Over the past few years, China and South Korea have established themselves as major players in the video game industry. Now, it is India’s turn to make its voice heard. Driven by a thriving digital economy and a pool of creative talents, India is ushering in a new era in video gaming. This emergence is taking shape through ambitious projects that blend culture, technology, and narration, such as the upcoming game The Age of Bharat. It is an AAA game aiming to redefine India’s place in the global video game landscape. Indeed, after years of subcontracting in the video game industry, India now seeks to prove it can stand on its own—almost.
“The Age of Bharat” immediately captivates with the richness of its universe and the strength of its visual identity. The lore promises to be dense, rooted in Indian epics and myths, offering a unique narrative framework rarely explored in AAA video games. Visually, early images and cinematics impress with their meticulous artistic direction, blending mystical landscapes with creatures inspired by local folklore. However, it is important to remain realistic: while the game excels aesthetically and narratively, the gameplay mechanics observed so far lack fluidity and depth, indicating that much work remains to be done for the experience to meet genre standards. The promise of the project is ambitious and exciting, but significant refinement will be necessary to match the quality seen in games from other regions, particularly Japan, and now China and Korea. It is also notable that this approach resembles the communication strategy employed by “Black Myth Wukong.”
MAJOR INDIAN STARS TO PROMOTE VIDEO GAMES
Behind “The Age of Bhaarat,” we find Tara Gaming, an Indian studio recently founded in Pune, India. The studio is not lacking in talent or ambition, with three key individuals at its helm. First is Amish Tripathi, a successful author known for the Shiva and Ram Chandra trilogies, who can be compared to the Indian George RR Martin, though this comparison may be an exaggeration. Next is Nouredine Abboud, a French former Ubisoft employee who worked on Ghost Recon Wildlands and now heads the Paris-based studio Novaquark. The third collaborator is Amitabh Bachchan, the renowned actor with over 200 films to his name and a career spanning as long as the Ganges, who has now ventured into video games as a co-founder of Tara Gaming. That’s all.
So, what is The Age of Bhaarat? It is a dark fantasy action-RPG set in a reimagined ancient India, blending mythological tales, folklore, and epic sagas. Players will take on the role of a Forest Guardian of Anandpur, tasked with repelling a demonic invasion. On paper, it promises an epic adventure, a captivating narrative, and a genuine desire to highlight the richness of India’s cultural heritage. This is supported by impressive visual execution; early cinematics reveal landscapes reminiscent of Black Myth Wukong, featuring a unique dark fantasy twist on Indian folklore creatures.
AAA CINEMATICS – MOBILE GAME PLAY
It is important to note: while the game excels with its lore, visual richness, and cinematics, in terms of gameplay, there is still room for significant improvement. The limited gameplay sequences that have been shown lack punch, fluidity, and conviction above all. One can sense the desire, passion, as well as the limitations of an Indian industry that is still relatively new to the AAA field. Currently, Tara Gaming studio has assembled a team of 100 developers distributed across offices in Pune, Mumbai, Paris, Montreal, and the Middle East. For example, I know that in France, it is the team from Novaquark studio who are contributing to the project.
The project remains intriguing, and Tara Gaming aims to leverage India’s rapidly growing digital economy to achieve recognition and establish itself as one of the new Indian studios capable of competing with Western and Asian counterparts. For the two Indian co-founders, “The Age of Bhaarat” seeks to present a global perspective on a culture often misunderstood, through an uniquely Indian lens. They pledge to offer an immersive experience that combines Indian traditions with technical sophistication, targeting a release by late 2026, although there is a possibility of delay.
The Brown Myth Wukong
Meanwhile, if this trailer is generating significant attention today, it is not accidental. We are only weeks away from the Summer Game Fest, and it is evident that as they begin to communicate about this game, the Indian studio is starting to gain recognition. The buzz has come through IGN India’s YouTube channel, which has already accumulated 450,000 views in just two weeks. While it has not yet reached the scale of Black Myth Wukong, which achieved 3 million views within 24 hours due to support from the IGN US account, considering the subscriber base of IGN India, the current view count is impressive. Moreover, this focus on “Age of Bhaarat” will likely attract new investors, raise funds, and thus provide more resources for the game’s development.
However, such a project is not without risks. The Indian video game industry has so far distinguished itself with its mobile productions and has rarely succeeded in establishing a presence on the international market for premium games. The failure of the Prince of Persia remake (developed in India) still serves as a stark reminder of the production challenges many local studios encounter. It is important to note that Ubisoft withdrew the game’s development from its Pune studio due to quality issues. Let us hope that “The Age of Bhaarat” does not meet a similar fate, but given the trailer’s enthusiasm, we can remain optimistic.
