CHOLAS IN PLAY

ACROSS the world, video games have become digital storytellers of culture. In 'God of War', the clash of gods and giants turns Norse mythology into a living, breathing battlefield.

- NIDHARSHANA RAJU

The ancient Mediterranean finds fresh life in 'Assassin's Creed: Odyssey', where myths of Olympian gods and heroes blur with history, while 'The Witcher' spins Slavic folklore into tales of monsters. These worlds prove how games can preserve and reimagine cultural memory, allowing players to witness and inhabit tradition.

And yet, one vast cultural landscape remains eerily quiet in the global gaming landscape: India. Its sprawling epics and pantheon of gods remain largely untapped, but so too do its region-specific histories—the kings and warrior-queens whose legacies shaped the subcontinent. Despite their richness, these rulers, heroes, and their stories have yet to find a place in the global language of gaming, as though a vital chapter in the world's interactive storytelling remains unread.

As if to begin filling this long-standing void, came the teaser of a new game—opening not only with English text but also Tamil, its soundtrack pulsing with the resonant beats of the thavil and nadaswaram, while the visuals unfolded against the rustic landscapes of medieval rural Tamil Nadu. A brown-skinned king—Rajendra Chola, rendered in pixels and power—enters in regal stride, atop a majestic elephant. As he is welcomed into his kingdom, the camera erupting into a sequence of intense combat, followed by the title blazing across the screen: 'Son of Thanjai', from Ayelet Studio.