Saudi horror game Aunt Fatima uses Gulf folklore to deliver bone-chilling experience
Adapted from an Emirati jinn story about an entity called Umm Al Duwais that ensnares weak men to their death, the game follows a being inhabiting an empty house that stalks anyone who enters. Al Hamad says he was pushed to create a horror game when he realised how much people like the genre.
'I realised people genuinely enjoy being scared – it's fun for them,' he tells The National.
He also wanted to create something simple yet effective, he adds. 'The games don't require loads of development. You only need to develop about five or six things, really simple stuff, and the rest is all about creativity in the story.'
Since its launch in October 2024, Aunt Fatima has grown in popularity as more regional YouTubers began playing it on their channels. Al Hamad is also encouraged by feedback he's received from gamers in other parts of the world.
'When YouTubers picked it up, that's when things took off, horror is perfect content for creators,' he says Al Hamad.
'I discovered people were playing the game in East Asia and Turkey – we have similar cultures when it comes to folklore.'
The game is played in first person, meaning the gamer is the eyes and ears of the main character. Upon entering what looks like an abandoned house, it quickly becomes clear that someone, or something, is lurking – watching every movement and reacting.
The character is then tasked with solving puzzles around the house while also evading capture, and certain death, from the malevolent being known as Aunt Fatima.
Some who play might be reminded of Resident Evil 7 or Hideo Kojima 's P.T., but despite the parallels, Al Hamad says those popular games were not on his mind while creating the game. 'I did play P.T. back when it first came out, but honestly, no – I wouldn't say it was an influence. I scare easily, and I don't like horror games at all. I don't even watch horror films. But somehow, I ended up making a horror game.'
His main objective was to make a game that drew from the Gulf's culture, and paid tribute to it. He even went to a delipidated area in his city Al Khobar, which was believed by the locals to be haunted. His grandfather's house also served as the blueprint for the haunted house in the game.
'For example, you might notice the clock in the house chimes every quarter of an hour – that's directly inspired by my grandfather's house, which had a clock that did exactly that,' Al Hamad says.
'Or the old telephone, that's another thing that still exists. The rugs, the bed, the lamp, the light switch – all these little details are things I grew up with. I visited these places again just to recapture the feel.'
Those details are instantly noticeable when playing Aunt Fatima. At one point, players come across a table with a mubkhar on top of it, bellowing incense smoke in the house, something that can be seen in most homes across the Gulf.
Despite being developed and published by one person, Aunt Fatima is no small game. It clocks in at more than an hour of gameplay and uses Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling system, or DLSS, to enhance its capabilities.
DLSS is AI-powered technology that renders fewer pixels and then upscales the image to a higher resolution, allowing a smaller-budget game like Aunt Fatima to look and feel like a game developed by major studios. The use of DLSS has allowed gamers to enjoy it exactly how Al Hamad envisioned it and has also allowed it to be highlighted by chips maker Nvidia alongside some of the biggest video games in the industry.
'To make a horror game work, you need quick reaction time, and that's why DLSS made a real difference,' he says. 'Seeing Aunt Fatima listed on Nvidia's website alongside games like Marvel Rivals and God of War made me incredibly proud.'
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