Rhell: Warped Worlds & Troubled Times

Rhell: Warped Worlds & Troubled Times is a creative puzzle-adventure game developed by SlugGlove and published by Yogscast Games. At first glance, it presents itself as a whimsical fantasy journey, but beneath its colorful exterior lies an ambitious experience built around experimentation, player freedom, and magical problem-solving. The story follows Rhell, a talented but unconventional mage who finds herself investigating a mysterious crisis that has left much of the world strangely deserted. This intriguing setup provides the foundation for an adventure that blends exploration, mystery, humor, and complex puzzle design into a memorable package. The game's strongest feature is undoubtedly its spellcrafting system. Rather than relying on a handful of predefined abilities, players are encouraged to create and customize magical spells by combining different runes and effects. The result is a huge variety of possible magical interactions that can be used to manipulate the environment, solve puzzles, and uncover secrets. This system transforms every challenge into an opportunity for experimentation. Instead of searching for a single intended solution, players are invited to think creatively and discover their own methods for overcoming obstacles. This freedom makes the game feel refreshingly different from many puzzle adventures that depend on strict logic paths. Exploration plays an equally important role throughout the adventure. The world is filled with unusual locations, hidden pathways, environmental mysteries, and optional discoveries that reward curiosity. Every new area introduces opportunities to test newly learned magical combinations, encouraging players to revisit locations and approach situations from different perspectives. The interconnected nature of the world creates a satisfying sense of progression, as abilities gained later often reveal previously inaccessible secrets. This design keeps exploration engaging and ensures that the player's growing magical knowledge feels meaningful. Visually, the game embraces a charming and stylized fantasy aesthetic. Bright colors, imaginative landscapes, and expressive character designs help create a world that feels both inviting and strange. The environments are filled with personality, and the whimsical presentation complements the game's emphasis on magical experimentation. Rather than aiming for realism, the developers focus on creating a distinctive visual identity that enhances the sense of wonder and discovery. The artistic direction succeeds in making each area memorable while supporting the lighthearted tone of the adventure. The narrative is another pleasant surprise. While the mystery surrounding the disappearance of much of the world's population provides a compelling long-term objective, the journey is often driven by Rhell's personality. She is not a traditional fantasy hero and frequently approaches situations with sarcasm, confidence, and humor. Her interactions with the remaining inhabitants add charm to the story and help prevent the mystery from becoming overly serious. The balance between comedic moments and genuine intrigue keeps the narrative engaging without overshadowing the gameplay. One of the most impressive aspects of the game is its willingness to trust the player. Many modern puzzle games carefully guide players toward predetermined solutions, but Rhell: Warped Worlds & Troubled Times embraces creativity instead. Players are rewarded for trying unusual ideas, and some of the most satisfying moments come from discovering solutions that feel entirely self-generated. This design philosophy creates a strong sense of ownership over the adventure and significantly increases replay value, as different players may approach the same puzzle in completely different ways. However, the game's ambitious design can occasionally become a double-edged sword. The sheer number of spell combinations and possible interactions may feel overwhelming for newcomers. Some puzzles require extensive experimentation, and players who prefer direct guidance may occasionally become frustrated. Managing and remembering various magical possibilities can also slow the pace during more complex sections. Fortunately, these challenges stem from the game's commitment to freedom rather than poor execution, and players willing to engage with its systems will likely find the complexity rewarding rather than discouraging. Overall, Rhell: Warped Worlds & Troubled Times stands out as a highly imaginative adventure that successfully combines puzzle-solving, exploration, and magical creativity. Its deep spellcrafting mechanics, flexible puzzle design, engaging world, and charismatic protagonist help it distinguish itself from other games in the genre. While its open-ended nature may not appeal to every player, those who enjoy experimentation and unconventional problem-solving will discover a remarkably rewarding experience filled with surprises and memorable moments. Rating: 9/10

I loved that through the entire game it constantly felt like i was solving the puzzles "wrong" way, but the games incredible sandbox still allowed it. This is a really good imersive sim, that uses puzzles as the driving factor as oposed to other games that use survival horror or stealth to force you to engage with their systems. I can recommend it as an immersive sim fan, but do beware the gameplay is puzzle driven, so it's not like other immersive such as dishonored, prey, fallen aces or baldurs gate 3.

