Our News Archives - Rare Castle

Rare Castle Officially Submits Project Escher to PlayStation MENA Hero Project

The vision is no longer private. It has been placed on the table.

We at Rare Castle are proud to announce a major milestone: on 31 January 2026, we officially submitted Project Escher to the PlayStation MENA Hero Project, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s dedicated incubator supporting emerging talent across the Middle East and North Africa.

The submission package included our polished playable demo (vertical slice prototype), a comprehensive pitch deck, the full production roadmap, and all supporting development materials. This marks the culmination of years of independent work — refined into a formal, industry-ready presentation ready for official evaluation.

About the PlayStation MENA Hero Project

The PlayStation MENA Hero Project is an incubator program by Sony Interactive Entertainment that identifies and nurtures promising developers from the MENA region (including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Tunisia, Bahrain, and others). Selected studios receive mentorship, access to PlayStation resources, recoupable development funding (minimum $100,000 USD paid on milestones), global featuring opportunities, and the potential for full publishing by SIE.

In August 2025, the first cohort was revealed — four exciting titles from regional studios: Red Bandits (Team Agenda, Saudi Arabia), Enci’s Solution (Dark Emerald, UAE), The Perfect Run (Lanterns Studios, Tunisia), and A Cat’s Manor (Happiest Dark Corner, Bahrain). All are coming to PlayStation 5 and PC. We are honored to be part of this growing movement celebrating MENA creativity on the global stage.

Project Escher: Our Vision

Project Escher is an episodic cinematic psychological thriller adventure that explores identity, perception, reality, and the fragile boundary between the physical world and the abstract. Inspired by the impossible geometries of M.C. Escher, the game features mind-bending environments, surreal dreamscapes, and a deeply personal narrative that aligns with our studio’s mission to create meaningful “healing games.”

Standout mechanics include:

A fully reactive dialogue system with contextual character interactions
An intimate inner-monologue mechanic
Dynamic vehicle driving, traffic simulation, and interaction systems
Flexible inventory and environmental interaction tied to story progression
Symbolic spaces such as “The Palace” — a sanctuary outside conventional spacetime

The game is currently in pre-alpha, with Phase 3 of our six-phase heavy prototyping cycle completed in December 2025, bringing the vertical slice to 50% completion.

Our Journey to This Moment

What began in 2018 as a passionate solo project by founder Mohamed Fawzy has grown through dedication, community support, and relentless iteration. In March 2025 we became an Official PlayStation Partner, and on 11 February 2026 we released the first philosophical trailer for the demo, highlighting the game’s core themes.

This submission moves Project Escher from private creation to official platform consideration — a decisive step forward for our small but determined team.

Looking Ahead

We now await feedback from the MENA Hero Project committee while continuing to advance development. Whatever the outcome, this milestone validates the vision we have poured into Project Escher and reinforces our commitment to delivering a unique, emotionally resonant experience to players worldwide.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to our supporters, volunteers, advisors, and the growing Rare Castle community. Your belief in the project keeps us moving forward.

Stay connected

Full development roadmap: rare-castle.com/roadmap
Latest dev logs and progress updates: rare-castle.com/dev-log

The vision is no longer private.
It has been placed on the table.

— The Rare Castle Team

Off the Grid: Bad Dream Evolves into Project Escher

Project Escher: Development Resumes on a Soul-Bending Journey

After a period of quiet but determined work behind the scenes, I’m thrilled to officially announce that Project Escher—the game formerly known as Off the Grid: Bad Dream—has resumed full development under my indie label, Rare Castle.

The title “Project Escher” is not just a codename. It reflects the very essence of the game’s surreal environments and mind-bending architecture. Inspired by the impossible geometries of M.C. Escher and non-Euclidean space, the world of Project Escher is ethereal, dreamlike, and disorienting by design. This isn’t a world that plays by the rules of logic—and that’s exactly the point.

What’s Happening Right Now?

As of April 5th, the focus of development is centered on building the game’s main menu—but this isn’t your typical 2D interface.

The main menu is being crafted as a fully interactive 3D scene, allowing players to witness real-time visual changes as they tweak the game’s graphical settings. It’s a small glimpse into the reactive, living world we’re creating—where even the menus are part of the immersion.

