Every once in a while, a game comes along that feels immediately familiar, yet entirely fresh somehow – the kind of title that is literally born a classic. It’s a rare magic to pull off, but Yacht Club Games, the brilliant minds behind the legendary and highly acclaimed Shovel Knight, have somehow managed to do it all over again.
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With Mina the Hollower, they deliver another 2D adventure, but with a top-down style and roots tied to franchises like The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, and even Dark Souls. Yet, it still carves out its own distinct tone in the middle of this mix, a feeling that simply makes you feel like a kid again, sitting way too close to a glowing CRT television on a Saturday morning.
A Puddle Deeper Than It Looks
Mina the Hollower takes place in a world filled with goblins, talking skeletons, and every kind of crazy magic and fantasy you can possibly imagine. At the center of the story is Ossex, a city ruled by Baron Lionel that is powered by six powerful generators. However, out of nowhere, Thorne (one of Lionel’s closest allies) turns against him and destroys the generators, putting the entire region at risk.
That is exactly where we step into the story as Mina, a Hollower, who is a select group of skilled warriors capable of using the burrowing ability, allowing them to basically dig their way through the ground. Naturally, Mina is given the daunting task of repairing the generators and stopping the traitor.
With Mina the Hollower, they deliver another 2D adventure, but with a top-down style and roots tied to franchises like The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, and even Dark Souls.
As you can probably tell, the premise itself is quite simple and exudes a classic adventurous tone. But as soon as you start playing, you quickly realize that the narrative is like a pond: it looks shallow at first glance, but once you step closer, it is way deeper than it seems.
It’s hard to highlight the nuances and the twists of the narrative without stepping into spoiler territory, but basically, unusual and unexpected things happen here all the time, both in the main plot and in parallel side stories. And it’s all delivered with marvelous writing and humor – I often found myself laughing at something an NPC did or said, or how a quick interaction with the environment triggered a completely unexpected reaction. For instance, you might end up “borrowing” the head of a fellow skeleton because Bones literally act as currency here, or accidentally stepping on a leaf that turns out to be alive, inadvertently destroying an entire family.
In addition to all of that madness, I feel that much of what makes the whole plot so surprising and captivating is having Mina as our protagonist, making her easily one of the best female characters in gaming in recent years.
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That’s because she isn’t the typical trope-heavy protagonist we are used to seeing in standard adventure games. In this world, she is already recognized as a renowned and powerful hero, serving not just as a capable Hollower, but also as the smart scientist who actually invented the very generators at the heart of the conflict. This establishes a fascinating dynamic right off the bat, which shapes not only the narrative stakes but also the entire gameplay loop – which is exactly where we are going to burrow into next.
It’s Hollowing Time
Since Mina is already pretty strong, she’s capable of doing a lot of things right from the very beginning of Mina the Hollower. However, the game isn’t going to tell you that, opting instead to present a very lean, bare-bones tutorial of basic commands.
This translates into a gameplay style that doesn’t rely on power-ups, special cloaks, or specific late-game equipment to explore the map or progress through the story – all the tools are given to you from the very start, and it is entirely up to you to figure out how they function and pave your own path.
Because of this design philosophy, Mina can use her core burrow mechanic right from the start, alongside being able to swim, jump higher, carry bombs, deal with fire – literally everything. The game simply leaves it up to whoever is holding the controller to be curious enough to experiment, understand these mechanics, and learn how to use them on their own.
Since Mina is already pretty strong, she’s capable of doing a lot of things right from the very beginning of Mina the Hollower. However, the game isn’t going to tell you that.
Practically anything you feel can only be achieved in the late game. If you actually stop and think about how you got there, you’ll realize you could have easily done it in the early game, which is truly mindblowing! And it just shows how intertwined all of the game’s core systems are.
The mechanics at your disposal are also incredibly vast, with main weapons that extend from heavy hammers to swift daggers, and even a Castlevania-style whip (my favorite!). We also have Subweapons that act as your secondary arsenal, and Trinkets that grant passive advantages when equipped. There are dozens of them to collect for entirely different purposes – whether it’s boosting your attack or defense, making healing easier, adding a new combat move, summoning temporary companions, and so much more. But a really cool detail here is that the Subweapons actively subvert your expectations, since they aren’t just tools for combat, but also gear that provides utility support, like enabling you to jump even higher or even go fishing, serving a brilliant dual purpose.
