Mina the Hollower

I don't like that when you die and lose bones (money), that money is permanently removed from the game, reducing the total amount of money you will ever be able to get. It becomes a non-renewable resource, so you're permanently punished for each death. Preparing the dodge roll requires jumping into the air, and takes about a second. Most enemy attacks, and all boss attacks I've encountered, are hinted with less time than that, so you can't dodge any attacks.

i really wish i liked this game. it feels hard for the sake of being hard and if you even think of touching the accessibility options, goodbye achievements. i love difficult games but this is tearfully frustrating and unrewarding.

Kickstarted a Zelda like, got a Souls like instead. Honestly it's fine but not what I wanted and I put it down after a few hours. Wouldn't really recommend it though.

What an absolute disappointment. If you want brutally unfair game design that feels actively malicious at times then this'll be enjoyable for you, after all it has the same design principals as kaizo romhacks of Mario World. I tried so damn hard to enjoy this game, but for every cute bit of animation and characterization, every silly pun and charming bit of dialog, there's 10 enemies designed to be as annoying as possible to deal with, and 5 area's crammed full of them. I played with the mace, as I found it was quick while giving me the range I wanted while also being zippy and quick enough. After fixing two spark generators and getting to the end of Septemburg I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gave up. Let me tell you why. After a gruelling segment dealing with poorly explained lightning mechanics and a wind hazard (everyone's favourite, she said sarcastically), and having to do it multiple times due to poor checkpoint placement, I got ambushed by the area's boss enemy, a chaser style enemy that hit's hard, is constantly on your ass, and can grab you out of the ground. If you're cornered by him, I'd say it's a 50/50 chance he just grabs you and throws you into a wall for massive damage, punishing you for trying to not take damage. Finally I pass through the unfair windy maze filled with enemies knocking me around that I can't focus on, because on top of the wind every few seconds I'm at risk of being zapped by lightening, doubly on top of being chased by a big bad, and I'm ushered into an arena. With barely of my health left over, no plasma to heal myself with, and a generally exhausted attitude from the entireity of the past area, I'm faced with a boss I have to learn and then defeat. it checkpointed me before the chase segment leading into the boss, meaning no matter what unless I did it perfectly, I'd be at a disadvantage. I gave up at that point. So much of the design in this game feels poorly considered at best and actively malicious and mocking at worst. Why take damage for not only getting hit, but for falling into the pit you were knocked into? Why have surprise bosses you aren't able to prepare for that end up gobbling up your pretty valuable currency? Why have screaming turnip enemies that you can't damage until they're up and knocking you off the narrow ledge they were placed on? Why is it that when you find a new weapon, you're forced to use it until you can find a checkpoint to swap it at? Why any of this? I expected far better from the studio that brought us Shovel Knight, as that game comparatively is as tightly designed as a Swiss watch. Where Shovel Knight was a challenge that encouraged you to learn it's innerworkings and adapt to meet the challenge, cheering you on as you got better and better, Mina the Hollower feels as if it's actively laughing at you and expecting you to just suck it up and get better. It's unfair, unbalanced, dickish design, and it should be advertised as such so you don't end up expecting something more in line with Yacht Club Games' previous works. Lastly I'll list some things I do enjoy about the game, just to add some sugar to this bitter bitter bitter review. The sprite art is gorgeous as expected, animations lovely while also being good at telegraphing attacks, though it could do that more effectively in certain enemies. The movement is fun and clearly has a high skill ceiling, however it really is a shame you can't burrow again immediately after surfacing, I understand if it's a matter of balancing however dolphin diving would've been really nice. The combat, when it isn't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ you over and forcing you to deal with stiff and precise platforming along with it, can be really fun. With the weapon I had it can lead to some bouncy dances as you bob and weave under and around projectiles and the boss itself, wailing on it when you spot and opening, and worming away to heal just in time, it's just a shame that some bosses seem to punish my particular playstyle. The secondary weapons are really interesting, harkening back to the NES Castlevania game's in their nature, however Shovel Knight's looming shadow makes me wish they were less disposable. And lastly, as stated before, the dialog is really great, even better than anything in Shovel Knight. I'm usually the kind of lady to read a little but mostly ignore flavour text so I can get to the gameplay quicker, but I found myself actively going out of my way to read whatever these little animals had to say. All in all, this was a massive disappointment. Most of my issues could likely be fixed in a balancing patch but that doesn't change the fact that the game released like this, with no warning of it's Rayman 1 esque dickish design. I wish so badly I could like Mina the Hollower, but as it stands it's just an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I really can't bring myself to touch. To reiterate the start of my review; if you like kaizo romhacks, or putting up with flawed game design, or enjoy games like the aformentioned Rayman or other games like darksouls, where the point is to punish you relentlessly for anything, then Mina the Hollower should be good for you. Otherwise save yourself the $20.