A Glimpse at the Core Mechanic

While still in an early, unpolished state, I’m excited to reveal the core gameplay mechanic that drives Project Escher:

You play as a disembodied soul made of light, with the haunting ability to possess strange mechanical vessels scattered throughout the game’s mysterious world.

This soul possession system opens the door to layered gameplay, puzzles, and narrative revelations. While animations, visual effects, and movement polish are still underway, the foundational system is already functional—and it’s something truly unique.

A gameplay test video showcasing this mechanic is on the horizon, so stay tuned.

Project Escher is more than just a game—it’s a descent into a place beyond time, identity, and form. Development may have taken a pause, but the vision never faded. And now, it’s back with clarity, purpose, and ambition.

Thank you to everyone who’s supported Rare Castle along the way. This is just the beginning of the next chapter.

— Rare Castle
Solo Developer & Dreamer

Salama Productions is now Rare Castle

True Dreams Never Dies

A Dream Reignited: Rare Castle Returns to Development

Since 2018, a dream has been quietly burning in my heart—a vision born from passion, creativity, and an unshakable belief in storytelling through immersive worlds. What started as a side project under the humble name Salama Productions has now evolved into Rare Castle, my dedicated indie game development brand, and a true extension of who I am.

Back then, I knew this wasn’t just a passing idea. It was a long-term journey—one I was willing to pursue no matter how many years it would take. Even when life threw its hardest challenges at me, even when things went quiet on the outside… the fire never went out. Rare Castle never died. It only went deeper underground, where it could weather the storms and grow stronger in silence.

Behind the scenes, I’ve faced setbacks, overwhelming moments, and personal mountains to climb. But I never gave up. The vision remained crystal clear: to bring this world—our world—to life.

And now, I’m beyond thrilled to finally say…

Rare Castle is back. The dream is no longer paused. It’s in full motion.

I’m taking bold, serious steps (some of which I can’t reveal just yet!) to accelerate development and reclaim the time that’s passed. The energy is different now—it’s focused, determined, and fully aligned with the original spirit that sparked this journey in the first place.

The in-development title, Project Escher, formerly known as Off the Grid: Bad Dream, is officially back in heavy development. (check the project timeline and road map)

This is just the beginning of a new chapter. There’s so much I can’t wait to share with you—visuals, ideas, progress, and stories from within the world we’re building together. When the time is right, you’ll see just how far Rare Castle has come, and how far we’re going.

Thank you for believing. Thank you for being here.

The dream lives. And now… it’s rising.

— Founder of Rare Castle

More articles: https://www.rare-castle.com/news/

Rare Castle Becomes an Official PlayStation Partner

An Industry Seal of Trust. An Alliance Forged.

Today, Rare Castle stands at a defining crossroads.

After years of quiet determination, relentless prototyping, and an unwavering belief in the power of healing games, we are proud to announce that Rare Castle is now an Official PlayStation Partner with Sony Interactive Entertainment.

This is not merely a technical achievement or a box to check. It is recognition. It is validation. It is the bridge between an independent dream born in Cairo in 2018 and one of the most influential ecosystems in interactive entertainment.

As an Official PlayStation Partner, Rare Castle gains privileged access to PlayStation’s professional development infrastructure — advanced tools, SDKs, technical support, certification resources, and a global network of trusted creators. This partnership positions our small studio among those shaping the future of console gaming and opens powerful new gateways for Project Escher.

Project Escher on PlayStation

Our flagship episodic cinematic psychological thriller — the first title in our revolutionary healing games genre — will now be able to reach PlayStation players with the fidelity, performance, and polish the experience deserves. From the Inner Monologue mechanic that pulls players directly into the protagonist’s mind, to the surreal, photorealistic worlds built in Unreal Engine, every element of Project Escher was designed to challenge the mind while nurturing the soul.

This alliance ensures that the strange, beautiful, and transformative journey we have been crafting will shine on PlayStation hardware.

From the Castle to the World

For a solo-founded indie studio from Egypt to earn this status is proof that powerful ideas do not need massive teams or big budgets — they only need heart, vision, and persistence.

