Bengaluru based Studio Sirah raises $830,000 to develop India-first mobile games — ‘Kurukshetra: Ascension’ will be the first title

• Studio Sirah plans on developing games that feature Indian mythological and historical content.
• Its first title is ‘Kurukshetra: Ascension’, a card battler game.
• The startup plans on bringing more such games with Indian content to the global audience.

Bengaluru-based Studio Sirah plans to bring the Indian mythological world into gaming with its first title ‘Kurukshetra: Ascension’, a card battling game. To develop its first title, Studio Sirah raised $830,000 in a round of funding led by Lumikai, an Indian gaming-focused venture capital fund. The startup also plans on releasing more titles in the future that will be inspired by Indian mythologies and history.

Studio Sirah was founded by two brothers, Prateek Shah and Abhaas Shah who grew up playing games such as Contra, Age of Empires, Civilization, and Hearthstone. The gaming studio was founded with an aim to bring games that feature Indian content for not just the Indian audience but the global community as well. Studio Sirah will focus on developing mid-core games which are games that have a hardcore theme but can be played in a short time.

“We didn’t see any good Indian content that we would like to play as gamers. There are a lot of hypercasual and casual games, but these are not the games that appeal to us,” Abhaas Shah was quoted as saying by VentureBeat.

Abhaas also highlighted how the Indian mythologies are still very popular in the country through TV shows. With its games, Studio Sirah hopes to bring a modernised version of these stories to gamers globally.

The game

Kurukshetra: Ascension will be the first title from Studio Sirah, and it will be a card battler based on the epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. In these kinds of games, the central theme is card battling. “Earn hundreds of unique cards and outplay your opponents in thrilling online duels. Battle mythical monsters and ancient gods in a legendary campaign of ascension where your decisions determine the fate of the universe,” reads the game’s description on the website.

The game will also feature fictionalised stories and characters with the focus on “strategic gameplay, immersive art, and a deep progression system.” It will also have heavy themes of philosophical and religious thought. Kurukshetra: Ascension will be available on both mobile and PC when it launches. It is available for pre-registration now on Studio Sirah’s official website.

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