Advertisement
11:28
The Islamic Golden Age was Erased. This Video Game Brings it Back
Zeteo
·
May 10, 2026
Open on YouTube
Transcript
0:00
How do you get a game like this to
0:02
connect with an audience that doesn't
0:04
even know there was such a thing as a
0:05
golden age of Islamic scientific
0:07
development?
0:08
>> Well, first of all, you make it fun. You
0:09
make it a fun puzzle quest before you
0:11
even think about the theme itself.
Advertisement
0:12
>> It's a way of trying to have people
0:14
engage with the with the Islamic
0:17
history, in this case, the golden age,
0:19
so that these things don't vanish.
0:20
>> How bad do you think Islamophobia is in
0:23
the United States right now?
0:25
>> Every election cycle gets pretty bad.
0:27
It's quite bad now. I believe that we
0:30
have to do our work not in combating
0:35
narratives but reaffirming our
Advertisement
0:38
identities.
0:44
Get ready for a new adventure where you
0:46
can step back into time to the Muslim
0:48
Middle Ages, collecting ancient
0:50
artifacts, solving enigmatic puzzles,
0:52
all to preserve the scientific legacy of
0:54
the Islamic Golden Age as a fog of
0:57
forgetfulness threatens to erase that
0:58
knowledge forever. That's the premise of
1:00
a new video game called Vanished: Puzzle
1:02
Quest. It's made by Unity Productions
1:05
Foundation, a group whose mission is to
1:07
counter bigotry and create peace through
1:09
media with a focus on increasing
1:11
religious and cultural pluralism,
1:12
especially among Muslims and other
1:14
faiths. Joining me now is UPF assistant
1:16
producer Ariela Gayoto Hull, who
1:19
spearheaded the development of Vanished
1:20
along with UPF co-founder and executive
1:22
producer Alex Cron. Thank you both for
1:25
joining me.
1:26
>> Thank you.
1:26
>> So, congratulations. The game is out,
1:28
but let's just back into it. Ariel, I
1:31
believe your background is in film
1:33
making,
1:33
>> correct?
1:34
>> So, how did you end up working on a
1:36
game? Why did you want to work on this
1:37
game? What was your inspiration, your
1:39
goal?
1:40
>> Well, the biggest thing for us is how do
1:42
we reach more people and the gaming
1:45
industry is actually larger than film
1:48
and music combined.
1:50
>> So, for us, we felt like it was very
1:52
important for us to get into this
1:54
industry and reach more people that way
1:56
in an interactive way to tell the story.
1:58
And Alex, UPF's mission, as I mentioned,
2:00
is to combat bigotry and increase
2:02
cultural pluralism. How does a game like
2:04
Vanished help you achieve that goal?
2:06
>> Well, uh, as Ariela was saying, you
2:09
know, gaming is big. Uh, we realize
2:12
that, uh, we typically are making films
2:15
and documentaries, but there's only a
2:16
certain audience for that. There's an
2:18
audience who will never watch a film,
2:19
never watch a documentary. So, how do
2:20
you also reach that audience? And that
2:22
was the idea of doing a game. Um Ariela
2:24
for a lot of kids uh in the American
2:26
school system because we I mentioned in
2:27
the introduction a lot of this is about
2:29
Islamic history Islamic golden age um
2:32
and we covered the movie recently time
2:33
hoppers which covered this you know
2:35
similar time period
2:37
>> the history a lot of American kids learn
2:38
in school and European kids is very
2:41
euroentric focuses on the advancements
2:43
of science and technology that came out
2:45
of the west during the renaissance the
2:47
enlightenment
2:48
>> how do you get a game like this to
2:51
connect with an audience that doesn't
2:52
even know knew there was such a thing as
2:54
a golden age of Islamic scientific
2:55
development.
2:56
>> Well, first of all, you make it fun.
2:58
>> You make it about the interact the
3:00
interactiveness of it. You make it a fun
3:02
puzzle quest before you even think about
3:04
the theme itself. So that was one of our
3:05
priorities for us was to make sure the g
3:08
game stood on its own. But really what
3:10
we also wanted to do is to address that
3:14
public awareness and that historic
3:16
memory to get people to think about who
3:18
are the people that contributed to the
3:20
modern world, to science, to all these
3:22
inventions that made us the society we
3:24
are today in a way that feels natural
3:26
and engaging.
3:28
>> And if I could just add to that, the the
3:30
and you kind of piggy on what you asked
3:32
me earlier, the thing about the game is
3:35
you're using objects that help you win.
3:37
So you're interacting, you're engaged
3:39
with them rather than sort of passively
3:40
watching a film uh where you're trying
3:42
to absorb something. This way
3:45
understanding these objects and using
3:46
the objects gives you a positive
3:48
experience of progressing through the
3:50
game.
