Not every game needs to be a battle royale. Not every controller session needs to end with your heart rate spiked and your teammates muted. Sometimes, you just want to sit on the couch with someone you like, explore a gorgeous world at your own pace, and feel genuinely good about the couple of hours you just spent. That’s the promise of Hela, and from everything we’ve seen so far, it’s a promise the team at Windup Games looks well on its way to keeping.
Hela is a third-person open-world co-op adventure coming to PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026. It’s published by Knights Peak, the Amsterdam-based outfit, and developed by Windup Games, a Swedish studio behind the beloved Unravel series. If that pedigree alone doesn’t have you paying attention, the premise definitely should.
You’re a Mouse. A Magical Mouse.
Here’s the setup: there’s a kind witch who has spent her entire life quietly taking care of her village and the nature around it. She brews potions, looks after animals, and helps the locals; basically, the most wholesome neighbor imaginable. Then she gets sick. And now it’s up to her familiars: small, brave field mice with magical frog-shaped backpacks; to go out into the world, gather ingredients, brew the potions, and nurse her back to health.
That’s you. You’re a tiny mouse with a magic backpack, and the world is enormous from where you’re standing. A kitchen table is a mountain range. A puddle is a lake. A gap between fence posts is a canyon. Hela uses this shift in perspective brilliantly, turning ordinary environments into sprawling, explorable playgrounds. It’s one of those concepts that sounds simple on paper but produces genuine wonder when you’re actually in it.
There are no enemies to fight. No kill streaks. No XP bars. You forage, you explore, you solve puzzles, you brew potions, and you help the people and critters who need it. The loop is built entirely around curiosity and cooperation, not competition. And honestly? That sounds like exactly the kind of game a lot of us need right now.
The Best Kind of Couch Co-Op
Here’s where Hela really earns its place in your gaming rotation: it’s built from the ground up to be played together. Up to two players can team up in local split-screen; yes, actual split-screen, on the couch, like it’s 2008 and that was just a normal thing games did. Up to four players can join online for a full co-op experience.
The game doesn’t just slap a second-player mode onto a single-player game. Hela’s puzzles are designed with teamwork in mind, leaning into the fact that each mouse has different abilities. You’ll need to coordinate, communicate, and occasionally yell at each other in the most affectionate way possible. That dynamic of figuring something out together is exactly what great co-op games do well, and Hela looks to nail it.
For families, especially, this is a significant deal. Hela has no combat, no graphic content, and a gentle learning curve that makes it genuinely accessible for kids and adults alike. If you’ve been searching for something to actually play with your kids rather than just hand them a controller and leave the room, Hela is designed for exactly that kind of shared-screen, shared-memory experience. Think of it as the video game equivalent of a family board game night, except the board is a stunning Norse-inspired open world rendered in Unreal Engine 5.
Solo? Still Great.
We know not everyone has a co-op partner lined up at all times. Hela has a smart answer for that: the Shade System. Playing solo, you can summon up to three spectral copies of your character, called Shades, each one locked to a specific action you’ve assigned it. Puzzle that needs four characters to solve? You can orchestrate the whole thing yourself, switching between your real character and the Shades to make it happen.
It’s a genuinely clever mechanic that respects solo players rather than just giving them an AI companion that gets in the way. The full game, all its puzzles, all its content, is accessible whether you’re flying solo on a Tuesday night or going four-player online with friends scattered across three time zones.
It Already Has Hardware
Hela showed up at Gamescom 2025 and walked away with two awards: Most Wholesome and Most Entertaining. Those aren’t minor recognitions; they reflect a game that stood out on a crowded show floor of bigger, louder, flashier competition by simply being genuinely delightful. That’s hard to fake, and it’s a good early signal about what kind of game Hela actually is.
The visual identity is striking, too. Windup Games built Hela in Unreal Engine 5, and the world, inspired by the Norrland region of northern Sweden, looks like a fairy-tale illustration that learned how to move. Vast forests, quiet meadows, misty mountain trails, and still lakes; all rendered with a warmth and care that fit the game’s tone perfectly. From a tiny mouse’s perspective, every inch of it looks massive and full of things to find.
When Can You Play It?
Hela is confirmed for 2026 across PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2. A specific date hasn’t been locked in yet, but you can check out Hela for the latest on gameplay details, explore what the world has to offer, and add it to your wishlist while you wait. Given the buzz it’s already generating, the sooner you’re on the radar, the better.
Whether you’re looking for something to wind down with after a long day, a game your whole family can actually enjoy together, or just a break from the relentless grind of live-service titles, Hela looks like it’s going to deliver. Keep this one on your radar.
What We Know So Far: Quick Hits
- Developer: Windup Games (Founders were some of the creators of the Unravel series)
- Publisher: Knights Peak Interactive
- Platforms: PC (Steam & Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2
- Hela Game Release window: 2026
- Co-op: Local split-screen (2 players) + online co-op (up to 4 players)
- Solo play: Yes, via the Shade System
- Combat: None
- Awards: Most Wholesome + Most Entertaining, Gamescom 2025
