Rhell: Warped Worlds & Troubled Times

Might be the best game I've played so far to come out in 2026? How has this game not blown up?! It just very impressive, even more impressive to learn it was made by just one person. The game not only has some meat to it, it is has a beating heart as well. The artstyle and camera style (while frustrating at times) makes it charm that genuinley feels like a lost Nintendo game on the Gamecube. It has the design sensibilites of one, minus the nagging desire to hold your hand like a child, encouraging you to experiment with the game's endless mechanics and explore its many varied environments. Gameplay wise, people have compared it to "immersive sims" like Deus Ex or Noita, I would say it is closer (and more inspired by) the likes of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom (both of which I would also consider "immersive sims" too) based on some of the powers such as the rewind feature. However, I have seen it said that spiritually the closest comparison would probably be Scribblenauts - a series I have been interested in but have not played myself. But feels the most apt. Because coming up with your own combination of spells to solve it in your own roundabout way is the entire charm of this game. Especially early on when your spells are limited and you really have to get creative. In one instance I had a decoy and bouncy gel, and I wanted to get up to a high spot to grab a shiny that was taunting me. I made decoys make decoys of itself so it started propping themselves into a tower. Then I somehow managed to get myself and a part of the floor and the decoys covered in bouncy gel. Since two bouncy gel objects bouncing on eachother add momentum to eachother exponentially, the decoys and I were jumping so high we were hitting the ceiling. It then was just a matter of attempting to land on the high point. I was laughing maniacally the entire time. Many such moments are like this. You'd think that once you get more spellsm especially some of the late game spells that are extremely impressive, things get easier and more predictable, with solutions being overcome with your own quick trick spell you came up with. In the mid game? maybe sometimes. But late game there are some really impressively tricky puzzles that beg you to break the game. They have taken their time to craft puzzles that consider the player's vast capabilities and challenge them. I have mentioned before, there are an impressive number of puzzles and areas in this game that is filled with secrets and goodies to find. The stuff you find are very rewarding: New spells, cash to unlock new spells, items and abilities, story items, and slots to save spell combinations in. I have seen people complain that they hate having to open the book all the time to combine spells, and seem to wish that saved spells should be in the game to begin with. I disagree, Friction is good, and I applaud the balls to put these behind exploration, and making you consider your spell selection. It becomes less of a hassle as you go on, and it honestly doesn't bother me. The game's artstyle has a very cozy vibe, and that does extend to its story and characters, One of the first characters you talk to is the empress, who charges you with your quest. Except, in its hilarious subversive manner, the empress is naught but the empress of a crumbled castle with no power, and the empress herself is not authoratative but submissive and passive, merely suggesting that, given you don't know what to do, you could try and do this quest to figure out what's going on. But oh, you don't actually have to, forgive my insolence, my sincere apologies, you can do whatever it is that you wish. The game has such care put into the dialogue boxes/art and the writing ('Rhell used to look like... Hhmm that's strange, there's a thumb blocking the photo!') that everyone is bursting at the seams with personality. But the thing that surprised me the most with its writing was the game is very obviously queer, which is delightful. Rhell and a few others are very obviously trans, or at the very least have themes of being your truest self that resonated a lot with me. Again it is at once a Nintendo game and better than one in that it is more than the sum of its parts, not just an excuse for gameplay purposes but an intergral part of the game's heart that the developer has obviously put a part of themselves into. It's a game for all ages, kids and adults, I can imagine in some alternate universe playing for hours on end in the early aughts.