Description
I want to be upfront about something before diving in: Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries is not really a cinematic platformer in the strict sense (see our full definition of the genre). It is a 2.5D hack-and-slash action game with platforming sections — closer to a brawler with atmosphere than a puzzle-driven cinematic experience. I include it in this database because the dark fairytale presentation and side-scrolling structure give it enough genre adjacency to belong here, but manage your expectations accordingly.
Developed by Belgian six-person studio GRIN Gamestudio, Woolfe follows an adult Red Riding Hood who suspects corporate tycoon B.B. Woolfe murdered her father and sets out to bring him down — with an axe. The premise is solid, the visual world is genuinely lovely, and the game has real ambition. It also has real problems, and a story that ends on a cliffhanger that was never resolved.
Year: 2015
Developer: GRIN Gamestudio
Atmosphere: Dark Fantasy · Industrial · Fairytale
Visual Style: 2.5D · Storybook Visuals
Focus / Pace: Action Platforming · Narrative-Driven
Platforms: Windows · PlayStation 4 · Xbox One
The Story
Red’s father was killed in a suspicious workplace accident at Woolfe Industries. Red, now an adult and armed with an axe, breaks into the city to find the truth. The narrative is told partly in rhyming verse — a nice fairytale touch — and the world-building around the twisted versions of classic fairy tale characters is genuinely inventive.
The Pied Piper shows up. B.B. Woolfe looms as a villain. Unfortunately, the story ends in the middle of everything, because Volume 2 never existed. If unresolved endings frustrate you, consider yourself warned.
Graphics
The strongest thing Woolfe has going for it. The 2.5D environments are richly detailed — a dark industrial city that feels genuinely threatening, a magic forest that opens into something more colourful, and character designs that manage to be both appealing and slightly unsettling. For a six-person Kickstarter-funded studio in 2015, the visual ambition is remarkable. It still holds up reasonably well.
🪓 Did You Know?
Woolfe was planned as a two-part story, with Volume 2 due in August 2015. It never came. The studio filed for bankruptcy that same month — killed by poor sales and the debt that came with self-publishing. The IP was picked up by Rebellion, the backer rewards were eventually shipped, but the sequel never happened. Red’s story ends mid-sentence, and always will.
Gameplay
Here is where things get messy. Woolfe is primarily a hack-and-slash — Red has a basic combo system with her axe, picks up a few additional moves, and fights her way through waves of enemies. The combat is functional but repetitive, and becomes the dominant activity in the second half in a way that outstays its welcome.
The platforming sections are actually more interesting — some decent environmental puzzles and a few well-designed chase sequences — but they take a back seat to combat that never quite finds its footing. Controls also feel slightly loose, particularly during more precise platforming moments.
🎮 My honest opinion
Woolfe is a game I feel genuinely sorry for more than I am critical of. There is a good game in here — a dark, stylish, fairytale action platformer with real personality — but it was released unfinished by a studio that was already struggling, never got its second half, and largely disappeared from conversation soon after. It is not a particularly good cinematic platformer, because it is not 100% a cinematic platformer. But it is a curious, visually striking thing that deserved a better fate than it got.
If you are a completionist of the genre, it is worth an hour or two at its current bargain price. Just know going in that the story ends mid-sentence.
Where can I play Woolfe?
Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries is available on PC via Steam at a very modest price. The planned PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were cancelled when the studio closed.
Similar Games
Bramble: The Mountain King (2023)
Bramble shares Woolfe’s instinct for dark, adult retellings of European folklore — grotesque creatures, fairytale logic turned threatening, a world that is beautiful and hostile in equal measure. It is a significantly better executed game, but the tonal kinship is clear.
Little Nightmares (2017)
If the dark fairytale atmosphere of Woolfe resonated but the execution left you wanting more — Little Nightmares is where that sensibility is fully realised. Smaller protagonist, bigger dread, no axe.
If you are drawn to cinematic platformers that prioritise mechanical depth and genuine challenge over atmosphere alone — games that respect your intelligence and demand precision — Limbo, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, and Bionic Bay‘s own speedrun community are all worth your time.