First whimsical details squeak out for Hela

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Cozy open-world, third-person mouse adventure unveiled by "the minds behind" Unravel

In 2016, indie Swedish developer Coldwood Interactive released the charming puzzle-platformer Unravel, followed two years later by a sequel. Now the minds behind the Unravel series have reformed as Windup Games, with a brand new whimsical adventure on tap called Hela, which features both some key similarities and differences from its delightful predecessors. 

Instead of a creature made of yarn, here players control a brave little mouse who serves as one of the familiars to a kind witch. The witch has "dedicated her life to aiding the village's residents and wildlife," but now she's fallen ill and needs her faithful animal companions to help find a cure and keep the "witch business" up and running while she's indisposed. It's a big task for a small hero, but players will need to strap on their magical backpack and set out on a "cozy journey" through an "enchanting Scandinavian landscape filled with puzzles to solve, potions to brew, and quests to complete, all to aid your ailing witch." 

While still played from a third-person (or rather, third-rodent) perspective, Hela differs from the side-scrolling Unravel games by being an open-world, 3D adventure that lets players freely roam an entire village with "ever-changing weather conditions." Although agile, as a small mouse you don't have many natural physical abilities, at least at first, but you can brew potions and upgrade your skills as you progress. Just as importantly, your magical backpack has a kind of projectile rope mechanism that can latch onto out-of-reach objects, allowing you "engage with items based on realistic physics," including swinging and soaring through the air, the same backpack acting as a small parachute gliding you to soft landings. There will be plenty of obstacles to overcome as you uncover "heartwarming" story fragments in any order and "perform acts of kindness and feel their healing impact" along the way. However, rather than be a challenging test of survival, the game's blend of "exploration, traversal, foraging, puzzles, action, and brewing" is intended to be a "light-hearted" experience that "warms the heart and soothes the soul."

No target release date has been announced just yet, but Hela will be launched on Steam for Windows PC, along with as-yet-unspecified consoles. In the meantime, be sure to pop by the official website for more details in the coming months.