Hela might not be the biggest game I played at GDC, but it’s the one I can’t stop thinking about. This was my first time at GDC, and I expected to be blown away by big-budget spectacle. And sure, there were plenty of flashy, high-octane games on the floor. But Hela stood out because of its quiet charm, heartfelt worldbuilding, and thoughtful design. It’s easily my favorite couch co-op title I experienced during the event.
Developed by Windup Games under Knight’s Peak, Hela is a 3D cooperative adventure about a tiny magical mouse on a heartfelt mission. After generations of helping the villagers, a kind witch has fallen ill. Now it’s up to you and your fellow familiars to carry on her work, fulfill requests, and venture into the world to gather ingredients for the cure.
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What immediately stood out to me was the perspective. You really feel like a mouse navigating a human-sized world. Grass towers over you. Furniture becomes a full-scale platforming challenge. Running up a table leg or swinging from a tree branch feels massive in the best way. The depth of field and visual framing bring that scale to life with stunning clarity.
Traversal is playful and satisfying. You get a double jump, a glider (your frog companion, of course), and a grappling hook that lets you swing around like a tiny four-legged Spider-Man. The movement feels good in that “I could do this for 10 more minutes just because it’s fun” kind of way. Combining gliding and grappling gave me a surprising amount of freedom to experiment with how I moved through the space.
Hela will shine as a couch co-op experience.
The game supports up to four players, both in couch co-op and online, but I think it will shine brightest as a one- or two-player couch co-op experience. There’s a clever system where solo players can spawn ghostly “shades” of themselves to solve puzzles that would normally require multiple players. But even with that feature, it’s clear that having a second person alongside you would make everything feel more dynamic and collaborative. During the demo, I found myself imagining how much smoother or more fun certain puzzles would have felt if I’d had someone there to try ideas with me in real-time.
Best of all, there’s no combat. Instead, Hela is built around small acts of kindness, exploration, puzzle-solving, and potion brewing. It rewards curiosity and creativity, offering a cozy, low-pressure space to engage with its world. Helping people remember things or fulfill long-standing wishes becomes the emotional core of the journey.
This is the kind of game I want to play with my wife. It sits in the same emotional and mechanical space as It Takes Two or Split Fiction, but with a gentler, more wholesome tone. It’s a great reminder that couch co-op can still feel fresh and meaningful.
Hela is coming to Xbox, PlayStation, Steam, and Epic Games, and it’s absolutely worth keeping an eye on. If you’re looking for a co-op game that prioritizes care over combat and exploration over chaos, this one might be for you. Small in scale, big in heart.
Hela does not currently have a release date.
