The Albany Gazette - A First-of-Its-Kind Video Game Based on Muslim Scientific Artifacts, Launching on March 20, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESS Newswire / March 17, 2026 / Unity Productions Foundation (UPF), the award-winning film production company, is expanding into interactive media with the upcoming release of VANISHED: Puzzle Quest, an immersive first-person puzzle adventure inspired by the scientific legacy of the Islamic Golden Age.

Players journey across nine historic centers of learning - including Samarkand, Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, and Timbuktu - where pioneering scholars advanced astronomy, optics, engineering, mathematics, and mechanics in ways that helped shape the modern world. Along the way, players uncover hidden clues, confront escalating challenges, and interpret medieval artifacts once used to map the stars, predict the seasons, and lay the groundwork for modern science.

The game features meticulously modeled historical instruments - from astrolabes and celestial spheres to water clocks and mechanical devices - that are integral to gameplay. Mastering these tools is essential to solving puzzles, navigating hazards, and restoring knowledge before it disappears forever.

VANISHED: Puzzle Quest launches worldwide on iOS, Android, Steam, and the Epic Games Store on March 20, coinciding with Eid al-Fitr, the celebration marking the end of Ramadan. The release is accompanied by a companion website at vanished.game, offering additional educational resources and behind-the-scenes content.

The game was developed in partnership with Saltium Games, an international studio based in Munich and Bosnia. Its core team includes Muslim developers and creatives whose cultural insight helped shape the game's historical authenticity, narrative voice, and visual design. The collaboration blends rigorous research with cinematic storytelling and engaging gameplay to create an experience that is highly entertaining.

Alex Kronemer, Executive Producer at UPF, said, "We set out to build a game that is not only fun to play, but intellectually meaningful - an experience that lets players interact with the very tools that helped build modern science, crafted by a team that understands this heritage from within."

For press inquiries, screenshots, or trailer access, please contact:
Aliyah VanPelt
[email protected]

Press Kit available here.

SOURCE: Unity Productions Foundation 501(c)(3)

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

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