What Fursan al-Aqsa is
Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a third-person action shooter you can also play from a first-person view. You take the role of Ahmad al-Falastini, a young Palestinian student who spent five years in an Israeli military prison, lost his family to an airstrike, and after his release joins a resistance movement called Fursan al-Aqsa. Missions take place across ground, sea and sky in real locations in Palestine, and each one has multiple objectives to finish. Expect boss battles, drivable vehicles, helicopters to shoot down, and weapons described as realistic. Alongside the shooting there are stealth mechanics and tactical espionage sections, and the design draws on Metal Gear Solid, Call of Duty Modern Warfare, Insurgency Sandstorm, Max Payne and Goldeneye 007. The game was built by a single developer, Nidal Nijm, in a custom version of the Unreal Engine 3, keeping the feel of old school shooters while adding modern mechanics. Classical Palestinian resistance songs play as part of the soundtrack.
Playing it with your group
The game ships with local split-screen multiplayer, so two people can share one screen and one setup. Beyond that, the Steam version supports Remote Play Together, which lets friends join your session over the internet and play along on their own devices as if they were sitting next to you. There are many gameplay modes, a ranking system, and team-based and PvE tags attached to the title, so a group can work through missions cooperatively rather than only competing. Stealth and tactical play reward coordinating who takes the quiet route and who opens fire.
Before you start
The subject matter is the Israel–Palestine conflict told from a Palestinian perspective, and the developer states clearly that the story, characters and political and military groups are fictional, with any resemblance to real people or groups being coincidental. Combat is against soldiers only — no civilians, women, children or elderly characters are shot. The store page lists no sexual content, drug use, religious desecration, hate speech, anti-Semitic or Nazi propaganda, or glorification of terrorist acts, and says the game was approved for release by the Brazilian Justice Department age rating sector. The developer also states the game does not promote terrorism or hatred of any group, framing it as protest against military occupation. On PC, an Xbox 360 gamepad is supported, and you can switch between first- and third-person view at any time during play.