Builders of Worlds
A curiosity-driven edtech platform transforming how neurodivergent, EHE and twice-exceptional children learn — through a world they actually want to explore.
One in five children doesn't learn the way school expects — not because they can't, but because they think differently.
"Traditional education was not designed for curious minds, divergent thinkers or children who learn through doing. Abakhi was."
A living, breathing world where knowledge is hidden inside ancient systems — waiting for a Builder brave enough to restore it.
Abakhi is a post-apocalyptic fantasy world where children step through the portal and become Umaki — Builders of Worlds. The world is broken: ancient systems have failed, ecosystems collapsed, communities scattered. Only through knowledge, creativity and courage can it be restored.
Every puzzle solved, every alliance forged, every trading path discovered teaches real skills — curriculum subjects and life competencies alike — because children are too engaged in the world to notice they're learning.
A post-apocalyptic realm of four elemental kingdoms, shattered by an ancient catastrophe — and waiting to be restored.
In the age before memory, the world of Abakhi was held in perfect balance by four great elemental forces — maintained by the ancient Umaki, the original Builders of Worlds. Then came The Great Unravelling. The elemental systems collapsed. The lava channels ran cold. The rivers reversed. The great mechanical engines fell silent. The floating sky-forests began to fall.
The Umaki scattered — their knowledge hidden inside the broken systems they left behind, waiting for someone curious enough to find it. You are a Umaki. A new Builder of Worlds. The question is not whether you can restore it. The question is: what do you have the energy for today?
"Beneath the surface, the world still burns. Find the channels. Restore the flow."
A subterranean realm of bioluminescent lava pits, ancient thermal channels and volcanic cave networks. The lava once powered the Umaki's great forges across all four realms. Now the channels have fractured — dangerous in some places, entirely cold in others.
"The rivers forgot their way. Teach them to flow again."
A vast realm of fractured lakes, reversed rivers, collapsed waterfalls and flooded lowlands. Once the most fertile realm in Abakhi, its water systems have fallen into chaos. The great cascades that powered mills and irrigated everything now flow backwards — or not at all.
"The machines remember what their makers forgot. Listen to them."
A vast subterranean network of mechanical ruins, collapsed caves and abandoned Umaki engineering. Once the industrial heart of Abakhi, its silent moss-covered engines hold the knowledge of how the whole world was built — and how it might be rebuilt.
"The sky-forests are sinking. What rises must learn to hold itself aloft."
The most spectacular and most endangered realm — floating ecosystems, cloud forests and sky archipelagos slowly descending since The Unravelling damaged the wind-current systems keeping them aloft. Some islands have already fallen. Others are tilting.
Abakhi doesn't just teach what schools require — it teaches what life demands.
While Abakhi is fully curriculum-aligned, its greatest innovation lies beneath the surface. Every world activity, quest and interaction is a carefully designed opportunity to develop the real-world competencies that define successful, resilient humans — naturally embedded in the world, never forced.
Core subjects — maths, literacy, science and more — are woven seamlessly into every quest and puzzle. Learning happens because children want to solve the problem, not because they have to.
Players navigate real trading pathways — buying, selling, bartering and managing resources across the Abakhi world. Economic thinking, risk assessment and value judgement are learned through play, not lectures.
Every NPC interaction is a masterclass in communication. Players negotiate alliances, collaborate on missions and navigate complex social dynamics — building the articulation and persuasion skills that no textbook can teach.
Restoring the broken world of Abakhi means restoring its ecosystems. Players learn cause-and-effect thinking, resource sustainability and environmental responsibility — because the world's survival depends on their choices.
Abakhi's world is filled with displaced communities, struggling systems and those in need. Players make decisions that affect populations — building empathy, social justice thinking and a genuine understanding of global citizenship.
Planning quests, managing inventories, adapting to setbacks and persisting through boss challenges — Abakhi quietly builds the planning, self-regulation and resilience skills that neurodivergent learners especially need to thrive.
"The most powerful learning happens when children don't realise they're learning at all."
A bespoke learning architecture — not borrowed from a single theory, but built specifically for curious, divergent and twice-exceptional minds.
Abakhi's pedagogy is grounded in six evidence-based frameworks, each chosen for its direct relevance to the neurodivergent learner profile. These frameworks are woven invisibly into the world — children experience the outcomes without ever encountering the theory. Fully mapped to KS2 & KS3 UK National Curriculum standards.
Knowledge is not delivered — it is discovered. Every quest is an invitation to construct meaning through doing. Children build mental models of the world by restoring the world.
No child is asked to learn while dysregulated. The Regulation Check-in adapts difficulty, tone and pace to the child's current state — grounded in Zones of Regulation and Polyvagal Theory.
Multiple means of engagement, representation and expression. Whether a child learns through building, trading, storytelling or puzzle-solving — all routes reach the same curriculum outcomes.
Every mission is a sustained project. Restoring an ecosystem requires ecology. Rebuilding a trading post requires arithmetic. Learning is the tool; the quest is the purpose.
No grades. No tests. Only levels of mastery unlocked through demonstrated competence. Failure is replaced with the certainty of eventual success — at the child's own pace.
