A survival game in Egyptian Arabic
The whole game is in Egyptian Arabic: the story, the events on the road, the tips and the names of things. It does not slip into formal Arabic halfway down the screen.
What that looks like
The opening scene of the story is called اليوم اللي السما ابيضّت فيه, “The Day the Sky Turned White”. Then you read: كنت في غيط القصب برّه نجع حمادي لما ده حصل. والحمّى مسكتك في نفس الليلة. In English: “You were in the cane fields outside Nag Hammadi when it happened. The fever took you the same night.” It is how people would tell it, not how a textbook would.
The tips speak the same way: الطاقة والأكل والمية والصحة فوق هنا. لو الأكل أو المية خلصوا، صحتك هتبدأ تنزل. (“Energy, food, water and health are up here. If food or water runs out, you start losing health.”)
And in the events on the road, when you meet a camel caravan, the choices in front of you are اعزمهم على شاي (“Offer them tea”) and اطلب منهم مية (“Ask them for water”).
And English?
The game is in Egyptian Arabic and in English. When you first open it, it starts in your phone’s language: any Arabic gives you Arabic, and anything else gives you English. You can change it at any time from the menu. Town names show in Arabic with the English name small underneath.
Right to left
The whole screen flips when the language is Arabic: the menus, the buttons and the text. It is not a translation pasted over an English interface. You feel it without thinking about it, which is the point.
Why it matters
When things are said the way they are said around you, a game feels closer. We tried to do that in every line of text in the game.
If you find a line that is off, or a word you would never say that way, write to support@nilesend.com. The game gets better that way.
Try it
Nile’s End is a free survival game with no ads, and it works offline. There is a guide in the same two languages.