3:51
>> What's the feedback been like
3:52
>> so far? Great. I mean we've only uh we
3:54
just launched two weeks ago.
3:55
>> Y
3:56
>> we already have a couple hundred
3:57
thousand downloads.
3:59
>> Uh very we got five five stars on Apple
4:03
and and almost that on Google Play. So,
4:06
so far so good.
4:07
>> So, let's talk big picture in terms of
4:09
what you're trying to achieve here. And
4:10
just for the sake of our audience, you
4:12
are a white American man. You are, I
4:15
believe, Brazilian.
4:16
>> Correct.
4:17
>> Are you Muslims liking this video? Then
4:19
don't just watch, hit like, share, and
4:21
subscribe. And tap the bell so you never
4:23
miss a video or live show. But if you
4:26
want early access to exclusive content,
4:28
then you have to head to zateo.com and
4:30
subscribe now. You'll be supporting
4:32
Fearless Independent Journalism. Yes.
4:35
So, you're both Muslims. So, let me ask
4:36
you this question. How you both live in
4:38
the US?
4:39
>> Yes.
4:39
>> How bad do you think Islamophobia is in
4:42
the United States right now with members
4:45
of Congress, Republican members, saying
4:46
they'd pick a dog over a Muslim, saying
4:49
Islam is evil and unamerican, others
4:50
saying that Zoran Mandani as mayor means
4:53
the enemies are within the gate.
4:55
>> How bad do you think it is right now?
4:57
>> Every election cycle gets pretty bad,
4:59
right? And so, particularly with
5:01
everything that's going on in the world,
5:02
it's it's quite bad now. But we've been
5:04
doing our work since before 9/11. So
5:07
we've gone through a lot of n you know
5:08
it was 911 there was the Iraq war.
5:09
>> How does now compare to 911? The fallout
5:11
from 911 in terms of
5:13
>> Okay, here's the difference. I the
5:14
leadership after 9/11 was more um
5:18
positive and and wanted to make sure
5:20
there wasn't a backlash.
5:21
>> People forget that George W. Bush
5:23
despite all his war crimes went to a
5:24
mosque and said Islam is peace.
5:25
>> Exactly.
5:26
>> Which you cannot imagine Donald Trump
5:27
doing.
5:27
>> Exactly. And unfortunately since then
5:30
you know we have particularly again in
5:31
election cycles you have people you know
5:34
trying to best themselves what's the
5:36
worst thing they can say about Muslims
5:37
and you know how can they seem you know
5:39
people raising uh votes or trying to
5:41
raise money and votes off of fear. So
5:43
this is not a new phenomenon. We've
5:45
experienced it before.
5:46
>> Uh and um uh but what I think is
5:50
different than than what we experienced
5:52
20 plus years ago when we first started
5:54
our work is that there's there's a
5:56
cultural shift that's happening. And I
5:58
think it's happening honestly with work
5:59
that you're doing, work that we've been
6:01
doing, showing films, doing doing games,
6:03
doing these things that are beginning to
6:05
shift the perception of who Muslims are
6:07
and what Islam is. So that when you do
6:09
have these voices that say this, they
6:10
start to land more and more on deaf
6:12
ears. They don't have the same impact
6:13
that they used to. So yes, we're hearing
6:15
those voices again. Uh but I do feel
6:18
like the the the cultural reaction to
6:21
them is is more muted than it has been
6:23
in earlier times. Are you as optimistic
6:26
slashpositive as Alex Ariel?
6:29
>> I believe that we have to do our work
6:33
not in combating narratives but
6:38
reaffirming our identities and that to
6:41
me is at the core of the work that we
6:43
do. We are not responding to things. We
6:45
are creating things that come
6:47
>> writing our own stories. Expanding the
6:49
story.
6:49
>> Exactly. Exactly. That's what I think
6:51
matters to me the most. So, Alex, on
6:53
that note, one of the enemies of this
6:56
game, you could say, is the lack of
6:57
awareness, the lack of corrective memory
6:59
threatens to wipe out our knowledge of
7:00
the past. And that's not just a Muslim
7:01
thing. That's across the board in the
7:02
United States. Um, what do you think
7:05
about the current geopolitical situation
7:06
in which this game is emerging at a time
7:09
when you look at somewhere like Iran,
7:11
cultural sites, major Islamic historical
7:14
artifacts are being destroyed by our
7:16
government.
