If you could have one magical power, what would it be? For me, it would be the ability to instantly fix anything. Washing machine broken? Zap! Not anymore. Boiler on the blink? Let's Fantasia that shit. PC giving you some random error you've been struggling to solve all morning? Just point your finger at it and get it running again, maybe with a new graphics card installed for good measure.
I doubt magical maintenance will appear in Rhell: Warped Worlds & Troubled Times, but with developer SlugGlove (what a name) promising over 102 million spell combinations in its fantastical puzzler, I certainly can't rule it out.
Rhell sees you play as a "loud-mouthed, hot-headed mage" who is trying to figure out why everybody in the world has suddenly disappeared. I feel this is a mystery answered by the phrases "loud-mouthed" and "hot-headed". Certainly, I would scarper if someone like that began walking in my direction.
Anyway, Rhell takes place in a semi-open world, with you combining spells to solve puzzles and bypass obstacles as you explore. Publisher Yogscast recently published a video that explains how Rhell's spellcasting works. The system is built upon 40 foundational spells, ranging from basic object manipulation like pushing, pulling, and twisting, to elemental spells like fire, ice, smoke and goo (Rhell's world clearly has different fundamental properties to ours).
Crucially, though, you can combine any number of these spells together. You could combine a push spell with a goo spell to move an object onto a button and have it repeatedly bounce in that spot. Some combinations simply stack effects together, while others yield more specific results. Casting fire, smoke, and goo on yourself, for example, will transform you into a cloud. You can even squash every single spell together, though that may not necessarily be a good idea.
This amounts to a total of 102,400,000 potential combinations, intended to facilitate a highly open-ended approach to puzzle solving. "The core ethos when it comes to solving puzzles is to do it your way," the video explains.
To me, Rhell seems reminiscent of the Scribblenauts games, albeit with a focus on combination rather than conjuration. The art is also a lot more sophisticated than Scribblenauts' papercraft doodles, blending 3D environments with 2D characters.
If Rhell sounds to your liking, you can take the demo for a spin right now. There isn't long to wait until the full game launches either. Rhell: Warped Worlds & Troubled Times releases on March 12.