We extend our deepest gratitude to the Sony Interactive Entertainment team for believing in an unconventional approach to game design and for welcoming an independent voice from the MENA region into the PlayStation family.

To every Guardian of the Castle, every follower who has read our dev logs, shared our updates, and kept the dream alive — this moment belongs to you.

The castle is no longer rising in silence.

It has been seen.

The gateways are opening wider than ever. Project Escher is moving forward with renewed momentum, and healing games are coming to PlayStation.

Stay with us. The real journey is just beginning.

— Mohamed Fawzy & The Rare Castle Team

#RareCastle #PlayStationPartner #ProjectEscher #HealingGames

How We Are Creating a Game That Reverses the Horror Side Effects of Horror Games: Our Interview on Arcade Podcast

Meet Doa, the Host of Arcade Podcast, and Her Guests: Marwan Imam and Rare Castle

Doa is a passionate video game enthusiast, content creator and show producer who runs a YouTube channel called Arcade – أركيد, where she produces and hosts a show with the same name. With her extraordinary sense of humor and charisma, she can easily put a smile on the viewers’ faces as she talks about various topics in the video game industry such as reverse horror game. Her talent has attracted thousands of people who are interested in content that discusses video games from different perspectives. Some of her episodes are podcasts where she interviews influential people in the video game industry in Egypt.

We were lucky enough to be invited as guests on her podcast show to talk about our indie game project, Project Escher, which is currently in development. We are Rare Castle, an indie game developer that aims to reverse the horror side effects of horror games by creating games that promote positivity, harmony, and healing effects for players. Project Escher is a mystery thriller game that tells the story of a car accident survivor whose life becomes a strange dream blurred line between fiction and reality. Doa also invited Marwan Imam to co-host the episode with her, so he could also ask us questions and share his insights. Marwan Imam is an influential and talented content creator known for Peace Cake, a YouTube channel that makes various shows, programs, episodes, music, sketches, and more. They love to do something delicious and light on the heart. We were very delighted to meet Marwan, who is a very humble and knowledgeable personality. He knows a lot about the video game industry, genres, and history, and he asked us very interesting questions that helped us showcase our game to the viewers.

What We Talked About in the Episode

Here are some of the points we talked about in the episode:

After introducing ourselves to the audience, Doa gave a brief explanation of what an indie game is and referred to her previous episode on indie games for more information.
We shared how we found our love for games and what games or indie studios inspired us the most with our work.
We discussed the crunch policy as a harmful business practice adopted by many big publishers and how it affects the industry negatively. We also touched on the issue of microtransactions and how they can ruin the gaming experience for some players.
We expressed our admiration for studios like Remedy which made the games Control and Alan Wake, as well as Firewatch by Campo Santo and Beyond: Two Souls by Quantic Dream, who have created amazing games with unique art styles, stories, and gameplay mechanics.
We discussed how our lives became almost dystopian when the modern way of living as society forced us to abandon our relationship with nature as individuals. We explained how Project Escher explores or addresses these themes in its story and setting, and how it encourages or inspires players to reconnect with nature in their own lives.
Mohamed talked about how he came up with the idea of being an indie developer here in Egypt and what challenges he faced along the way.
We explored the psychological aspects of horror video games versus games that promote harmony and positivity, and how they relate to anxiety disorders and stress. We also shared our personal preferences and experiences with different genres of games.
We discussed how we use the concept of episodic games that consist of episodes like a TV series to be efficient as an indie developer. We explained some of the benefits and challenges of creating episodic games as an indie developer, how we use small scale environments like the Silent Hill demo PT to create immersive and engaging experiences for players, and how we focus on doing only what each episode needs to cut down on production time and cost.

Conclusion

We concluded by emphasizing the importance of video games as a form of art and entertainment that can enrich our lives and challenge our minds. We also encouraged people who think otherwise to give video games a try and see for themselves how fun and rewarding they can be.

We had a great time talking to Doa and Marwan on Arcade – أركيد, and we hope you enjoyed watching or listening to the episode. If you want to know more about Doa’s channel or support her amazing work, you can follow her on these links:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@arcade-5954

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Doulicious

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/douliciouse/

The Podcast Episode: https://youtu.be/xAZSh3jYCZc

More articles: https://www.rare-castle.com/news/

Thank you for your attention and interest!

