Few games were as surprising as 1001 Threads of Mizan, but there is genuine artistry in what the team showed off. Revealed for the first time during Opening Night Live, the debut title from MBC Game Studio pulled off something increasingly rare in modern games: it seemed to surprise everyone in the room. Having had some time with the experience, I am more excited than I expected to be, and I only got a taste of what is to come. 1001 Threads of Mizan feels like a big, polished action-adventure with a setting games have barely touched, and if the team delivers on that promise, it could be something to get very excited about.
1001 Threads of Mizan pulls from One Thousand and One Nights, the centuries-old collection of Middle Eastern folk tales. Three heroes, Yusra, Malik and Sufyan, set out to find the lost power of the Mizan while an ancient jinn king rises to take revenge on humanity. Guiding the tale is Shahrazad, the original storyteller of the classic book, who narrates as the Storyweaver. While the demo only gave me a taste of this aspect, it is a brilliant way to tie the concept and the various elements of the game together. I am eager to find out more, but what I did get a fairly good chunk of was the gameplay.
My demo dropped three of us into a sun-baked stretch of desert on the trail of a rogue jinn. Each hero fills a distinct role. Yusra fights from range with a bow and staff. Malik is the heavy, built to soak up hits and hit back harder. Sufyan is the quick one, all speed and flair. I played Malik, and the overall flow of combat and the way you work with your party clicked almost immediately. Diving in, I was playing alongside two other journalists, and even though we had never played together before, it quickly felt like second nature.
“The magic carpet is an inspired concept, and while we have seen it in games before, the way 1001 Threads of Mizan implements it helps elevate the experience.”
There is no heavy tutorial here, but the game feels incredibly intuitive to jump into and learn. I am sure the full release will do more to set players up for the experience, but what we have already works, and it quickly became obvious that this team knows how to craft a tight, exciting experience. Light and heavy attacks combine into a charged special, while a meter tracks your significant moves. On defence, you can block, dodge, and parry. The ground combat sits somewhere between a standard action game like God of War and the pattern-reading of a Soulslike. It is fast, fluid, and easy to read, but 1001 Threads of Mizan has a few tricks up its sleeve that help it stand out as more than just another action game.
The magic carpet is an inspired concept, and while we have seen it in games before, the way 1001 Threads of Mizan implements it helps elevate the experience. Any hero can summon one at any time with a single button, and the game shifts from a brawler to something closer to Star Fox. You can boost, bank, brake into tight turns, and barrel-roll past incoming fire. The carpet was much more thrilling than I expected, and while it takes a little time to get used to, it radically alters the flow of combat in a fun way. It works as a way to cross the world, a tool for aerial combos, and a lifeline when a fight goes sideways.
All of it builds toward the boss fights, and they are the showpieces that helped sell me on the concept behind 1001 Threads of Mizan. Starting with a miniboss known as the Sand Knight, we got a taste of how larger battles work in the game. While groups of standard enemies can be challenging, this first boss fight is where some members of our team died. The Sand Knight may only be a miniboss, but you need to time your attacks and plan around his moves to land hits. It requires teamwork, and it can be a challenge. For me, this is when I really had to learn how the magic carpet works, and with the guidance of the designer in the room, the combat flow started to make sense.
Once we defeated him, we finally got to move on to Nazjush, the big bad of the demo and the one featured across the game’s artwork. She is a four-armed jinn who towers over the party, her crown lined with 11 blinking eyes. From the air, we wove through walls of projectiles that left thin gaps to slip through, then hurled her cursed magic back to break her stance.
When she slumped at the edge of the arena, we dove in to shatter an eye or two before the cycle began again. It was a genuine spectacle, and it demanded real teamwork. This was also where the game showcased just how unique its art direction is and how much talent is on display throughout the experience.
Once we worked through this battle, we got a taste of what the second phase would look like, only to have the demo end. While I wanted to see more, what was shown off looked solid, with the team crafting a world that genuinely felt alive and exciting. Our group was told that the team has consultants covering all aspects of the game’s design, including the fabrics used in clothing, the culture of the region, and the language. There is no doubt that MBC Game Studios has some lofty goals for the game, although it does sound like it will be a linear experience rather than an open world, as some people have been speculating online.
“1001 Threads of Mizan was one of the best games I played at gamescom 2026 and a unique experience that feels original and genuinely interesting.”
A hub world feeds into side activities like races, puzzles, and tombs. There is also the jinn realm, an unseen world reached through spiritual journeys, where vaults filled with combat and puzzle trials feed back into your growth. Co-op is drop-in, drop-out for up to three players, and you can finish the game alone. The experience adapts as you add more players, but it will not punish you if you simply want to experience the game by yourself.
Learning more about the studio behind the game, there is a lot of talent working to make 1001 Threads of Mizan a reality. MBC Game Studio is a new, fully remote team with veterans of BioWare, Ubisoft, Hi-Rez, and Bungie. Its parent company is MBC Group, the largest media company in the Middle East, which is majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The studio is self-publishing and says creative freedom has never been an issue, but what it has not said yet is when the game will ship. There is no release date or window, with the team still building out its world of lost and corrupted cities.
1001 Threads of Mizan was one of the best games I played at gamescom 2026 and a unique experience that feels original and genuinely interesting. The world feels fresh, the carpet mechanic is a joy, and the boss design already operates at a level most action games never reach. Whenever it is ready, it will arrive on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC
