Mina the Hollower

The game is good, but in its current state, it feels like an unbalanced mess. I managed to complete two areas without stopping to farm. But it was a pain. Near the end of one of them, however, I found a decent farming spot. After spending some time there and finally being able to buy upgrades for Mina, the game became noticeably more enjoyable. That is the main problem: the game only started feeling playable after I deliberately searched for a place where I could farm for hours. Before that, entering a new area often meant getting killed in one or two hits. The invincibility frames are so brief that two consecutive hits practically feel like a one-hit kill. You then lose all the gems you had collected up to that point, making exploration feel more punishing than rewarding. The combat also has some very strange design choices. When Mina attacks an enemy, she is the one who gets knocked backward. This constantly pushes her toward pits or directly into other enemies. It makes attacking feel dangerous for reasons that are not always under the player’s control. The collision detection can also feel inconsistent. Sometimes it seems impossible to avoid taking damage, especially because the game combines a Game Boy Zelda-like perspective with jumping and vertical movement. I understand why this might be difficult to implement, but that does not make it less frustrating. The worst issue, however, is Mina’s movement. The acceleration makes her feel imprecise and difficult to control. There were many situations where I got hit simply because she did not move the way I expected her to. Since touching enemies can damage you, this becomes a major problem. When I take damage because Mina keeps sliding or accelerating past the position I intended, it does not feel like my mistake. This becomes even worse in the ice area, which was the second area I visited. Fortunately, I also found a good farming spot there. After upgrading Mina further, the game became much more manageable. To me, that only reinforces how poorly balanced the progression is. The game should not require hours of farming before exploration starts becoming enjoyable. I also think the progression would be better if more upgrades were discovered naturally instead of purchased. At the very least, the game should let you buy gems with money so that dying during exploration does not erase so much progress. A map would also improve the experience considerably. The runbacks can be brutal as well. People complained about the runbacks in Silksong, but some sections here make you repeat almost an entire area while dealing with large groups of enemies again. It is honestly surprising that this was made by the Shovel Knight developers, because Mina does not feel nearly as satisfying or responsive to control. There is a good game underneath all these issues. The world, presentation, and general concept are strong, and the experience becomes genuinely enjoyable once Mina is powerful enough. Unfortunately, getting to that point is frustrating, repetitive, and far too dependent on farming. Mina the Hollower is a good game, but it desperately needs better balancing and more responsive movement.

Great game with some personal inconveniences mainly combat and platforming as sometimes It feels sluggish due to the 8-bit approach however exploration was spectacular 10/10 especially if you're a guy who enjoys Zelda 2d games A very solid 8.5 game For the price it is definitely worth it

After 100%ing the game (not the Steam Achievements, but all collectibles, items, weapons and so on), I can confidently say that this games is a little masterpiece. From the first moments it gave me 2 distinct feelings: my childhood with my GBC games and the first time I played Hollow Knight. As the Lead Designer said, this game is heavely inspired by those old school GBC titles, particularly Zelda (Link's Awakening especially). That can be seen from the graphics. the design of the levels and the music. I am a sucker for pixel art games, even more for low bits ones (like this 8-bit one). Here the graphics are clean, distinguishable and memorable. The various mobs, bosses sprites and environments are so, so, so good. The exploration you can do in this game and the things you can find, see and uncover reminded me when I entered the City of Tears (in Hollow Knight) for the first time. A feeling of discovery, of awe and of a remnant of the past. Here, in Mina, those feelings can be seen but under a new light with this new world (an Island called Tenibris) and it's zones, features and facets. Combat is fun and challenging but never really unfair! You'll probably die a lot from normal mobs simply because you don't have enough upgrades / trinkets / weapon upgrades or simply because you don't know their movesets, especially on bosses. Be prepared to retry them a couple of times (probably a lot more)! You can choose from different weapons each with their own movesets and combat types. Making the game play out differently in those fights. There is a bit of puzzles and backtracking, needed to both advance in the game's story and to unlock specific things. There is a pletora of collectables and unlockables. From trinkets, that give some ability, much like Hollow Knight's charms, upgrades to max life, vials (healing potions, with a twist), joules pouch (to use sidearms), sparks (you'll find out what they are and what's their use), and many more things you'll uncover playing and exploring the game! You can find various easter eggs here and there, that I won't spoil, that give back to those old games and even some "recent" indies (gogo my beheaded!). Sooooo, bit of long but really wanted to lay down what this game gave me and explain it's features a bit. TLDR: If you like an old school 8-bit graphic action-adventure game, good game design and gameplay, a bit of puzzle and backtracking and a lot of challenge, buy this game!

