Mina the Hollower Review
The Legend of Mina
When word came out that Yacht Club Games was working on a new project following the massive success of the Shovel Knight franchise, people took notice. Mina the Hollower was supposed to be a side project to practice coding, but after a successful Kickstarter campaign, the blueprint turned into a full-fledged game brimming with adventure, ambition, and allure. While Mina is built to look like it belonged on the Game Boy Color, with limited pixels and color pallets, the developers made sure there were no limitations with how spectacular every area looks. Mina the Hollower is a modern marvel, where the creators concocted a wonderfully made retro game with modern-day polish and full of lasting charm.
Mina the Hollower takes inspiration from many of history’s greatest games, so when players find similarities, it comes from a place of precision and care. What sets Mina apart from most of these homage-driven titles is its ability to blend all ideas together into an entirely unique experience. Mina also has the benefit of being a present-day game, with all the new-age quality-of-life tweaks that those older titles never had the opportunity to employ. Mina plays smoothly, with precise movements, though there is a learning curve for each region of the game, as areas add new obstacles that become increasingly challenging, and offer smaller windows for error.
The RPG element to Mina the Hollower revolves around her collecting bones, which act as both the game’s currency and the means for Mina to level up one of three stats: weapon damage, defense, and sidearm damage. As she defeats enemies, they will drop bones, and after a certain threshold is met, she will Bone Up and the screen will transition to a toggle that allows players to raise a stat. Mina can also store her bones, which go safely into storage to grab and distribute at a later time.
That Kraken cracked the ship!
Healing plays out slightly differently, as when Mina takes damage, she will lose some of her life meter, and Mina will have to smack enemies around for a secondary yellow bar to fill up where the missing health was originally. Mina can then use a healing potion and restore that missing value back to her main health bar. There is a fine line between timing a heal during skirmishes, as the drinking animation takes a second to fully complete. If Mina does fall in battle, or while navigating the world, she will have a chance to recover her bones. If she cannot recover them and falters once again, the bones are forfeit, and she loses any she had in her current possession. Fortunately, through upgrades and equipment, Mina has access to a variety of methods for preserving her bones.
The story picks up with Mina, a genius mouse inventor, arriving on Tenebrous Isle after hearing that her inventions, these grand spark generators that provide power to the island folk, have gone dark. Much of the story is delivered via letters that Mina sends to other characters in the game. While headed to the island, Mina is confronted by a giant Kraken that demolishes the boat she is on, which leads to her scurrying in the direction of Ossex city. The town, acting as a central hub, will give Mina tons of anthropomorphic animal villagers to interact with, and while most offer small talk, some will give out subtle hints or ask for something. The game remembers the interactions Mina has with everyone, which returns in a fun callback much later in the game. While a tad predictable, the story is presented in a charming manner and culminates in a satisfying finale.
It is up to the player to decide what areas to tackle first, as the island of Tenebrous is completely accessible for players to navigate from the onset of the game. Only later dungeons are gated by certain events, leaving Mina to explore any area, in any order. When arriving in one of the marquee locations, Mina will stop and inspect the newly found sector with a pretty portrait that showcases the landscape in a breathtaking visual. After beating the sector’s boss, Mina will come across one of the seven Spark Generators that she will need to climb in order to fix it properly. This is where Mina the Hollower shows some of its best graphical representation. The game switches to Mina scaling the Generator as the camera rotates around the cylindrical structure. It flips the perspective entirely, and is a thrill to complete, as denizens and obstacles faced throughout the dungeons all await Mina as she tries to reach the top.
Some of the cast gathered together at the start of the game.
At its core, Mina the Hollower is a puzzle-solving game, and players will constantly be presented with brain-teasing challenges in every corner of Tenebrous Isle. Mina has all the tools at her disposal to succeed, but solving the puzzles may not be apparent the first time reaching them. There are cracks in walls that Mina can break open, and tons of obstacles that she can burrow under. After jumping, players can hold the jump button and Mina can dig a hole to burrow underground for a short amount of time. This is useful during exploration, fights, and popping out from the hole extends Mina’s jump distance slightly. Burrowing is a foreign concept at first, but it becomes one of the main staples for Mina as she navigates the island.
