- New Title from Unravel Developers Surpasses 500,000 Wishlists and Wins Two Awards at Gamescom
- The adventure of a little mouse saving a sick witch, a highly anticipated work harmonizing cooperation and healing.
Swedish indie studio Windup Games and publisher Knights Peak Interactive announced that they plan to release their new game ‘Hela’ on PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2 later this year.
This is a cooperative adventure game where you take on the role of a small mouse embarking on a journey to save a sick witch. It focuses on exploration, puzzles, and gathering without combat, and is garnering attention for its unique system that encompasses both cooperative and solo play. Notably, it is a highly anticipated title that has been recognized for its gameplay even before its release, having secured over 500,000 wishlists on Steam and winning two awards at Gamescom.
Save the Sick Witch… The Heartwarming Great Adventure of a Little Mouse
‘Hella’ is a third-person adventure game set against the backdrop of the beautiful nature of Scandinavia in Northern Europe. When a witch who has long helped the village with magic falls ill, the mice who have been guarding her side set out on a journey to find a cure themselves.
Players take on the role of a small mouse and must explore magical forests, tranquil lakes, and rugged mountain paths to collect remedies and brew potions to restore the witch’s health. The game proceeds in a peaceful manner through exploration, puzzles, gathering, and brewing without combat, and is designed with a structure where the player’s good deeds bring tangible changes to the world.
‘Froggy Backpack’ and ‘Shade System’… A New Approach to Cooperative Play
The core tool of the game is the ‘Froggy Backpack’. Various movement techniques, such as grapple hooks using a frog’s tongue, ziplines, gliding, and pulling, are integrated into a single backpack. Through this, movement itself serves as a key fun element of the game and connects naturally with physics-based puzzles.
The ‘Shade System’ for solo players is also unique. Solo players can summon up to three clones, and each clone repeats the action it was performing at the time of summoning. This allows players to fully experience puzzles and terrain designed for team play all by themselves.
The game supports 2-player local split-screen co-op and up to 4-player online multiplayer, and allows for mixed local and online play.
A new studio founded by the developers of ‘Unravel’
Windup Games, the developer of the game, is an independent studio founded in 2022 by Martin Sahlin and Jakob Marklund of Coldwood Interactive, the creators of the emotional puzzle platformer ‘Unravel’ series released through EA Originals in 2016.
The development team explained that ‘Hella’ shares connections with the ‘Unravel’ series in its Scandinavian setting and cooperative puzzle elements. It boasts high-quality graphics using Unreal Engine 5.
Gamescom Double Winner · 500,000 on Wishlist… Rapidly Emerges as a Highly Anticipated Title
‘Hela’ garnered attention from the industry by winning both ‘Most Entertaining’ and ‘Most Wholesome’ awards at Gamescom 2025. Since then, it has emerged as a highly anticipated title, surpassing 500,000 items on the Steam Wishlist as of December 2025.
Media outlets that experienced the preview praised the game, describing it as “feeling like a fairytale world coming to life” and “the very act of roaming through the forest is a great pleasure.” They also highlighted the calm yet immersive experience, calling it “a game like a break for players exhausted by daily life.”
Information regarding Hela
| item | detail |
|---|---|
| Developer | Windup Games AB (Umeå, Sweden) |
| Publisher | Knights Peak Interactive (MY.GAMES) |
| Marketing Support | Jinderman Publishing |
| Genre | Cozy Co-op Open World Adventure |
| Release platform | PC (Steam·Epic), PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 |
| Scheduled for release | 2026 (Specific date TBD) |
| Number of players | 1 Player / 2 Player Local Split Screen / Up to 4 Players Online |
| core system | Froggy Backpack, Shade System, Physics-based Puzzle |
| Steam Wishlist | Over 500,000 cases |
| premier | Gamescom 2025 ‘Most Entertaining’ · ‘Most Wholesome’ |
| Previous work | Unravel series |
| Steam Page | https://store.steampowered.com/app/3161310/ |