This genre of games which rely on being as annoying as possible instead of actually being well designed can't go away sooner. And I'm not talking about any souls (or metroidvania) games, i love those, because you actually had to learn patterns and the reward and feeling you got after you defeated a boss was unmatched. Here, atleast till the bosses (5 i think) I fought, there is no pattern, no strategy. Just spam X and eventually they will die (they didn't seem to have that much health). I beat whatever bosses I fought in few tries, and it didn't really feel i did something, as none of them were the least bit challenging / rewarding. And this is not even about bosses, every aspect of the game is just made to annoy the player and waste their time. At no point in playing any other game in similar vein did i feel this annoyed. Also, the 'old-schoolism' of this game is a little too heavy handed. The colors overall are ugly and awful, the perspective is difficult to figure out at times. Same thing with combat. 8 directional instead of 4 direction combat would have solved probably most of my annoyances with it, especially because the enemies move in such a randomized way, it is difficult to gauge where they would be, so you can correctly position yourself. Overall, i think the game at its best is just ok, but it would've been so much better if they didn't stack up as many annoying mechanics as possible as the game went on. My score is the the same as the variation of the word 'annoy' (not counting this one), i used in this review-> 5/10.

bad design for the sake of retro feel is always something

Really enjoyed Shovel Knight and was hoping for another great (and challenging) experience. Sadly, I can't say this game hooked me in the initial two hours I played. The game looks great and probably has a great story, but unfortunately the controls and combat left a lot to be desired. I'm not a huge fan of the eight direction movement but locking the attacks to four just four. The early game difficulty felt more mean spirited than earned, with enemies being huge health sponges that also dealt substantial damage consistently. This wouldn't be a huge issue if the movement and dodging felt good but i simply didn't enjoy how slow Mina was. I really wanted to enjoy this game, but I can't see myself playing more of it. If you are one for a quite unfair (or unfun in my eyes) gameplay experience with very minimal build up to the challenge and a lack of responsive controls, this might be a great game for you.

