Close Menu
Best in TechnologyBest in Technology
  • News
  • Phones
  • Laptops
  • Gadgets
  • Gaming
  • AI
  • Tips
  • More
    • Web Stories
    • Global
    • Press Release

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest tech news and updates directly to your inbox.

What's On

China Turns Legacy Chips Into a Trade Weapon

18 September 2025

Anti-Trump Protesters Take Aim at ‘Naive’ US-UK AI Deal

18 September 2025

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Review – A New Dimension of Kart Racing

18 September 2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Just In
  • China Turns Legacy Chips Into a Trade Weapon
  • Anti-Trump Protesters Take Aim at ‘Naive’ US-UK AI Deal
  • Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Review – A New Dimension of Kart Racing
  • Review: Auk Mini
  • Cybercriminals Have a Weird New Way to Target You With Scam Texts
  • The Home Depot Deals During the 2025 Decor Days Event
  • Meta’s New Smart Glasses Got a Subtle Name Change. It Speaks Volumes About What’s Wrong With Them
  • A Collision With Another Planet Could Have Allowed for Life on Earth
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest Vimeo
Best in TechnologyBest in Technology
  • News
  • Phones
  • Laptops
  • Gadgets
  • Gaming
  • AI
  • Tips
  • More
    • Web Stories
    • Global
    • Press Release
Subscribe
Best in TechnologyBest in Technology
Home » A House of the Dragon Star Made a Video Game to Grieve His Father
News

A House of the Dragon Star Made a Video Game to Grieve His Father

News RoomBy News Room2 April 20243 Mins Read
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Reddit Telegram Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

A decade ago, Abubakar Salim lost his father. That grief lives within him. An actor by trade, with credits in Raised by Wolves and House of the Dragon’s upcoming season, he searched for years for the right medium to work through the hurt. A film. A TV show. Nothing did it justice—until he tried to make a video game. “If you’re really depicting grief in a truthful and honest way, it is so open and chaotic that actually, you can kind of gamify it,” he says.

Salim is the CEO and creative director of Surgent Studios, the developer behind the upcoming Metroidvania game Tales of Kenzera: Zau. The game, set to launch April 23, follows a young shaman, Zau, who has made a deal with the god of death to bring his father back to life in exchange for three great spirits. Its story is a reflection of coping with loss—even its premise is built on bargaining, a common stage for someone dealing with death. The button-mashing, the mask-switching—these are all, Salim says, representative of the madness people can experience.

Games about grief reflect those feelings in many ways. Platformer Gris turns the stages of grief into literal ones as its heroine silently navigates a world that uses color and music to express emotion. What Remains of Edith Finch explores the death of a family by sifting through their things, alongside vignettes dedicated to those lost.

Kenzera has its own methods. Throughout the game, Zau takes time to pause and talk about his feelings. That’s the result of Salim and the game’s developers trying to figure out how the character would be able to restore his health. The solution wound up being quite literal: creating a space where Zau simply sits under a tree and reflects.

Each biome in the game’s world is a reflection of the journey through that anguish. Salim, who grew up playing games with his dad, reflects on something his father used to tell him as a child: “When you’re born, you’re alone, and when you die, you’re alone.” Kenzera’s developers infused that idea into the Woodlands setting, which is meant to evoke a sense of the questioning: “Will I be remembered? Will I be forgotten?”

Stories that Salim’s father told him heavily influenced the game, as did Bantu culture, which he says was done as a form of celebration rather than an effort to educate people. In recent years, games like God of War and Hades have brought new familiarity to Norse and Greek mythology. A game like Kenzera could do something similar for the culture of southern Africa. “It’s to inspire people to see these stories and lean into these stories,” Salim says.

Although Kenzera’s combat has evolved over time, it is influenced by Dambe, a form of Nigerian boxing. Zau swaps between masks to switch up his fighting style—sun and moon masks that represent life and death. In Bantu culture, Salim explains, the two balance each other. “That’s really where the inspiration for these two masks came from,” he says. The sun mask is heat, flame-heavy by nature, while the moon mask has an icier look and feel. Both masks are beautiful and infused with energy, an ode to how other cultures handle death. “Especially within African cultures, [death] is almost celebrated in a way,” he says. “It’s a passing into the new.”

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Previous ArticleMagical Metroidvania Tales Of Kenzera: Zau Hits PlayStation Plus Game Catalog On Day One
Next Article I’ve reviewed every AMD and Nvidia GPU this generation — here’s how the two companies stack up

Related Articles

News

China Turns Legacy Chips Into a Trade Weapon

18 September 2025
News

Anti-Trump Protesters Take Aim at ‘Naive’ US-UK AI Deal

18 September 2025
News

Review: Auk Mini

18 September 2025
News

Cybercriminals Have a Weird New Way to Target You With Scam Texts

18 September 2025
News

The Home Depot Deals During the 2025 Decor Days Event

18 September 2025
News

Meta’s New Smart Glasses Got a Subtle Name Change. It Speaks Volumes About What’s Wrong With Them

18 September 2025
Demo
Top Articles

ChatGPT o1 vs. o1-mini vs. 4o: Which should you use?

15 December 2024105 Views

Costco partners with Electric Era to bring back EV charging in the U.S.

28 October 202495 Views

5 laptops to buy instead of the M4 MacBook Pro

17 November 202492 Views

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest tech news and updates directly to your inbox.

Latest News
News

The Home Depot Deals During the 2025 Decor Days Event

News Room18 September 2025
News

Meta’s New Smart Glasses Got a Subtle Name Change. It Speaks Volumes About What’s Wrong With Them

News Room18 September 2025
News

A Collision With Another Planet Could Have Allowed for Life on Earth

News Room18 September 2025
Most Popular

The Spectacular Burnout of a Solar Panel Salesman

13 January 2025129 Views

ChatGPT o1 vs. o1-mini vs. 4o: Which should you use?

15 December 2024105 Views

Costco partners with Electric Era to bring back EV charging in the U.S.

28 October 202495 Views
Our Picks

Review: Auk Mini

18 September 2025

Cybercriminals Have a Weird New Way to Target You With Scam Texts

18 September 2025

The Home Depot Deals During the 2025 Decor Days Event

18 September 2025

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest tech news and updates directly to your inbox.

Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
© 2025 Best in Technology. All Rights Reserved.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.