At random locations in the game are patches of dirt with an X etched over it, signifying the entrance to Mina’s safe zone, known as her Underlab. Here, Mina can get her life and healing vials refilled as well as withdraw any stored bones she has collected over the course of her journey. This Underlab is a quiet place that mostly offers a simple reprieve from the mayhem that has befallen the island, and the last one she has activated will serve as a respawn spot if Mina ever loses all her life. Sometimes, though, Mina will l be greeted by a random character in her humble hub.
One thing Mina does very well is customize the experience for the players. There are tons of weapons, trinkets, and sidearms that can be utilized and combined to truly give each person playing this their own flavorful method for tackling any obstacle the game presents. There is also a shop in town that Mina can sell old, unwanted items that are collecting dust for some upgrades, which includes some power-ups. Extreme challenges can be undertaken as players can sell all Mina’s gear and have her take on the fiercest foes the game offers. Mina can always buy back the items she sold, so there is no real penalty for playing with this system. Mina can even eventually change up her own sprite colors down to the pixels lining her character’s silhouette. This ultimately makes for an extremely user-friendly, tailor-made experience that caters to many different playstyles.
A world map with plenty of points of interest.
At the start of the game, Mina has the option to choose from one of four available weapons, which locks her into that one for a decent portion of the game. She will eventually find the other gear as she advances through the story, but each weapon varies enough to provide an entirely new playstyle for players to grasp. The Morningstar, which is Mina’s medium-range weapon, provides the perfect blend of safety and distance attacking to prevail through every perilous situation. The other pieces might have their own merit, but switching to newly acquired weapons feels foreign, with the tried-and-true chain-whip being the de facto armament for reliability.
Beyond her main weapons, Mina will also discover side arms that can both be used as attacking instruments and as gadgets used to cleverly topple problems the player may encounter. These sidearms are finite, using Joules to power them. Joules are found through vials found under most patches of grass in the game. Mina will also be able to equip Trinkets that further bolster her stats and provide a myriad of effects that assist on her journey. These trinkets can be found everywhere, including in dungeons or as rewards from a character Mina has helped in the past.
Combat itself is very fast and fluid as Mina uses all of her acquired items and burrowing abilities to find ways to succeed. There is an abundance of enemies to encounter, as each location has its own variety for Mina to deal with. Bosses lurk around every corner, and sometimes can catch players off guard when they appear. Bosses in each sector all have fantastical, larger-than-life designs, and might take some time getting used to their attack patterns, but can be defeated with standard combos. With Mina the Hollower’s sandbox structure, there’s a way to take down any of them at any point in the game. There is a freedom to this process, but it sacrifices true difficulty for accessibility.
Bone Up time!
While Mina the Hollower has a visual style that looks straight out of the Game Boy Color library, it also sports modern touches that those older titles could not handle. Every location is full of small details that create a luscious environment that is ripe with secrets everywhere. Players will need to be extra cautious when navigating through the many areas, or they will miss the hints that something is hiding beyond. The game will also present gorgeous portraits during certain events, really spotlighting the pixel-perfect details that went into every aspect of the visual design.
The music in Mina the Hollower is extremely retro-sounding by design, though everything sounds fresh and nothing really sounds like anything from any past game. Each area has its own distinct theme, really bringing to life the different locations with unique atmospheres. There are numerous tracks in the game to get lost in and enjoy. The variety of tracks for a game so old-school is quite staggering, but also refreshing and always pleasing to hear. Luckily, during her travels, Mina will unlock the ability to play all the game’s tunes from the luxury of her Underlab. The Outskirts, Nox’s Bayou, Mirror’s End, and Radiant Manor themes all stick out as being catchy tunes. This game has a soundtrack that will stick with players long after putting the game down.
Ultimately, everything hits the right chords, making for an exciting game. Mina is adorable and presented as a fun protagonist with all sorts of neat gadgets in her arsenal. The world she inhabits is full of secrets and is a ton of fun to explore. There is a timeless feel to this game, with its homage to games from yesteryear, while also pushing the boundaries of what retro enthusiasts expect from titles that look like this. Thankfully, Mina can be found on most modern consoles and is also reasonably priced. I believe Yacht Club Games hit the nail on the head with this title, and they have once again delivered an all-time classic with Mina the Hollower.
Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.
Soundtrack is top notch
The retro graphics pop off the screen
Puzzles are properly challenging without frustration
Loads of customization options
Sandbox layout makes boss fights less challenging than expected
Story is fine, if a tad predictable
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