Rhell: Alliterative Appellation is a flawed gem. By no means is it a perfect game, but its core gameplay is so solid and entertaining that it carries the game to a recommendation almost entirely on its own. This game constantly delivers on the fantasy of solving puzzles in ways that make you feel like you're outsmarting the developers (whether or not you actually are). Almost every puzzle has multiple viable solutions to it, and while you're likely to default to a few reliables in the endgame you can go surprisingly far with a few basic or niche spells and some creativity. I personally made it to the second to last puzzle room in the snow area with barely half my spellbook filled. The writing is also generally solid. The characters are consistently entertaining and the world's mysteries are intriguing enough to motivate the player to keep digging and figure them out. The world is very competently designed. After the tutorial dungeon you can do the majority of the game in pretty much any order. The environments feel believable in the context of the world, and the puzzles always feel like they belong in that world and aren't just tacked on. For a game this puzzle focused that's a remarkable achievement. Finally, quality of life features abound. You can instantly teleport to any room you've already visited no matter where it is in the world. There are more of every type of currency in the game than what's needed to buy everything. You can set the spellbook to have a shorter opening animation. You unlock extra spell slots as you explore to help reduce the amount of menu use needed. The spellbook includes a list of premade combos to let you know about some of the more esoteric mechanics without having to stumble on them the hard way, while also including some duds so you don't feel like you're just being handed the answer key. And that's just some of the examples. My criticisms are below. If none of it's a dealbreaker to you and the above sounds interesting, then this game is an easy recommend. [hr][/hr] - This first one isn't exactly criticism, but there are persistent horror elements that make this game unsuitable for children. Nothing super extreme, but the phrases "biblically accurate" and "reduced to atoms" come to mind. - Virtually all of the music in this game is 3 second loops, and that's not even an exaggeration. Usually this makes it forgettable, but some areas like the reef can be grating. - The sandbox can turn into quicksand incredibly fast, since the spells you need to progress mostly tend to be placed in the same sort of way as all the other collectibles. The lack of rails can similarly backfire sometimes, it can be easy to spend several hours crossing many maps without making any visible progress in any of the goals presented to you. - Some runes are actively, deliberately useless, except as filler for certain specific endgame-puzzle-solution spell chains to prevent the player from ever figuring them out on accident. Note that these endgame puzzles don't actually do anything with these spells' actual effects, they just check if you used the rune in row A column B of your spellbook. - Some items are hidden a bit too well and the upgrade to show them on the mini-map doesn't always work. Finding them often isn't actually a puzzle so much as a pixel hunt. Thankfully none of these ultra-hidden ones seem to be needed either to beat the game or get all achievements, they're instead just spare currencies and a number in your journal. - The camera can be a pain to work with, especially since there's no invert axis toggles. Valid viewing angles are limited and I found myself moving it in the wrong direction somewhat frequently. - Spells have some limited aim assist by default even without using the homing rune. Usually this isn't a problem and it's even quite helpful with some of the more finicky puzzles, but sometimes in more prop dense environments your spells will just sort of do whatever they want. - The first and easiest-to-find ending had a special "Are you sure this is the ending you want? Maybe you should keep exploring" screen at the end, and then it ended up being the most satisfying ending anyway. - Some optional puzzles' solutions require the use of utterly unintuitive mechanics even if you try to use hints. Thankfully you can usually avoid having to fully complete these. - The challenge mode stages restrict your moveset, which goes directly against the main game's core philosophy yet doesn't quite make the challenges interesting enough to make up for it. It does at least force you into using runes you'd normally never bother with, but having to figure out the controls in the bonus dungeon is a bit awkward to say the least.

