Mina the Hollower

Mina the Hollower is a fantastic game, but has some rough edges that give it an authentic feeling even if that feeling can sometimes be frustration. As someone who treasures the old top-down Zelda games like Link to the Past and Link's Awakening, it's really cool to see someone fill that design space with modern sensibilities. The same strengths of Yacht Club's prior game Shovel Knight are on full display here- a fun and interesting world with tasteful retro graphics and music, complementing a gameplay experience with unique but strong foundational mechanics. The new secret-rich, Souls-inspired level design complete with shortcuts and healing system draws from some classic games, while still somehow feeling like its own thing. At the same time, compromises were made when grafting all these seeming incongruent ideas into one 20-hour game. Platforming can be satisfying in some areas, especially after a few upgrades, but especially in endgame areas feels designed to be challenging in a frustrating rather than "fair" feeling way. The sometimes spartan visuals, top-down perspective, wealth of trinket options, and some particularly awful hazards gave me the impression that Yacht Club was struggling to find interesting ways to keep the game both challenging and rewarding. Since the player can have literally 0 movement upgrades or all of them (which can trivialize certain rooms entirely), areas seem to be balanced at random where some are too easy and others a total clusterTruck. The combat faces similar issues with certain sidearms feeling useless while others make you unkillable- it's hard to resist the temptation to abuse these systems when fighting a boss "fair" involves strolling around the arena and dodging a full 2 seconds before the attack will arrive. Ultimately even if the game's balance could use some significant fine-tuning, and maybe a slight movement speed increase by default, this game is easily my favorite this year. Given the game's ending, I'm hopeful we'll get to see a continuation of the story in a future game as I think there's a ton of potential for another game refining this style further.

This one blew all of my expectations out of the water. AMAZING game!

Outstanding!

I mean something wild would have to happen for my score to change. This game feels incredible to play. Every challenge feels fair and fun. There’s been no real point where i’ve felt like a run back has been obnoxious because there’s always a legitimate gain. The leveling system is super simple but rewarding. The weapons all feel unique and important. Secrets are EVERYWHERE and this little island is DENSE. This is what I was hoping Silksong would be, and I hope that Mina gains as much love over time has shovel knight has because it really deserves it. I’ll update when I complete it but at this point I’m thinking this is my GOTY

this game ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bangs

This is a 10/10 game. There is nothing to complain about in this game. If you are a gamer, buy a Steam Deck and buy this game.

Cool

Jogão.

Amazing game. absolutely recommended :)

Genuine banger that I can't reccomend enough. A game with incredible depth that lets you choose how deep you want to go without punishing you for it.