How ‘Go North’ Won Big At Lagos Games Week and Became One of Africa’s Breakout Indie Games

There is something quietly refreshing about Go North. While many games reward speed, combat or competition, this one invites players to slow down, explore and embrace the unknown.

Developed by Lagos-based solo indie developer Tade, Go North follows Dara, a determined traveller journeying through beautiful mazes in search of the Maze God, who is said to grant one wish. But beneath its cozy atmosphere lies a story filled with mystery, emotional growth and quiet moments of discovery.

Interestingly, the story wasn’t where it all began.

“I love telling stories,” Tade says. “But the world came before the story.”

His first goal was to create a game that felt relaxing, accessible and comforting. The idea of exploring intricate mazes came naturally, and only then did the narrative begin to form around that world.

“I wanted to tell an emotionally resonant story.” That balance between comfort and mystery became one of the defining features of Go North. While players explore peaceful environments, they also discover that something is slowly corrupting the mazes.

For Tade, darker themes don’t take away from the cozy experience, they instead deepen it.

“I like mysteries,” he explains. “They create curiosity and emotional tension.”

Even in the game’s darkest moments, his focus was never on fear. Instead, he wanted players to become emotionally invested in the world and its characters, experiencing highs and lows that feel subtle but meaningful.

That emotional journey unfolds through Dara herself. Focused and resourceful, she also begins the story guarded and somewhat antisocial. As she travels north, friendships, betrayal and difficult experiences gradually shape who she becomes.

“I want players to experience those moments with her.”

Although Go North is his biggest release yet, Tade’s journey into game development started long before this project. As a pre-teen, he attended a technology bootcamp where he learned the basics of game creation, animation and digital art. He kept building games simply because he loved making them and never stopped.

That passion eventually grew into the enormous task of creating Go North almost entirely on his own.

From writing and programming to creating assets, music, visual effects, bug fixing, balancing gameplay, polishing the experience and even handling marketing, every stage demanded something different.

“Making a game is extremely hard,” he says. “Making a globally competitive game is nearly impossible.”

Ironically, it wasn’t coding that challenged him the most, It was marketing.

With little prior experience promoting games internationally, and few examples of global game marketing within Nigeria, it became one of the biggest learning curves of the project.

Still, there have been rewarding moments too.

After replaying every level countless times during development, Tade says there’s a unique satisfaction in occasionally forgetting he’s testing a game and simply enjoying it.

“It’s a direct sign that perhaps I’m actually building a fun game.”

Visually, Go North has developed its own distinctive identity. Its winding mazes, playful items and hidden spaces draw inspiration from films, cartoons, games, photography and even personal experiences.

The game’s characters and collectible items were developed alongside artist Dimeji Ayibiowu, who led much of the concept art and helped shape their final look.

Every gameplay item begins with one simple question: what purpose does it serve?

Only after defining its function does Tade begin thinking about its appearance, ensuring everything fits naturally within the game’s soft, welcoming world. That philosophy extends to exploration itself.

Interestingly, Tade doesn’t believe people enjoy getting lost, What they enjoy is what they discover because they got lost.

“The satisfaction comes from discovering something unexpected.”

That idea shapes every maze in Go North, encouraging players to wander rather than rush.

The same thinking inspired the game’s optional side quests. Beyond offering variety, these smaller encounters gradually reveal more about the world and its characters, allowing players to piece together the story naturally instead of simply being told everything outright.

Although Go North was originally planned to include online cross-platform multiplayer, that feature was ultimately removed to keep the project within scope. Instead, players can continue exploring long after completing the main story through an endless Arcade Mode with procedurally generated mazes.

Even before launch, the game had already begun attracting international attention.

Go North has been featured in Wholesome Games, Indie Live Expo, Black Voices in Gaming Expo and Afro Game Showcase, while also receiving recognition and winning first place from Lagos Games Week and Creation Africa Forum.

For Tade, those invitations represent something important, “They’re external validation.”

With thousands of submissions competing for only a handful of showcase slots, each selection reinforces that the years spent building Go North have created something players genuinely want to experience.

As one of the relatively small number of developers releasing globally from Nigeria, Tade acknowledges both the challenges and opportunities that come with building games locally.

“There’s talent in Nigeria,” he says. He believes that as more successful games emerge from the country, the industry itself will grow, creating greater demand for local talent and encouraging more developers to pursue ambitious projects.

His vision for African game development is equally straightforward.

“We just need to build and ship more games.”

He also hopes developers across the continent become more connected, sharing knowledge instead of working in isolation.

As Go North launches on PC and consoles, Tade remains remarkably calm. Not because the moment isn’t significant, but simply because that’s who he is.

More than anything, he hopes players leave their first few hours feeling exactly what inspired the project from the beginning: “Calm, wonder and a growing appetite to discover what more the game has in store.”

And if the Maze God offered him one wish? He laughs.

Rather than making one, he’d simply return to doing what he’s always done, working to make Go North the very best game it can be.

For a developer who has spent years creating a world where getting lost leads to unexpected discoveries, perhaps that’s the most fitting answer of all.

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Written by Angel Joanne Okonkwo