Project Azriel: A Zombie Shooter Built to Increase Fluid Intelligence

Curriculaworks, Inc. made Project Azriel as a cognitive training game for anyone aged 12 and older who wants to improve working memory and fluid intelligence. The game was a finalist in the Business/Nonprofit category of the 2019 Serious Games Showcase & Challenge. The developers say it grew out of five years of research and development sponsored by the Office of Naval Research.

The background theory comes from psychologist Raymond Cattell, later developed with John Horn. It separates fluid intelligence, the ability to reason and solve problems in new situations without prior knowledge, from crystallized intelligence, the use of knowledge gained through learning and experience. The developers argue that a game can increase fluid intelligence outside the lab, where earlier studies had shown gains mainly in lab settings. That is the makers' claim.

The player is a member of an elite Navy SEAL unit in a mind-training program. A briefing explains that an unknown biological agent is turning people into frenzied zombies, and that only intense mental exercise keeps the trainee sharp and human. The trainee moves from waypoint to waypoint across a city, collecting data and fighting zombies.

The game builds a context for storing and manipulating a growing mix of cognitive challenges at an ever faster pace. At each challenge level the player collects information, does mental exercises and learns that the mission can only succeed if cognitive biases are taken out of the decisions.

The cognitive tasks are woven into first- and third-person shooter play. They target three executive functions that underlie fluid intelligence: working memory updating, mental set switching and attentional inhibition.

The game is micro-adaptive. At the start the player meets few zombies at a slow pace. Once the player shows mastery of a cognitive task, the pace and intensity rise. According to the developers, this answers one of the main challenges of educational games: giving intelligent support while the difficulty climbs.

The official site at projectazriel.com showed only a loading placeholder with no readable text in November 2026, so it does not confirm that the game is on sale. The game's Steam page, opened for this review, displayed the notice "This item is currently unavailable in your region."

Because neither page lists the game as available, its current status is unconfirmed here. Readers who want to try it should look for a current listing on a platform available in their region.