Fantasy games have given us plenty of medieval Europe, Norse mythology, and Japanese-inspired worlds. 1001 Threads of Mizan is taking a rather different route. MBC Game Studio’s debut action game draws heavily from Arabic folklore and One Thousand and One Nights, wrapping that inspiration around a gorgeous-looking fantasy world. And honestly, after seeing what the game is going for, I’m quite happy to see someone finally explore this side of fantasy at this scale.
The game’s world is packed with deserts, fantastical architecture, mythical creatures and enormous bosses, but it’s the overall visual identity that immediately caught my attention. Rather than feeling like another fantasy game that simply swaps European castles for Middle Eastern-looking buildings, Mizan appears to be making its Arabic influences a core part of the world itself.
And then there’s the carpet. Yes, your flying carpet is actually a major gameplay mechanic rather than something that exists purely because someone remembered Aladdin. You can soar across the world on it, zip around enormous enemies, and even use it during combat. The hands-on impressions I’ve seen suggest that this movement system could end up being one of the game’s biggest strengths.
There’s also an interesting timing to all of this. Prince of Persia has been one of the most recognizable names associated with Persian-inspired fantasy in gaming, but Mizan is approaching Middle Eastern fantasy from a distinctly different cultural and visual direction. That makes it feel particularly refreshing at a time when the genre could use a few more perspectives.
Mizan is also coming to Nintendo Switch 2, alongside PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. That’s honestly one of the versions I’m most curious about. The game looks visually ambitious on the more powerful platforms, so seeing how MBC manages to squeeze those sprawling environments, giant creatures and flying-carpet chaos onto Nintendo’s handheld could be fascinating.
Underneath the visuals is a one-to-three-player co-op action adventure, with three heroes taking on an ancient Jinn King threatening humanity. But for me, the real appeal is simply seeing a big-budget game build its identity around a part of fantasy that games have historically underused.
1001 Threads of Mizan still has plenty to prove, but this is exactly the kind of game that makes me sit up and pay attention. The visuals are gorgeous, the setting feels genuinely different, and if the carpet-riding and combat live up to the promise, MBC could have something pretty special on its hands. And if it manages to pull all of that off on a Switch 2 without turning the game into a potato-powered slideshow, I’ll be even more impressed.
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.