Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame

Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame is a platformer from 1993 by creator Jordan Mechner and Brøderbund, a direct sequel to the groundbreaking first Prince of Persia. It picks up right at the end of the previous instalment and sends the prince into exile, from where he must return and face the evil vizier Jaffar, who in the meantime has taken control of the city and the princess's heart through magic, lies and intimidation of the populace.

The game keeps the signature animation system that was revolutionary for its time, based on rotoscoping an actor's real movements, which lets the prince jump, climb, hang and fence with a fluidity and realism that was entirely unique on personal computers when it was released. Compared with the first game, it adds new environments, including a desert, underground tunnels and oriental-style palaces, new hazards such as moving platforms and drawbridges, and magical elements in which the prince temporarily gains supernatural abilities to overcome especially difficult sections.

The difficulty remains high and demands precise timing of jumps, climbs and sabre fights, typical of the entire series, with noticeable time pressure added in some parts of the levels. The Shadow and the Flame was welcomed as a worthy sequel to the acclaimed original, one that fulfilled both the technical and the storytelling ambitions of the first game, and although the Prince of Persia series later moved on to fully three-dimensional graphics, this instalment remains the pinnacle of the classic two-dimensional era of the whole brand. On the hardware of the day, from XT to 486, the game required a fairly powerful machine for the animations to run smoothly, which placed it among the more demanding but also visually most impressive titles available for the PC platform at release. The sound, although limited by what sound cards of the time could do, successfully underlined the oriental atmosphere of the settings and, together with a minimalist but functional user interface, helped the game still feel surprisingly clean and clear today.