7:17
>> Right. Well, I mean, that's sort of the
7:19
metaphor for the game is that is that
7:22
these things are being lost. These
7:23
things are being destroyed. There's a
7:24
villain in the in the game who is
7:27
causing these things to vanish, hence
7:29
the name of the game. And you, the
7:31
player, are combating that. And again,
7:33
so it's a way of trying to have people
7:34
engage with the with the Islamic
7:37
history, in this case, the golden age,
7:39
so that these things don't vanish, so
7:41
these memories do stay. And again, I do
7:44
I am somewhat optimistic. I do feel like
7:46
um uh you know that
7:50
and I I mean to go back to the first
7:52
Trump administration when the Muslim ban
7:54
happened. I remember getting out of an
7:55
airport. I didn't know the H and there
7:57
was like all these people protesting. I
7:58
had no idea and they were they were
8:00
white people, right? They weren't, you
8:02
know, the PE and they were protesting
8:04
because there hadn't already been a
8:05
shift, right? And I do feel like there
8:08
is a shift. I feel like it's continuing
8:09
to happen. Again, it's happening through
8:11
the efforts of many people and not just
8:12
the efforts of organizations or like
8:14
you, but efforts of individuals, you
8:17
know, who who are more um proudly
8:20
asserting their identity in the various
8:22
fields in which they're doing good work.
8:24
>> Area Vanished is available for free.
8:27
>> It is.
8:27
>> You also produced a documentary last
8:29
year called Islam's greatest love
8:30
stories which examines love and grief
8:32
and I think PBS made that available. Um,
8:35
why is it so important to have work like
8:37
yours and UPFS publicly available,
8:40
accessible with little or no cost?
8:43
>> For many reasons. One of them is we want
8:46
to center representation in a way that
8:48
feels accessible to anyone. We want to
8:51
make we wanted to make sure it was
8:52
adree. We wanted to make sure it reached
8:54
as many po people as possible that would
8:56
connect with it either because of the
8:58
theme itself or because of the way of
9:00
the story and the narrative and the
9:02
beautiful visuals or just simply because
9:05
they want to do something that has to do
9:06
with their own identity. So for us, I
9:09
think what's been the most important is
9:10
create narratives that feel universal
9:13
but that are situated in a particular
9:15
context that we as Muslims believe that
9:17
are important but it's also natural to
9:18
who we are and the stories that we're
9:20
creating. So we want to create things
9:22
that feel as universal as possible, as
9:24
inaccessible to everyone as possible
9:25
while also centering it in the
9:27
particular context that we come from.
9:29
>> And before we forget, you know, we we
9:31
have a companion website called
9:32
vanish.game. That's the URL that really
9:36
uh explores much more deeply these
9:38
themes, these ideas uh that Ariel is
9:40
mentioning.
9:41
>> And Alex, one of UPF's upcoming projects
9:43
is a film called Son of Mary.
9:45
>> That's right.
9:45
>> What is that all about? How does that
9:46
fit into your mission? Uh so in in that
9:49
uh what we're doing in that film is
9:51
we're telling the story of Jesus as he
9:53
is known in the Islamic tradition and we
9:55
see this as actually a bridge of unity.
9:58
Uh most people don't know that Jesus is
10:00
a beloved figure in Islam. Yes,
10:02
>> he's mentioned uh by name more times
10:04
than Muhammad is mentioned in the Quran
10:06
>> that his mother is a virgin.
10:07
>> His mother's a virgin. Mary plays in in
10:10
the Islamic version, Mary plays a role
10:12
throughout his whole life.
10:14
>> Uh and and
10:15
>> so this is a documentary feature film. a
10:17
docu drama.
10:18
>> Okay.
10:18
>> The way we're pursuing it is a docu
10:19
drama. And um
10:21
>> um we believe that uh there's that this
10:24
is a something that not only has its own
10:26
educational value, not only that it has
10:28
an affirming fact for Muslims, but also
10:31
is is a bridge building exercise and
10:34
that's how we're pursuing it.
10:35
>> Before we finish, I have to go back to
10:36
Vanished and ask you this question. I
10:38
was never very good at video games. Is
10:40
this a hard game to master?
10:43
>> No.
10:43
>> Can I can I do it?
10:45
>> You can do it. And and as you play the
10:46
game,
10:47
>> is there an age group it's talking about
10:48
or is it open to 46y old? It's it's for
10:50
your age group. And if you get stuck on
10:53
certain things, then there are hints
10:54
that pop up the
10:55
>> Then I'll just ask my kids.
10:57
>> Absolutely.
10:57
>> Alex Ariela, thank you so much. The game
10:59
is called Vanished. And where can people
11:01
get it?
11:01
>> They can find it on Android in the
11:03
Google Play Store. They can find it on
11:05
the App Store, on Steam, and Epic Games
11:07
on the desktop as well.
11:08
>> Thank you both for joining me.
11:09
>> Thank you, Matthew.
11:10
>> Thank you.
11:11
>> Did you like this video? Don't forget to
11:13
subscribe to this YouTube channel and
11:15
turn on notifications. For exclusive
11:17
content and to support our independent,
11:19
unfiltered journalism, head over to
11:21
zatoo.com.
11:22
Your support matters.
— end of transcript —
Advertisement
