Rare Castle

Country: Egypt

Founded: 2018

Team Size: 1

Platforms: PC, Console

Status: Active

Website: https://www.rare-castle.com/

Overview

are Castle is a solo independent game development studio founded in Cairo in 2018 by Mohamed Fawzy, focused on building what he calls "healing games."

Its debut title, Project Escher, working titled Off The Grid: Bad Dream, is a psychological thriller-adventure Fawzy describes as a "First-Person Healer" rather than a shooter, following a man recovering from a car crash as he navigates both reality and a surreal dreamscape shaped by M.C. Escher's impossible geometry.

The game centers on an Inner Monologue Mechanic that lets players hear the protagonist's thoughts and memories directly, and a crystal weapon that "heals as much as it destroys."

In 2025, Rare Castle was accepted into the PlayStation MENA Hero Project, Sony Interactive Entertainment's incubator for emerging MENA developers, now in its second cohort, marking a notable milestone for a solo studio pursuing console development.

Games

• Project Escher

Intelligence

Rare Castle is built around a long-term approach to independent game development, with founder Mohammed Fawzy developing the studio from a solo project into a formalised game business.

The studio’s strategy combines self-funding, crowdsourcing, crowdfunding and potential backing from angels, VCs and publishers, intending to build sustainably rather than expand before production needs justify it.

Funding & Backing

• Project Escher has so far been entirely bootstrapped and self-funded.
• Rare Castle is now pitching publishers and investors for its next stage of development.
• The studio is particularly focused on the PlayStation MENA Hero Project and its funding and incubation track.
• Crowdfunding is also part of Rare Castle’s wider funding model.
• The immediate funding goal is to complete the project’s second development sprint, full prototype and vertical slice rather than simply raise capital.

Strategic Model

• Started as a solo project in 2018 while Fawzy was working a full-time job.
• Rare Castle became an Official PlayStation Partner in Q1 2025.
• The studio previously experimented with crowdsourcing, with its volunteer team reaching six people in mid-2025.
• Rare Castle is currently a one-person studio, with volunteers planned to return when production needs justify expanding the team.
• Fawzy views team size as something that should match the project’s production requirements rather than grow for its own sake.

Active & Upcoming Projects

• Project Escher: Rare Castle’s current game, a psychological mystery planned for PC and PlayStation. The project is currently in prototype development.
• The first development sprint produced the adventure half of the prototype, while the second covers action, shooting and crystal healing.
• Completing both sprints will produce the full prototype and vertical slice.
• The game is part of the wider Off the Grid universe, which Fawzy describes as a connected collection of stories, worlds, places and characters.

Creative Direction

• Rare Castle’s creative philosophy is “Healing Games”, which aims to use mystery, psychological tension and atmosphere while directing the emotional experience toward calm, hope, love, faith, knowledge and curiosity rather than fear and anxiety.
• Project Escher is described as “Mystery Without Fear”, with transformation rather than dread as its intended emotional outcome.
• The game features the Inner Monologue system, which gives players access to the protagonist’s thoughts during different moments and encounters.
• Its crystal is central to gameplay, serving as a tool for healing, combat and environmental interaction.

Market Position

• Rare Castle is being built from Egypt, which Fawzy describes as fertile ground for startups and game development due to its young population, growing technology sector and creative talent.
• The studio sees the challenge of building an internationally competitive game as largely universal rather than specifically Egyptian.
• Project Escher is deliberately focused on PC and console rather than targeting every platform at launch.

Key Person

• Mohammed Fawzy - Founder and the studio’s current sole team member.