I'M SORRY THERE'S A RUN BUTTON? the music disc dungeon is probably my favourite zelda dungeon of the genre, down to the final puzzle solution i took roy so far off the grid that i dont even know what the disc is for i dont know how to sell people on this and i don't even know if i'm going to enjoy it when i finish it what a truly unique experience though

不适合我的好游戏，看了看没啥中文评测还是写一个给大伙看看。主要玩法是施放组合多达四十种不同咒文得到的咒语，游戏形式接近2D塞尔达或者密特罗德：俯视角，弱引导，非线性流程。主要玩法是冒险解谜+收集马拉松，需要收集能力打开之前进不去的路。有真结局和相伴的终局解谜，粗看了一下还是对电波那套。每个房间内的谜题难度不高（如果是正确玩法），但是我玩的时候很容易操作失误或者卡死在能力不足以解开的谜题导致红温。手感我个人感觉很糟糕（可能因为我用的键鼠），输入咒语很卡手，移动容易失足掉下去重开，发射咒文还是脑溢血的八向瞄准。独特之处是四十种咒文的组合充满可能性，但我对收集马拉松以及真结局解谜这些设计的兴趣不大，而作为解谜玩家我没法忍受一个谜题需要的是在别的路线收集的能力或是执行解法不失误的能力而不是给出思维上真正有难度的谜题。如果是类银类塞+冒险解谜爱好者玩这部游戏应该能感受到乐趣？但我不是类银爱好者……

游戏是视角是2.5D，看得有点难受，很多时候并不能准确判断相对位置，调整视角也不太自由，有很多关卡4:3的显示显然不够长，不知道为什么选择这个比例； 地图设计是一个大环套小环，保证一定程度上的乱序探索，大环一般般，只是几个大地图头尾相接，小环在解决能力锁之后还是能感受到构造精妙的； 谜题设计一般，主要是魔法足够多，保证解法多样，主要还是看自身想象力，根据自己路线拿到的魔法解决问题，其中有部分被单独拎出来复用到挑战中作为官方解； 交互很难受，尤其对于手柄，换个魔法要按半天，施法方向完全没调教，斜向施法特别容易失误，而且每次点进魔法书都要关一次搭配推荐，看推荐的次数真的不多，只有拿到新魔法时看看组合有用； 音效中规中矩，有些反馈很直观，有些反馈很恶心，比如施法失败的音效，BGM很难听，不推荐开声音游玩； 剧情算是个大团圆向童话，无功无过； 总的来说，是一个闭门造车的小游戏，亮点是大量魔法产生的涌现式交互，大部分时间一直有新东西玩，缺点是打磨时间不够，大概有一半的魔法纯粹玩具，地图惊喜点只在前三分之一，交互手感很差，音效纯粹二十年前的中等水平

绝对是26年不可错过的独立游戏（又是一款不记得怎么发现的游戏了，买入时评论还不到200条 先说缺点，极度受限的反人类视角变换，非常糟糕的键鼠操作手感，以及不太能第一眼就get到的画风真的让我在最开始的时间一度抓狂到想要退款，但很感谢自己没有。 这是如今少有的让我感觉我在玩游戏的游戏，没有逻辑解谜那种做题感，没有大型rpg无限通马桶的疲累感，没有重叙事游戏的电影观众感。尽情尝试各种法术组合的感觉真的就是会自己爽到自己。那种发现了一个看起来不像开发者本意的过关法术带来的正反馈非常强烈，而在这款游戏中，这样的正反馈可以来得相当频繁。在ytb看流程视频时，发现自己之前就在还没有拿到某个法术时用“邪道”收集到了某个物品的感觉真的很爽。 游戏设计了非常多有着不同特点的区域，按顺序玩的话也能明显感受到设计师对流程的把控和引导，对于这样一个完全支持破序的开放探索来说，能做到本作的水平实在是太优秀了。这个价格对于游戏体量而言绝对是性价比拉满了。排除掉我挂机的时间，全成就大概需要30h。在机制上唯一一点小小的吐槽就是[spoiler] 大传送门实在是太op了，而且不用很晚就能拿到，导致我后面很多关卡一开始都是用大传送门无脑过的 [/spoiler]，然后就是结尾的一点吐槽，[spoiler] 其实剧情没啥好吐槽的，挺好的，甚至有一点小感动，就是结尾没有一场酣畅淋漓的法术解谜“大战”，而挑战关卡里标成最难的那几关也没觉得很难_(:з)∠)_ [/spoiler] 总的来说，这绝对是今年至今为止我最喜欢的游戏，喜欢noita和塞尔达的玩家一定要来尝试一下这款游戏！不喜欢的也来试试！