Hela: Of Mice & Magic will launch on December 1, 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2, with the game joining Xbox Game Pass on day one. Developer Windup Games and publisher Knights Peak had already confirmed the December release date earlier this month, while a new Xbox Wire feature reiterates the Game Pass launch and provides a closer look at Hela’s Brewing & Remedies progression system.
The adventure casts players as tiny mouse familiars helping a kind-hearted witch care for the surrounding world. Exploration takes place across forests, meadows and wetlands inspired by Northern Sweden, with players gathering native plants and magical ingredients before returning to the witch’s cottage. Those materials are then used in brewing, which Windup describes as a core part of progression rather than a conventional crafting menu.
Each recipe uses its own sequence of interactive steps, requiring players to perform different actions instead of simply selecting an item and waiting for it to be created. Ingredients discovered while exploring can produce brews that help nearby creatures and communities or improve the player’s own capabilities. The system is intended to connect exploration directly to progression, giving players a practical reason to investigate unusual plants, paths and environmental details.
Remedies are among the most important items created through brewing. These magical tools can change how players move through the environment, tackle puzzles and interact with obstacles, effectively opening new options in previously visited locations. Windup says the system is designed around expanding possibilities rather than simply increasing character power, allowing an inaccessible route or difficult puzzle to become approachable once the appropriate Remedy has been unlocked.
The system also feeds into Hela’s cooperative design. Every puzzle can be completed solo, but multiplayer allows players to combine Remedies and other tools in different ways to find alternative solutions. Hela supports solo play, two-player local split-screen and online co-op for up to four players, with Windup’s Shade System intended to ensure that puzzles remain functional regardless of how many people are playing.
That flexible structure makes the game another notable day-one addition to Microsoft’s subscription lineup. Xbox Game Pass continues to receive a mix of larger releases and smaller independent titles, with games such as Shape of Dreams arriving on Xbox and Game Pass alongside major catalog additions. Hela’s inclusion from launch gives Xbox and PC subscribers immediate access without requiring a separate purchase.
Hela is built in Unreal Engine 5 and avoids traditional combat entirely, instead emphasizing exploration, cooperation and environmental problem-solving. Players can customize their mouse familiar with hats, neck accessories, backpack options and different fur colors unlocked throughout the adventure. The game’s Froggy Backpack also serves as a central tool, allowing the mice to interact with an oversized world built around their tiny scale.
Windup Games has positioned Hela as a family-friendly adventure without limiting it exclusively to younger players. Its systems are designed around curiosity, experimentation and revisiting locations with new tools rather than combat encounters or character-stat progression. Brewing and Remedies appear to reinforce that approach by turning resource gathering into one of the primary ways players expand what they can do in the world.
Hela: Of Mice & Magic launches December 1, 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2. Xbox and PC players with Game Pass will be able to access the game on release day, while Windup Games plans to reveal more details about the adventure as launch approaches.
