GTA 6 isn’t even out yet and 2026 has already been a great year for video games. From this spring's outstanding Resident Evil Requiem to surprises like Denshattack, Mina The Hollower, and other games like 007, Life is Strange Reunion, Marathon…you get the point. This year has been awesome, so the bar is a little high for me when it comes to playing something original from a brand new studio like MBC. 1001 Threads of Mizan is a completely original title from a new studio led by a plethora of industry veterans who are looking to make something that not only brings the world and stories of One Thousand and One Nights to an action-adventure game, but also create something that plays as fun as it looks. And from my short time with iit, fighting two bosses and zipping around on a magic carpet, I can definitely see the vision – and in an era of games that are constantly redefining what it means to be great, 1001 Threads of Mizan is looking pretty promising.
From the very start of my demo it was obvious that 1001 Threads of Mizan’s developer MBC Game Studio is taking its source material seriously in an effort to make something that’s unique and interesting. After the intro cutscene, there was barely any chatter between the three main characters, and most of the world-building and story was handled by a narrator, Shahrazad, who is the actual storyteller in the book One Thousand and One Nights that 1001 Threads of Mizan is based on. 1001 Threads is rich with its source material, and it was great seeing an action-adventure game take place in a time period that isn't really covered that often in AAA games.
But story isn't everything, and in my short time with 1001 Threads of Mizan, it was obvious that the gameplay falls somewhere between Kingdom Hearts’ fast-paced and flashy combat and a souls-like approach to pattern recognition and dodging. Mizan is a really fun game, and in my demo I was able to fight numerous Jinn enemies, as well as two interesting and surprisingly challenging boss battles. One of which took a bit more teamwork to take down than I had anticipated, which was really fun and took me back to the good ol’ days of couch co-op games with my friends.
In my demo, I was given a choice between three distinct characters who play within their classes. Yusra is based on more long-range weapons and attacks, while Malik is your typical heavy who deals high damage at close range and can be a bit of a tank, while Sufyan plays a bit faster. I chose Sufyan and immediately figured out his playstyle without the need of a complicated tutorial system or overbearing menus. Everything just seemed to click, and I never had to take a beat to figure out how to play the game. The combat felt tight and responsive, dodging and blocking felt natural, and managing my special attack meter was easy and quickly became second nature.
The real star of the show here, though, is the ability to auto-summon a magic carpet anywhere and zip around the environment. This was great to use in combat if I needed to get away from the action to recover, get closer to an enemy's weak spot, or just use it to help juggle aerial combos and perform team-based attacks. The magic carpet, like Mizan's combat, just works. It's not overly complicated, it can be summoned with one button, and there was never a moment where I felt like the carpet was moving too fast or clunky. In short, it's a really fun way to move around.
There was never a moment where I felt like the magic carpet was moving too fast or clunky.
I was told by the game’s directors that 1001 Threads of Mizan is at its core a single-player experience that features a drop-in and drop-out multiplayer aspect. While I can definitely see it working well solo, playing with two other players in real time is where 1001 Threads really shines. There were no multiplayer quick time events or big flashy mid-fight cutscenes that triggered when everyone did a specific thing, but there were definitely moments where all three of us needed to attack a single weak point, or work together to defeat various obstacles at once in different areas during the boss fight. I'm very interested to see how this fusion of single-player and co-op works throughout the game.
In my short time with 1001 Threads of Mizan, it was obvious that this is definitely something worth keeping on your radar thanks to its intuitive and fun combat, a unique take on One Thousand and One Nights, and its take on making a game work as a single-player and multiplayer narrative experience. We’ll have to see how things shake out, but if MBC Game Studio can pull it off, 1001 Threads of Mizan could definitely be one of the most pleasant gaming surprises in quite a while.
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