Gifts are challenged and differences accommodated — simultaneously. Abakhi rewards divergent thinking and creative problem-solving while providing scaffolding and sensory-aware pacing.
Every character in Abakhi is a narrative vehicle for learning — each carrying specific knowledge, challenging specific skills, and reflecting the values of their realm.
The Umaki were the original Builders of Worlds — the ancient creators who built Abakhi's great systems before The Great Unravelling. The player is a new Umaki: an outsider who has crossed through the portal to continue their legacy. Fully customisable: skin tone, face, hair, and elemental sigil markings earned by restoring each realm. No fixed gender.
A small, gently glowing axolotl-like creature — the last being created by the Umaki before they scattered. Luma carries fragments of ancient knowledge and acts as guide, companion and emotional anchor. Never intrusive, always present. Floats at shoulder height and mirrors the emotional tone of each session.
Each of the four biomes contains the same six NPC archetypes — same roles, different faces, shaped entirely by their elemental realm and its knowledge domain.
The oldest surviving Umaki-trained native. Speaks in riddles and parables — players must decode their wisdom to unlock ancient repairs. The primary vehicle for deep curriculum content.
A practical craftsperson who gives players technical repair quests — teaching science and maths through doing. Rewards: new tools, upgraded gear, access to deeper biome areas.
A scientist-philosopher who combines elements to create new substances and solutions. Introduces chemistry, biology and materials science through experimentation. Always found somewhere extraordinary.
Buys, sells, barters and brokers — teaching financial literacy through lived experience. Supply and demand, fair exchange, negotiation. Morally interesting. Not always entirely trustworthy.
Families, farmers, displaced wanderers. They represent the human cost of The Great Unravelling. Players' choices directly affect their wellbeing — the vehicle for empathy and humanitarian values.
Not a villain — a protector. Tests whether the Abakhi has truly earned the right to restore what lies ahead. Boss encounters require mastery of the biome's core learning before passage is granted.
Four steps from lost learner to Builder of Worlds.
Before every session, Abakhi asks a simple question: "What do you have the energy for today?" The child's response — not a test score — sets the difficulty, pace and emotional tone of that session. Learning starts where the child actually is.
The child steps through the portal into Abakhi — a living, broken world waiting to be restored. No instructions, no pressure. Just an open world and the burning question: what do you want to do?
Curiosity leads the way. Every path reveals new systems to restore, communities to help, resources to trade and knowledge to unlock — all mapped to curriculum goals behind the scenes.
Progress is measured in worlds saved — and skills gained. Parents and providers see real-time dashboards of exactly what's been learned, while children collect proof of their growing mastery.
Most edtech platforms deliver the same experience regardless of how a child is feeling. Abakhi is different. At the start of every session, a gentle on-screen check-in reads the child's current emotional and energy state — and the entire session adapts in response. High energy? Tackle a boss challenge. Low energy? Explore, create, or restore something beautiful. This isn't just good UX — it's grounded in co-regulation theory and is especially transformative for neurodivergent learners who experience significant day-to-day variability.
Built for the learners the system has left behind — and the families and providers fighting for them.
Over 300,000 families have chosen Elective Home Education, many because traditional schooling simply failed their children. Abakhi gives them a structured, engaging, curriculum-aligned tool that fits around their child — not the other way around.
2e children are gifted and have learning differences — ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia. They're simultaneously ahead of and behind their peers. Abakhi meets them exactly where they are, in a world designed to reward how they naturally think.
87,000 pupils are in AP placements — often disengaged, excluded or at risk. Abakhi provides AP providers with a powerful engagement tool that rekindles curiosity, rebuilds confidence and delivers measurable learning outcomes.
Emotionally Based School Avoidance affects an estimated 1 in 50 pupils — children whose anxiety, overwhelm or trauma makes attending school feel impossible. Abakhi meets them at home, on their terms, in a world that feels safe. No classroom pressure. No social performance. Just a world that says: you belong here.
A rapidly growing, underserved market at the intersection of EdTech and Special Educational Needs.
We're at the beginning of something extraordinary — and the timing couldn't be better.
Validated demand through deep community research with EHE families and AP providers. Core pedagogy framework established. Abakhi world architecture, character design and visual identity created. Cinematic launch trailer produced.
Prototype development is beginning. The trailer is being fine-tuned for launch. We are now actively seeking seed funding to build the full playable prototype and establish our first learner partnerships.
Seed funding enables full prototype development — core game loop, Regulation Check-in system, curriculum mapping engine and parent dashboard. First EHE and AP pilot families onboarded for feedback.
Closed beta opens to a founding cohort of EHE families, 2e learners and AP providers. Real-world learning data collected, outcomes measured and platform iterated rapidly.
Public launch across B2C and B2B channels. LA procurement pipeline activated. Revenue-generating phase begins. Series A fundraise initiated on the back of proven beta outcomes.
Be part of the story that changes how a generation learns.
Curiosity Learning Labs is raising a seed round to fund prototype development, beta testing and our first learner partnerships. We're looking for mission-aligned investors who understand the magnitude of what we're building — and the urgency of the problem we're solving.