Cameroonian Madiba Olivier sought out to create Central Africa’s first gaming company in 2003. At the time, there were no other video game companies in the region, and getting Kiro’o Games off the ground meant convincing investors that the business was profitable.

Yakan Dominique and Waffo Hugues were his business partners and friends, and in the early days of the company there were constant power outages. The company began to take off when the Cameroon Ministry of Arts and Culture gave them some much-needed funding. From that point on, Kiro’o Games was beginning to tell stories the way they wanted to.

“The history of our continent is rich … we took inspiration from local Cameroonian traditions, like the Ngondo festival celebrated by the Sawa people, and we also incorporated symbolism adapted from that of the Akan people of Ghana, specifically the Adinkra writing style,” said Olivier in an interview with Ventures Africa.

Their latest project is “Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan,” which is a role-playing game similar to World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy or God of War that transports players to a fantastical world. This project was possible after a successful Kickstarter campaign that garnered $50,000 from backers.

“‘Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan’ is set in a world of elemental energies and ancestral powers, where players assume the role of a traditional ruler, Enzo Kori-Odan, rightful ruler of the Zama kingdom, who uses the ‘Aurion’ power granted him by his ancestors to regain control of his kingdom,” according to Ventures Africa.

In the near future, the gaming studio will have games available for PlayStation 4, and “Aurion” is currently on PC.

Here is the game’s trailer:

Source: Kiro’o Games