Reflection Games, a Seattle-based mobile-game studio led by Big Fish Games founder Paul Thelen, has attracted two separately reported investments as it developed its debut game, Mutant Forge. GeekWire reported about $2 million in fresh cash in March 2024 and a further $1.1 million investment in May 2025. Those reports do not establish a cumulative fundraising total. The company’s current website now promotes a different game, Rift Wars, and does not clarify its relationship to Mutant Forge.
Who is developing Mutant Forge?
GeekWire identified Reflection Games as the Seattle studio behind Mutant Forge. The company was incorporated in Delaware in 2021. Its SEC Form D lists a Seattle principal business address and names Paul Thelen as executive officer, director and promoter. Thelen is the studio’s CEO, according to a later SEC filing.
Thelen founded Big Fish Games and served as its chairman. GeekWire reported that Churchill Downs acquired Big Fish Games in 2014. That history provides context for Thelen’s role, but does not by itself indicate how Reflection Games is funded or managed today.
What funding has been reported?
GeekWire described two separate investments in Reflection Games. The figures below are attributed to the outlet’s dated reporting; they should not be added together as a verified total because the available sources do not establish a complete financing history or whether the reported amounts represent non-overlapping funds.
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| Report | Reported amount | What the source establishes |
|---|---|---|
| March 20, 2024 | About $2 million in fresh cash | GeekWire attributed the figure to a new SEC filing and said a company representative declined to comment. GeekWire’s 2024 report |
| May 13, 2025 | $1.1 million in new investment | GeekWire reported the investment. The related SEC Form D lists a first sale date of May 9, 2025. GeekWire’s 2025 report · SEC Form D |
A Form D is a notice of an exempt securities offering, not an SEC certification of the offering’s details. The SEC filing says the agency has not reviewed the information or determined that it is accurate and complete. The 2025 filing names Thelen as CEO and signer; it records the first sale date but does not independently establish the total capital Reflection Games has raised.
What kind of game is Mutant Forge?
GeekWire described Mutant Forge as a free-to-play mobile strategy battler for iOS and Android, combining tower-defense and auto-battler elements. In the reported gameplay, players deploy monsters to attack opponents and dismantle or destroy fortifications. Units have different strengths and weaknesses, so choosing a lineup and countering enemy units are central to play.
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Deployment and progression
The reporting says units are disposable and subject to recharge timers, which limit how quickly they can be redeployed. Players earn currency and items to improve stats and abilities or create units. This makes deployment timing part of the strategy, rather than allowing an unlimited stream of the same unit.
Player-versus-environment and player-versus-player
GeekWire’s 2025 account said players faced both CPU-controlled opponents and other human players. Its March 2024 description focused on the combat and deployment systems; neither report provides comparative performance, popularity or quality data that would support a broader ranking against other mobile strategy games.
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Is Mutant Forge available now?
The dated coverage should not be treated as confirmation of present availability. GeekWire’s May 2025 story said Mutant Forge had soft-launched out of beta and had started a second content season in February. However, Reflection Games’ current website describes Rift Wars as its debut mobile strategy game. The reviewed sources do not say whether Rift Wars is a renamed Mutant Forge, a replacement, or a separate title, so the games’ relationship and Mutant Forge’s current status remain unclear.
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