An indie team has my exact same idea

I know this has probably been discussed before, but I also believe the correct course of action depends on the context and is a case by case thing. Let me explain:

For the past few months, I've been working on my first game as a solo dev. Conceptually it isn't all that creative, its yet another "X game but turned roguelike". But the X game in this case is a very specific card game from my country, and I was planning to heavily tap on the folklore of it all. I genuinely thought maybe i couldmake something unique, new, and hopefully make more people feel interested in my culture.

A few days ago though, I saw a post by an indie team of 3 developers sharing their own take on basically my same concept. They are far further ahead too; while im at the very early stages of prototyping and building the base code, they already have art and enough code to feel comfortable sharing it (or at least they give that image online).

And while i am happy for them (above all things I just want the game to *exist*), i can't help but feel doubtful, unmotivated and pessimistic, like my efforts were wasted. I know ideas aren't owned, but the concept is so specific (and the gaming community is pretty knit-tight in my country) that now even if I finished my game it would feel like a copycat or maybe even an attempt at stealing their market. I just feel like suddenly everyone's giving attention to what would've been my game in the future except its not actually my own progress and it never will be. In a way I feel like I need the blessing of the developers to keep going and make sure we're all good, but I texted them a few days ago and didn't receive an answer even though they're active online. I was polite im pretty sure, just something like "hey were both working on the same thing and thats cool, your project looks great! if you want we can both share ideas and progress with out projects". But I *am* a pretty awkward person, especially with all the emotions the situation built up on me, so perhaps I gave off a bad vibe. Either way I haven't received an answer after like 5 days, so i don't think ill receive one at all.

What should I do? It feels wrong to continue now, if i do then either I end up a shitty copycat or I make it better and ruin things for them instead. What do you guys think?