of the combat moves are rather nasty, too - throwing an enemy into the air, juggling them with your sword, grabbing them out of the air and smashing them to the ground, shoving them through pillars, hurling them off ledges...
- Wall Crawl: Along with ceiling crawl. Assuming there are rings bolted along the wall/ceiling, he can run along them indefinitely. Even Spider-Man would be impressed.
- Wall Jump: Hell yes. The Prince can do it indefinitely, even.
- Warrior Prince: By name, but not by actual position.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Asked by Elika at the end of the game when the Prince resurrects her and releases Ahriman.Elika: ... Why?
- World-Healing Wave: Every time Elika heals a fertile ground.