P.T. Demo

Control

Alan Wake

Firewatch

Beyond: Two Souls

reverse horror game

Initial Internal Indie Startup System

Introducing Rare Castle: A Pre-Seed Indie Startup with a Vision to Crowdsource an Amazing Game Project

As we enter the third quarter of 2023, I’m excited to share some great news with you about our Internal Indie Startup System. Rare Castle is a startup that is currently at the pre-seed stage, which involves validating the idea for our game project. We have a vision to create an amazing game that will delight and inspire gamers around the world.

To achieve this vision, we need your help. That’s why we have created an internal system that will boost our collaboration and efficiency. This system will allow us to:

Organize our work, form a team, and welcome new indie devs
Outline how we operate at this pre-seed stage and how we structure our indie startup
Maintain order when new indie devs join us in the future
Achieve our goals and vision for our indie startup

I’m happy to announce that this system is ready and has been implemented. This means that we can now crowdsource our indie game project through a crowdsourcing program and offer the opportunity to indie devs who are interested in our game project and share our vision to join and work with us.

This is a unique chance to be part of something amazing and make your mark on the gaming industry.

More details about our system and our crowdsourcing program will be revealed soon, so stay tuned for more updates and exciting things to come. Thank you for your support and enthusiasm.

If you are a passionate and talented indie dev who shares our vision and wants to join our team early before we make the crowdsourcing program announcement, please send us an email, we will add you to our waiting list and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Don’t miss this opportunity to join Rare Castle and be part of the next big thing in gaming. Join now and let’s make history together!

Join our waiting list

More articles: https://www.rare-castle.com/news/

Internal Indie Startup System

Project Escher Enters Development Stage

Rare Castle Announces the Start of Development for Project Escher

Hello, this is Mohamed Fawzy, the owner and director of Rare Castle. I’m thrilled to announce that we have started developing our first game project: Project Escher.

Project Escher is an episodic adventure video game series that uses cinematic aesthetics for the storytelling of a unique psychological thriller experience. The game follows the story of a survivor of a car accident that turns his whole life upside down, where his life becomes like a very strange dream yet so real on the edge between fiction and reality.

We started working on this game on May 6, 2023, and we have been developing one of the game systems features and a very small initial part of the original story and character writing. We have also set the overall idea of the game, but we are still experimenting with a lot of things and trying to find the best way to bring our vision to life. As indie devs, we like experimenting with new ideas that go beyond the boundaries of game genres and constants.

We want to create a game that will do just that. A game that will keep you on the edge of your seat while you discover the story of a survivor of a car accident that turns his whole life upside down. A game that will make you question what is real and what is not. A game that will take you on a journey between fiction and reality.

Psychological thrillers are one of the most popular and profitable genres in gaming, as well as in movies, podcasts, and TV shows. According to PwC, the global gaming industry is expected to be worth $321 billion by 2026, and psychological thrillers are among the top drivers of this growth. Gamers love to immerse themselves in stories that challenge their minds, emotions, and perceptions.

We plan to add a dev log section to our website soon, where we will share our progress and updates on the game development. we want you to be part of our journey and join us in creating this amazing game. That’s why we invite you to follow us on our social media channels and subscribe to our newsletter to stay tuned for more news and updates on our game development.

The first episode of Project Escher is in development for Microsoft Windows and will be released when we are satisfied with the result and it’s ready. We are currently in the pre-seed stage of our development, which involves validating the idea for our game project. We are looking for ways to fund this project, such as crowdfunding, grants, or investors. We will announce the release date when we have more clarity and confidence in our timeline. For more information about the game, visit our website Here

Subscribe to us on YouTube

Thank you for your support and enthusiasm. We can’t wait to share more with you soon. Let’s make history together!

Sources:

1- Gaming boomed in lockdown and market value will reach $320bn | World ….

2- Market Trends: Is the Mystery, Suspense, Thriller Genre Alive and Well ….

3- Category:Psychological thriller video games – Wikipedia.