Rise of the Fearless is a battle royale game set in Ethiopia. Source: Rise of the Fearless
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From refugee roots to gaming: Kanessa Muluneh builds Rise of Fearless from Dubai for Africa

Kanessa Muluneh comes from a family of refugees who left Ethiopia for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, which has become a land for expats.

But she found a way to reconnect with her roots through a TikTok channel and a new video game dubbed Rise of the Fearless.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.