HYDERABAD: When Hyderabad’s tech ecosystem is discussed, the conversation usually revolves around software exports, global capability centres and startups. Video games rarely make the list. A young studio from the city is hoping to change that.
Founded in 2025 by a five-member team, Hyderabad-based Studio Noori has earned international attention for its debut title, Farsight, months before its release — an achievement few Indian independent game developers can claim. Today, the self-funded studio employs 15 professionals and has invested Rs 30 crore in developing the game.
Its success reflects a larger shift in India’s gaming industry, which is gradually moving beyond outsourcing art, animation and engineering work for global publishers to creating original intellectual property (IP) capable of competing internationally.
For founder and creative director Anchit Sharma, Farsight is more than a horror game. Players step into the shoes of a 12-year-old boy whose routine visit to an optician descends into a surreal nightmare. Trapped inside the familiar images projected by an eye-testing machine — the lonely house on a distant hill recognised by generations of patients — he must uncover hidden truths using binoculars, keyholes and a vintage camera capable of revealing realities invisible to the naked eye.
“But horror is only the doorway,” Anchit tells TNIE. “At its heart, the game is about what it feels like to be 12 years old — about family, loneliness and the desire to disappear into a world that feels safer than your own.”
His own journey into game development began at 14 during a school game jam. After graduating, he joined London-based developer Nitrome as a remote gameplay programmer, contributing to Super Leap Day, the sequel to a game he had grown up playing. He later served as lead developer on Fears to Fathom Episodes 4 and 5, part of one of the world’s most successful independent horror game franchises.
That experience eventually led to the launch of Studio Noori and its first original title.
“It wasn’t long ago that aspiring developers believed internationally successful games had to come from Tokyo, London or San Francisco,” Anchit says. “We’ve built this game entirely from Hyderabad, and it has already found audiences in countries we’ve never visited. That tells me geography matters far less than originality.”
Even before its release, Farsight has built an impressive global profile. Its debut trailer has crossed one million views, and the game was selected for the India Games Showcase on The Game Awards’ official YouTube channel, introducing it to a worldwide audience of players, publishers and developers.
The game has also received extensive international coverage. Critics have praised its blend of psychological horror and liminal-world storytelling, with some describing it as a potential “next Backrooms.”