Today’s Xbox Partner Presents concluded with a seriously epic cinematic trailer for a new game that caught me totally off guard. It’s called Raji: Kaliyuga, and it’s a sequel to Raji: An Ancient Epic.
If you’re not familiar with the first Raji, it’s a 2020 action-adventure game made by India-based Nodding Heads Games. It follows Raji, an orphan on a quest to retrieve her brother, who’s been kidnapped by a demon army. As she goes, she’s watched and at times supported by the goddess Durga and Lord Vishnu. The story delves deep into Indian and Hindu mythologies, and ends on one heck of a cliffhanger, implying that a sequel was always on the mind. The game received mixed reviews, but was nominated for best debut game at The Game Awards that year.
Raji: Kaliyuga seems to be a direct follow-up, with the trailer apparently depicting Raji and her younger brother fighting together against the encroaching demon army. It looks like the pair will be dual protagonists that you’ll control during different parts of the story. But what’s really astonishing here is that while the first Raji game was in an isometric view, this sequel is a full-blown third-person action-adventure game. Though we’ve only seen a cinematic so far and no gameplay, this looks pretty promising.
In an Xbox Wire post following the announcement, we learned that Kaliyuga will be set six years after An Ancient Epic, and will portray Raji and her brother Darsh traveling to the Eternal Summit through a number of different mystical realms. As dual protagonists, you can swap between Raji, a warrior, and Darsh, a dreamwalker, who each have unique abilities. The two are separate for much of the game after the events of An Ancient Epic, and the story is about their separation and eventual reunion. “Kaliyuga explores the coexistence of faith and illusion, where the narrative tone, art, music, and gameplay systems must mirror this duality, shifting to reflect the perspective and truth of the character currently being played.”
Raji: Kaliyuga is currently planned for release on Xbox, PC, and PS5, and will be day-one on Game Pass. It doesn’t have a release window yet.
You can catch up on everything announced at today’s Partner Showcase right here.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
