Evoking The Classics While Forging Its Own Path
HIGH A gripping adventure, beautiful pixel graphics. Satisfying gameplay.
LOW The lack of tutorial leaves key mechanics unclear or buried in the options menu.
WTF The difficulty spike at [redacted] almost single-handedly ended my playthrough.
Mina the Hollower from Yacht Club Games masterfully blends retro, linear 8-bit adventures with modern open-world exploration. The result is a fantastic experience that harkens back to the classics while innovating and forging its own path, and an experience sure to satisfy both newcomers and veteran gamers alike.
Mina the Hollower is a top-down action-adventure game that evokes classic SNES and Gameboy-era Zelda, while also taking heavy inspiration (especially in regards to difficulty) from Dark Souls.
Players assume the role of Mina, a mouse who created the Spark Generators. She arrives at Tenebrous Isle in its darkest hour, as the generators are failing. Her goal is to restore the Spark Generators and bring peace to the isle, but not without fierce opposition from Thorne, a rebel trying to destroy them. The story is somewhat predictable, though it is executed well and enhanced thanks to unique set pieces and excellent worldbuilding.
Mina the Hollower is difficult by design and the early hours are especially challenging, but Mina the Hollower rewards players for learning enemy patterns and burrowing underground to dodge incoming attacks, resulting in an compelling loop of exploring new regions, fighting enemies, and collecting currency to level up.
Mina’s signature mace and chain whip, the Nightstar, was my weapon of choice. Mina can also wield a hammer, dual daggers (and later in the game, a shield or blaster) but the distance the mace and chain offered in the early hours between Mina and her opponents was huge for me. Along with her main weapon, Mina can equip Sidearms, a type of collectible that give her an additional unique weapon for an extra edge in combat. Sidearms like the Drill Driver, Dynamo Lantern, and Recall Disc are quite powerful once leveled up. In particular, the Drill Driver is great for exploration, making it a versatile and essential Sidearm.
Then there are Trinkets, items players can find that give Mina a variety of benefits, such as increased run speed or a second chance revival. The Trinkets offer lots of customization, variety and optimization avenues for players to experiment with.
For example, I equipped the Bubble Ring (a Trinket that grants a shield to block a single attack) and Shock Flint, a Trinket that allows Mina to shoot a powerful ball of lightning when at full health). This combo meant I could quickly generate a shield to block an incoming attack while keeping my health bar full and striking opponents with a more powerful attack, allowing me to dispatch enemies faster and without losing health. Finding them throughout Tenebrous Isle is as compelling as the combat, and I spent a lot of my playtime tracking down as many as I could.
Mina the Hollower’s open world is incredibly satisfying and in-depth, and arguably my favorite aspect of the experience, as it’s loaded with collectibles, secret bosses, and wacky (yet charming) characters to find. Notably, Mina lacks a detailed world map (the overview map provides a broad look at Tenebrous Isle, but not much else.) It’s a little overwhelming at first, but it does encourage the player to explore and discover all Tenebrous Isle has to offer.
Yacht Club Games clearly expects players to keep track of where things are located and remembering the routes to each area, but they also build in methods for easy backtracking, such as pipes that function as quick shortcuts and a train as a form of fast travel. Even small details, like newspapers that can be read to indirectly guide players to the next are, are clever and supports the exploration aspect of the design nicely.
While exploring Mina the Hollower’s colorful overworld is enjoyable, it is marred slightly by some surprisingly clunky platforming puzzles and odd game design choices, such as some ridiculously excessive knockback when Mina takes a hit, and some floaty, difficult-to-control high jumps. As such, some of these these platforming-heavy sequences can be extremely frustrating to navigate.
Despite some odd design moments and a generally high level of difficulty, Mina the Hollower offers ways to mitigate these things (and others) via Feats located in the Options menu. These feats offer a variety of customization options, including things like infinite health, taking reduced damage, high jump, infinite burrowing underground, and much, much more. The selection is impressive and allows players to tailor the experience to their preferences. Players can access these feats at any time, and accessibility options like these are welcome features that Yacht Club Games were wise to include.
Mina the Hollower expertly captures the classic exploration of Zelda and the challenge of Dark Souls to create a unique and cohesive experience. Mina the Hollower is a joy to play, and I can’t wait to see what Yacht Club Games comes up with next.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Michaela El-Ters
Disclosures: Mina the Hollower is developed by Yacht Club Games and published by Yacht Club Games. It is currently available on Switch/2, XBO/X/S, PS5, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PC. Approximately 32 hours of play were devoted to the game’s single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E 10+ and contains Fantasy Violence and Mild Blood. Some bosses feature mild blood, and when Mina defeats them, are reduced to bone and ash. Bone Beach features a giant worm-like creature beached on the sandy shore, whose body functions as the main dungeon of the region.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Mina the Hollower offers subtitles, but they cannot be altered or resized. Playing Mina the Hollower without sound is fully accessible. Enemy attacks are telegraphed both by sound effects and visual cues (such as vibrating before winding up an attack, etc.) Players have the option to adjust the display vibration setting for when Mina is hit by enemies or knocked back by spikes. Dialogue boxes are accompanied by character portraits and their names. The text color for important terms and character names is color-coded (for example, Mina’s name and title is red, Lionel’s is blue, etc.). Text will also sway and shake to emphasize character emotion, such as anger or fear.
Remappable Controls: Yes, Mina the Hollower’s controls are remappable, though it does not offer a controller map diagram. To move Mina, players use the left joystick. In combat, Mina’s weapon is used with the X button on the Steam Deck, the Y button on the Nintendo Switch, or the “Square” button on the Playstation 5 controller. To use one of Mina’s Sidearms, players press the Y button on the Steam Deck, the X button on the Nintendo Switch, or the “Triangle” button on the Playstation 5 controller. Using a vial to heal is the B button on the Steam Deck, or the A button on the Nintendo Switch. To jump across gaps, players use the A button on the Steam Deck, the B button on the Nintendo Switch, or “X” on the Playstation 5 controller.
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