I've never had a game like this where I want to love it, but everything about the game actively does everything it can to make me hate it. This first half of the game? Fantastic. A lot of fun, very challenging. The second half? Dreadful and uninspired. Mechanics exist in the game solely for the purpose of making the player miserable. Joules are the best example for this. You died and lost one of your sparks, putting you closer to losing all of your bones? That's apparently not punishment enough! You also have to lose ALL of your joules as well, which are what you use to use sidearm weapon attacks. There's a Joules shower you can get for your den that you would think would solve the problem! However, NO! The shower can only hold a certain amount of Joules, and if you use them up, they take time to come back! Because, again, being punished once for dying isn't enough! This means by the late game, if there's a boss you're struggling on, the upgrades you've purchased to help you SPECIFICALLY when there's a boss you're struggling with do literally nothing! Good game design 101. That's how literally all of the den upgrades work. They're all solutions to a problem that was tailor made for the game. Not to make it more fun or interesting, not to make you engage with the world, but specifically to make the game more frustrating for you to play. The final area is a living testament to this game design philosophy. It starts out fine. Strong enemies, sure, but fine. And then come the mouse traps. You get clipped by them once and quickly learn that you can't just ignore them. So, you pay more attention to where you're fighting. Not entirely unfair, but an annoyance. Then come the flipping tiles. A further annoyance, but nothing impossible to handle. And then there's a room filled with disappearing tiles AND with an enemy that likes to ledge guard you if you get voided out, making it nigh impossible to get into the area again without taking further chip damage. ...And then, there's the crushma machine. The final area before the boss fight. This is, without a doubt, the most miserable I have been playing a game. A single room has never so drastically shifted my opinion about a game prior to the auto-scrolling crapheap that is this final room. It goes on for FAR too long with not nearly enough space to maneuver. It expects lightning fast reflexes if you want to get through without losing a majority of your HP to the pits. And even then, if you get unlucky with enemy behavior, that doesn't matter! You're still going into the pit! The actual ending itself also felt like a final punch in the throat. Without going into spoilers, it's a miserable ending to a miserable section of gameplay. There has never been a game that I like this much that I physically cannot recommend to anyone of sound mind. The game wants you to hate it, and unfortunately, I think I do now.

수려한 아트, 훌륭한 OST, 흥미로운 세계관과 스토리, 하지만 불쾌하고 불합리한 전투가 모든 것을 깎아먹음 땅굴꾼이라는 주인공의 특징에 맞춰 독특한 이동 시스템을 넣은 건 좋다. 그리고 고전 게임을 표방한 장르 답게 상하좌우만 공격 가능한 시스템도 납득 가능하다 그런데 적들은 항상 플레이어의 대각선에 자리 잡고 탄막을 날려대고 온몸에 피격 판정을 지녔으면서 전방위로 맵을 휩쓸며 돌진 해댄다. 게다가 공격 빈도도 짧고 매우 호전적임 적들 뿐 만 아니라 모든 맵 요소들도 플레이어에게 적대적으로 작용하고, 항상 제작자의 의도에 저격 당하고 있다는 생각을 하지 않을 수가 없음 불합리하고 불쾌함이 만연한 시스템, 하지만 클리어가 불가능할 정도는 아니었기에 엔딩까지 봤음. 딱 그 뿐임 게임에 도전적인 요소는 필수 불가결이라 생각하지만, 이 게임은 그 정도가 조금 지나침 그걸 고전 게임의 구수한 맛이라고 포장 하면서 까지 고통 받으시고 싶으시다면 말리진 않겠음

I initially played Mina for about an hour and then requested a refund because I wasn't enjoying how stiff the controls felt, as well as the entire sidearm system. Steam denied my refund, so I decided to beat the game out of spite. I did not use modifiers, and I basically ignored the sidearms unless I was forced to use them. The controls never improved. Difficulty is almost entirely derived from how Mina controls. Platforming is very easy, combat is only difficult because enemies are often faster than you, and slightly sidestep your attack, forcing you to reposition endlessly. There is no sense of progression. No upgrades that slowly unlock areas, etc. Instead you find limited sidearms that sometimes grant you abilities that might be useful for traversal. There is no exploration. The paths to the "dungeons" is very linear, as are the dungeons themselves (except when you need to find 4 switches, then you pick a direction and loop around). I was kind of ok with no paths locked behind traversal skills until I needed to go to the ice mountain area and the game said "lol, nope. Grind for 10,000 bones!". A skilled player should be allowed to get there without grinding, even if the free path is challenging. The level system doesn't need to exist. Trinkets are too overpowered as is, and the level system just acts as a soft gate for less skilled players to prevent them from going to the dungeons out of order. The most difficult bosses were the final boss, and the boss of the graveyard (the Dutchess?), which you're intended to fight first. There were one or 2 songs that were catchy, but everything else was forgetful. Visuals were fine, but most screens felt cramped and cluttered with visual noise, especially early on. Performance was great. I played entirely on the Steam Deck Oled. Overall, I didn't enjoy my time and I wish Steam would have refunded me when I asked.