Mina the Hollower probably coulda come out years ago if Yacht Club Games wasn’t so busy earnestly releasing free extended content for Shovel Knight. Considering they’re a rare example of a studio that not only follows through on its promises, but does so with unprecedented quality, I desperately wanted Mina the Hollower to be a success. After a twenty-hour romp from title to credits, I can confidently say that this will keep the company going for years to come. With DLC! I hope.
Mina is a mouse-scientist who invented a way to harvest a resource called Spark to bring light and power to the budding community of Tenebrous Isle. When she revisits the island to meet her old friend Lionel, who took charge of the city planning, she finds that monsters have flooded the island and each of the six generators at the edges of the island has gone dark. As Mina, we travel to the city and all parts of Tenebrous Isle in order to turn those generators back on, but is there more to the story than that?
Of course there is. Not all is as it seems, and while the central plot doesn’t offer much in terms of surprises or depth, the light-hearted yet dark interactions with the island’s inhabitants keep the story charming. Despite its color and cheerful pixel aesthetic, Mina the Hollower goes to some somber, macabre places, and I love it. Early on, I wondered if this was gallows humor, but after completing the game, I think it’s fair to say that “choices matter” in a sort of hidden respect. Clearly, I got the bad ending. As intended. Thankfully, a New Game+ system exists in which I can explore this lovely world again with a bit more teeth and opportunity to do things differently.
New Game+ is really a hard sell for me in every game. I’m always itching to move on to the next game, no matter how good the game I just finished is. In this case, I can see myself coming back to Mina the Hollower. With some light exploration and side quest hunting, I only got about 63% of the items, didn’t max out my levels, and clearly didn’t see everything the game has to offer. New Game+ will give me additional reasons to explore the island all over again after a bit of a break, because the gameplay is that good.
In retro action RPG fashion, we explore Mina the Hollower‘s world top-down, bearing one of three weapons we choose at the start. Don’t worry, you can find the other weapons—plus two more!—later on and even upgrade them. Sub-weapons exist that use a mana-like currency. While the combat is self-explanatory, the details and crisp design matter. Enemy patterns, environmental layout, and player customization greatly influence how Mina will execute each living, breathing obstacle in front of her. What’s more, Mina’s a hollower, which allows her to dig to avoid enemies and pop up after a second or two to exact revenge on her aggressor.
The digging mechanic isn’t a gimmick—rather, it feels unique, yet simplistic, and remains essential for various tasks throughout Mina the Hollower. Players don’t just push a button and go underground. Mina must jump before slamming into the ground and disappearing. She can pop up whenever players like or after the digging has lasted a couple seconds. Timing a proper dig takes some getting used to, but after an hour or so, the system feels incredibly fluid. I revisited beginning areas to look for goodies, and absolutely Goomba-stomped enemies that gave me trouble early on just because I knew how to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge.
Outside of combat, digging helps Mina to jump across large gaps. As this retro-inspired title uses consistent square-sized tiles, platforming is predictable when not under pressure. Mina can jump over a one-tile gap, and can jump over two-tile gaps if popping up out of the ground. As the in-game instruction manual points out, the developers have given Mina some leeway when she pops out past the edge of a tile. Initially, understanding when exactly we can maximize our distance takes some getting used to, but it becomes satisfying when the muscle memory kicks in. With equippable trinkets and some sub-weapons, Mina can eventually cross much larger gaps to find treasure that seems out of bounds.
Shovel Knight fans know the kinds of secrets we’re talking about here. Yes, breakable walls exist throughout, but sometimes an area that looks like a gap exists as a border that is typically going to be somewhere you can sneak into for a unique bounty. Essentially, if it’s not walled off by a tree, bush, or rock, you can go over there. And sometimes that’s true even if there is an obstacle! Playing hide-and-seek with the developers is a joyous jaunt throughout.
This is the beauty of Mina the Hollower. While the tough-as-nails boss fights will force players to git gud, what I love most is the exploration. Setting aside the colorful, detailed layout that makes this world pop, I loved learning the systems and different obstacles in the various environments in order to find stuff. Who doesn’t love stuff? At no point in this twenty-hour excursion did I get bored or feel like the same old tricks were used too often. Yes, some breakable walls exist here and there, but the developers play an excellent shell game in drawing your attention elsewhere, and when I discovered this sleight of hand, I felt so smart.
Expect those crispy, toe-tapping retro beats that made Shovel Knight such a joy to play. In no way do I mean to deride Mina the Hollower when I say this, but I was reminded of so many Shovel Knight tracks every time I played this game or thought about booting it up. Shovel Knight’s music earworms pretty hard, so I think this is more praise in that Mina the Hollower retains much of Shovel Knight’s DNA, thanks of course to composer Jake Kaufman. If the vibes of Shovel Knight are something you hunger for, Mina the Hollower’s going to sate.
Soulsy in difficulty yet beautifully accessible, I find Mina the Hollower an outstanding amalgamation of other titles. Yacht Club Games has poured heart and soul into this title, and the genre change has allowed them to flex their muscles and showcase what they can truly do; Mina the Hollower makes Shovel Knight‘s 2D sidescrolling feel like training wheels in terms of game design. DLC’s inevitable, but I honestly just can’t wait for their next big title that I hope crosses genres once again.
