Mina the Hollower is a top-down action-adventure game that lovingly blends classic 8-bit aesthetics with modern souls-like mechanics as you burrow and battle your way through a delightfully macabre world. Visually, the game boasts a beautiful pixel art style paired with fantastic music, setting the perfect tone for your journey. The world is packed with secrets on nearly every screen, and Yacht Club Games did a wonderful job creating a clear visual language that makes these secrets obviously discernable from their surroundings. The developers also excel at onboarding; they successfully introduce mechanics and enemies at a measured pace, always allowing the player to grasp movement and combat nuances before being thrown into a demanding gauntlet.
Combat is deliberate, as Mina can only attack in four directions (up, down, left, and right), much like The Legend of Zelda on the NES. This restriction makes positioning critical in every encounter. To aid in traversal and defense, Mina possesses a unique movement mechanic allowing her to burrow underground. Because there is a slight delay before burrowing, the game demands a degree of prescience and timing to effectively dodge enemy attacks. While the core gameplay is incredibly satisfying, there are moments of frustration. The platforming can occasionally feel imprecise, leading to sections where I felt I was executing the required inputs without getting the expected results. Furthermore, the game could have more effectively directed the player; certain critical aspects felt obtuse, leaving me directionless at multiple points. Overall, Mina the Hollower is a love letter to games of old while introducing modern trappings like those of the souls genre. It’s a top-tier game that hits a home run on so many fronts.
Pros
- Beautiful pixel art style and a fantastic soundtrack.
- The world is packed with secrets, utilizing a clear visual language to make them satisfyingly discernible.
- The unique burrowing mechanic adds an excellent layer of depth to both combat and platforming.
- Great pacing when introducing new mechanics and enemies before ramping up the difficulty.
Cons
- Platforming can sometimes be frustrating, with moments where actions don't seem to yield the expected results.
- Obtuse direction can leave the player feeling lost or directionless at multiple points during the journey.
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