Behind ‘Son of Thanjai’, the Tamil game that promises to revolutionise Indian gaming

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A still from ‘Son of Thanjai’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

An exiled Chola prince hacks down his enemies with a whip-sword in a thrilling quest to claim the throne. Welcome to Son of Thanjai, an Xbox original open-world Tamil videogame that promises to revolutionise Indian gaming.

Ever since PlayStation and Xbox dropped the game’s now-trending promos, the attention of the global gaming community has rightfully turned towards India. Set in the 11th-century Chola dynasty, the gameplay takes place in an eight-kilometre area around the iconic Brihadeeswara Temple in Tanjore. Players get into the shoes of Vinnendhiran, a fictional Chola prince inspired by Rajendra Chola.

Created by Chennai-based Ayelet Studio, the game has a story, screenplay, dialogues and lyrics written by acclaimed writer and lyricist Madhan Karky. The project realises Madhan’s 20-year dream to write a video game. “In the Assassin’s Creed version set in Egypt, I was able to climb on the pyramids and even get inside them. When I actually went to Egypt, I felt like I already lived there. This is what the games offer,” he says, adding that his journey with Son of Thanjai began when Abraham K, Studio Head and Creative Director at Ayelet Studio, approached him to write the lyrics for a song in the game.

Writer-lyricist Madhan Karky and Abraham K, Studio Head and Creative Director at Ayelet Studio, speak about making the Tamil open-world game ‘Son Of Thanjai‘ | Photo Credit: Thamodharan B/The Hindu

Abraham’s vision to create a Tamil game about the Cholas began long before Son of Thanjai. His team worked on a demo version called Unsung Empires: The Cholas, which was released on Steam. “We did that game to evaluate the pipelines; we had just a 4-member team then, and so it was more like a start-up. When we released it, we got 75,000 downloads. Later, in 2025, we released a new version called Unsung Empires: The Cholas 2, which also got a good reception.”

However, he knew the limitations and understood that the