The House of Hikmah now open on Steam for Windows PC

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Demo also available for 3D puzzle-platforming adventure inspired by the Islamic Golden Age 

You might expect a place called the "House of Wisdom" to be all bookish and serene, but there will be plenty to keep players hopping – literally – in search of the truth in the newly released 3D puzzle-platforming adventure, The House of Hikmah. 

Before he died, the father of a "curious and determined" 14-year-old named Maya left her a mystical talisman. Eager for answers about her father's death, Maya "enters the House of Wisdom, a dreamlike sanctuary filled with centuries of knowledge" where he worked. There she'll meet a variety of scholars "inspired by historical figures from the Islamic Golden Age," each with their own "wealth of wisdom to share." In order to reach their personal realms, Maya must solve a series of environmental puzzles with the aid of her newfound device. As she progresses, "each door she opens uncovers the secrets of her father’s legacy" and brings her "closer to finding peace and healing." Along the way, however, she'll encounter a "strong, surreal force embodying unmanaged grief known as the Widow." To succeed in her quest, Maya must overcome her fears and "confront her deepest emotions or risk succumbing to grief like many others before her."

While The House of Hikmah may be the first game from indie developer Lunacy Studios, there's an impressive pedigree behind its team of industry veterans whose credits include the likes of Life Is Strange, Star Wars: Battlefront, Mass Effect, The Walking Dead and more. The sound design is in good hands, too, with a score composed by Grammy-nominated and BAFTA-winning musician Austin Wintory, and full voice-overs for the "idiosyncratic cast" in both English and Arabic from the likes of Sophia Eleni (Cairn) as Maya, Nezar Alderazi (Battlefield 6), Laila Alj (Assassin's Creed Mirage) and Ben Turner (Split Fiction). All this talent has been poured into a series of nine distinct worlds, each of them "representative of a different scholars’ expertise" and "brimming with culture and wonder," to be explored via gamepad or keyboard/mouse in third-person, free-roaming 3D. 

Unlike in traditional adventures, the challenge here comes from navigating the game's many physical obstacles, from weighted switches and moving platforms to far more complex physics-based puzzles. That begins with the natural ability to jog, jump and even glide short distances, but what distinguishes this game from even most platforming adventures is Maya's family heirloom, which is able to transmute the elements in highlighted, colour-coded objects, from normal to weightless to metal and more. Only by tactically manipulating the environment can players "walk through walls of immaterial ether, bend light through glass, glide through wind channels and bend the matter of objects and larger-than-life structures." And with each new scholar reached, you'll be able to "find wisdom and comfort in their scientific and philosophical teachings through entertaining yet meaningful conversations," giving this exploration of grief an ongoing "underlying current of hope."

Anyone ready to jump right in can do so immediately by transmuting money into adventure, as The House of Hikmah has now launched on Steam. Or you can take a tentative first double-jump via the playable demo also available for Windows PC.

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