This is going to make me sound insane but the dealbreaker came in the form of A) i don't like having to burrow and time unburrowing (basically a 'negative edge' jump) to superjump and B) why the ♥♥♥♥ are enemies incapable of being hit while flying, then can be hit while standing when they swoop, but when you JUMP, they still HIT YOU at GROUND LEVEL? Why do ONLY ENEMIES actually move in '3D space' when they jump/fly? and C) what do you mean i can't burrow under the statue? and D) what do you mean i can't burrow under the FIRE??? *OR* jump OVER it???? Honestly, i also was hoping for more "Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Rodents" and not "yet more 2D souls nonsense: hooray for souls-likes". i'm so ♥♥♥♥♥♥' over souls-likes and souls mechanics lol. On top of which, i don't give a ♥♥♥♥ when i level up, because the 'skills' you level advance in souls requirement (the souls you spend to level up the skills are not the currency you level up with, which i'm hoping sounds as stupid as it feels to type) in such large margins, you might as well just level each of the 4 along with each other. pick a random one of the four every level, and then repeat. i dunno. my sister loves it. i'm sure it's a me problem. but, for me, that's a problem.

Mouse was thick.

Faz algumas semanas que eu terminei Mina The Hollower e sinto um quentinho no coração sempre que penso nele. O jogo é claramente inspirado em Link’s Awakening, mas consegue se sustentar com uma identidade própria e ao meu ver transcende o gênero de zelda-likes, se tornando um novo clássico instantâneo. A Yacht Club Games já tinha alcançado esse feito com Shovel Knight e jogos de plataforma lá em 2014, e repetiu agora. O mundo é construído com um level design milimetricamente calculado e excepcional. Muitas vezes essa construção é feita para te matar? Sim, mas não deixa de ser genial. Cada região é cheia de segredos e puzzles espalhados, então a exploração tende a ser bem recompensadora. Além disso, você tem a liberdade de fazer as dungeons na ordem que preferir e as boss fights são bem trabalhadas e te fazem pensar muito no seu posicionamento e timing para cada ataque. A narrativa é outro ponto forte também, a Mina é uma protagonista muito carismática, assim como a grande maioria dos NPCs que você vai encontrar pela ilha. Tudo parece muito fofo e engraçado na superfície, e isso contrasta bem com a atmosfera sombria desse universo ao longo da história. Infelizmente o marketing de Mina não foi dos melhores e acho que o excesso de mídia sobre a dificuldade dele vai acabar sendo um contra para quem tem interesse e gosta de experiências mais tranquilas. O combate de fato é bastante desafiador, mas se torna bem justo depois que você se acostuma e consegue subir alguns níveis e equipar apetrechos. Existem pontos no mapa que te permitem farmar ossos rapidamente e ainda há diversos modificadores que podem facilitar ou dificultar a gameplay. Acessibilidade não é um problema aqui, então se não curte jogos muito difíceis, pode dar uma chance para esse. Até o momento, é o meu GOTY e recomendo com força!

Muy buen juego, es como si fuera retro pero a la vez modernizado, es raro ver que haya más de 100 herramientas y que todas sean útiles. Algo que se me hace muy curioso también es que los tutoriales son visuales, llegas a una zona y ves elementos nuevos y debes deducir como pasar, no te explican directamente, pero observando suele haber información útil para avanzar (todos se atoraron en el pantano, no mientan) y la gran mayoría de npc dan pistas muy claras sobre secretos. Por lo demás pues la historia es predecible, prácticamente desde el inicio puedes saber quien es el malo, de quejas realmente solo me pareció mala una parte de la ultima zona del juego, hay un autoscroll horrible cerca del final y la primera parte del boss final parece más un puzzle para armarte una build que una pelea mecánica buena. Es muy divertido pero debes entender que está diseñado como un juego retro que apela mucho a tu curiosidad, el castigo por no explorar es muy alto, la ausencia de mapa, que no haya indicadores o caminos marcados puede ser algo que eche para atrás a muchas personas a los pocos minutos de juego.

in the isles, straight hollowing it

Enjoyed the game up to the final boss, just poorly balanced overall.

I suck at this game