This mindset of constantly encouraging player curiosity also directly reflects in the level design, which is incredibly well-thought-out and intricately constructed, featuring multiple interconnected regions (often tied together by shortcuts you have to discover yourself). Exploring this world and realizing how a region on the far edge of the map suddenly has a completely straightforward path looping right back to Ossex at the center is an absolute joy.
Practically every environment hides secrets that lead to hidden paths, chests, optional bosses, and such. I mean, you really need to keep some serious sharp eyes out for hidden locations and items scattered across the scenery, as the game uses the level design itself to hint at a secret, whether through subtle visual cues like a slightly cracked stone or an object sitting in a specific place that just looks a bit off, or through more obvious signs like a conspicuous coffin or holes in the ground marked with an “X”.
This mindset of constantly encouraging player curiosity also directly reflects in the level design, which is incredibly well-thought-out and intricately constructed.
Not to mention how its gorgeous, pixelated visual style and atmosphere perfectly blend with the entire gothic mystique of Mina the Hollower, presenting a beautifully crafted, slightly dark gothic aesthetic. Each individual region boasts its own unique atmosphere, distinct decorations, rich environmental details, specific enemy varieties, and localized lore that reflect visually, making the game’s world feel incredibly rich.
And this visual aspect, paired with the fact that the level design is so meticulously constructed, ensures that no matter where you are or what direction you take in this game, you will always stumble upon something interesting to do or see. You are thoroughly entertained at every single moment.
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A Delightful Dose of Gothic Punishment
On top of everything else, Mina the Hollower injects a punitive pinch into the mix that makes the entire experience deliciously challenging, pushing the player at every turn with a design touch – commonly found in modern Souls-like titles, by the way.
And I don’t say that just because of the complex boss attack patterns (though there are plenty of those here) or the common enemies that can easily wreck you if you lose focus, but because of specific mechanics tied directly to Mina herself.
To truly dive into how this works, we first need to look at how the game handles progression. Basically, your experience points and currency are one and the same: Bones. This means you use them both to level up Mina’s core stats (like attack and defense) and to trade with merchants for new weapons, trinkets, and resources. Because of this dual utility, you really have to channel your inner accountant to manage your finances wisely.
You can accumulate Bones by simply exploring the world, defeating enemies, and tracking down chests containing golden diamonds that yield a huge influx of currency all at once. But here is the catch: when you die, Mina drops a “Spark” containing all the Bones she was carrying. So, if you fail to recover it and happen to die a second time before reaching it, those hard-earned Bones are gone forever – and I know Hidetaka Miyazaki is smiling somewhere because of this.
To make survival even more interesting, your healing potions (called Plasma Vials) are restored at checkpoints, but they don’t simply refill your health bar on a whim. Instead, you can only heal up to the current orange threshold of your HP meter. To expand that threshold, you must consecutively strike enemies to build up your Plasma meter or track down specific orange flowers hidden in the environment, which adds an extra layer to the healing mechanic.
In the end, all this blend ensures that exploring Mina the Hollower feels genuinely challenging, but always in a balanced way. Between mixing and matching subweapons, experimenting with different trinkets, trying out new weapons, and uncovering upgrades (like unlocking extra Sparks to give yourself a second chance at recovering lost currency), the game provides all the safety nets you need – but they aren’t just handed to you on a silver platter, and you still have to put in the effort to earn them! So, in short, the experience never feels purely punishing. It just likes to keep you on your toes.
It’s funny how even after breaking down the story, analyzing the intricate gameplay mechanics, and praising the design philosophy of Mina the Hollower, I still feel like I haven’t said enough to truly convey how incredibly fun, addictive, frantic, and masterfully constructed this game is.
It’s funny how even after breaking down the story, analyzing the intricate gameplay mechanics, and praising the design philosophy of Mina the Hollower, I still feel like I haven’t said enough to truly convey how incredibly fun, addictive, frantic, and masterfully constructed this game is.
It is one of those rare, captivating experiences that somehow turns a ten-hour session into what feels like ten minutes. It is the kind of adventure that makes you want to keep a physical notepad next to your controller to jot down NPC locations and cryptic clues. It is, in the truest sense of the phrase, pure videogames. And more than anything, it is a title that successfully captures that elusive lightning in a bottle: it makes you feel like a kid again.
Closing Comments
With Mina the Hollower, Yacht Club Games managed to beautifully pay homage to some of the absolute greatest classics in gaming history, all while carving out their own entirely fresh identity with an irresistible experience. It’s like a gothic Zelda with touches of Castlevania and Dark Souls that I never knew I needed. If you have a passing love for classic adventures, gothic atmospheres, or tightly-knit game design, do yourself a favor and fully dive into this world.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
