I don't have any nostalgia for the Game Boy Color era of gaming. It wasn't necessarily because I missed out on it; some of my earliest memories involve bonding over Pokémon on the OG Game Boy and then crying uncontrollably when I found out someone had stolen it from my backpack during lunchtime.
It was simply that I had outgrown the limitations of handheld gaming as a kid. I was too amazed by what the N64 had to offer to ever want to go back to pixelated, smaller worlds.
Or so I thought.
Mina the Hollower is so much more than a cutesy little trip down memory lane with a Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening aesthetic. It goes beyond being just a love letter to what came before; it's a refinement to near-perfection of the action-adventure genre. Legendary composers like Yoko Shimomura and Soyo Oka have cited working under memory constraints during the 8 and 16-bit eras as the most rewarding moments of their careers. Limitations breed creativity, and developer Yacht Club Games has perfected that mantra.
In Mina the Hollower, you play as Mina, a highly capable inventor who's a member of the Hollower guild, a group of dedicated people who spend their time learning the secrets buried underground. Mina crafted Spark Generators to help protect Tenebrous Isle, turning it into a very lively place. The generators are in dire need of repair at the start of the game, setting up the events for it.
As I've explained in my preview of the game, Mina the Hollower combines the top-down 8-bit look of the Zelda GBC games with more modern gameplay directly inspired by the Souls titles. It's not an easy game to just pick up and play if you want a cozy nostalgia throwback, but it's never, ever unfair.
Learning enemy patterns, nifty little tricks to defeat bosses, and the best way to approach each combat scenario keeps things fresh between each area and region you'll get to explore. I had many "aha!" moments while fighting the dozens and dozens of very challenging bosses around the world. A cool example would be one that barely took damage from my weapons, so I had to resort to environmental damage to take them down. These setpieces rarely amount to simply finding a weak spot and exploiting it; many things keep you on your toes at all times.
At your disposal, there will be a total of five weapons that Mina can access and upgrade. The variety in display might be short, but the creativity that the majority boast really makes up for it. Simpler weapons like the Whisper and Vesper daggers act as a swift means of destruction, at the cost of having to get up close and personal.
During my preview, I mentioned the daggers were my favorite weapons. As I spent more and more hours since then, I found myself absolutely adoring the loop and versatility that the Battery Buster brings to the table. It doubles down as a closed-ranged and long-distance firearm; you whack enemies to load up the weapon, then switch modes to fire bullets that can bounce off of walls.
Complementing your main weapons are Sidearms, incredibly useful secondary alt-fire of sorts. The variety lacking in the main weapon department can be found here, as they can get as simple as having throwing axes or rocks you can skip, all the way to mini-teleporters that can save you from dire situations, or a fishing rod to, err, catch fish. You get the gist, there are dozens of them, all with unique uses. These are expendable, so experimentation is highly encouraged.
Wrapping up the trifecta of combat are trinkets. These are special charms that grant Mina various benefits. Just like sidearms, variety is in store here, although trinkets are yours to keep once you find them. You only equip a set amount of them at a time, with the amount increasing as you upgrade Mina. Some unremarkable ones grant specific stat boosts to attack or defense, others, though, are absolutely game-changing. Shopkeepers hold a fine selection, but for the real good ones, you'll have to step into the world of Tenebrous Isle and find them on your own.
The use of weapons doesn't end with being tools to dish out damage; like many things in Mina the Hollower, accidental discovery will lead you to find other niche uses for them. I don't want to rob you of this experience, so all I'll say is try using them as baseball bats against certain enemy projectiles.
For all the less-obtuse things, Mina the Hollower has a gorgeous in-game manual, designed to mimic the dearly missed pamphlets that used to be packaged in each game box decades ago. It's worth exploring it even if you are keen on self-discovery. It's incredibly comprehensive, and chances are it'll have an answer for whatever you might be wondering.
In any case, defeating enemies and exploring the world will yield Bones, the game's main currency. I use currency loosely, since it doubles as EXP. This adds a surprising amount of depth to an otherwise standard system, seeing among other games within the genre: are you going to use your stockpile of Bones to level up your attack, or will you save it to buy an item you really want?
There's risk in amassing a ton of unused Bones, especially in the early hours of your adventure. Dying removes a Spark Orb, essentially a safety net that protects your stash. Die a second time, and you'll watch that precious commodity slip by your fingers. There are ways to mitigate the damage, such as converting them to Bonestone (a more durable version of Bones that doesn't go away on death) or simply upgrading how many Sparks you can carry, but those early hours might feel a tad too punishing if you don't jump in with the right mentality. My recommendation is that you don't worry about the fleeting nature of Bones early on, as you'll eventually get to accumulate much more than what you need.
Exploration is what'll keep you engaged with Mina the Hollower for dozens of hours. There are six major zones you can get lost in, with smaller areas expanding upon the map, as well as one central hub, Ossex, which acts as the game's major town. It's filled with such personality that you can only commend Yacht Club for going the extra distance. The overall vibe is rather grim; the entire game reeks of a world that isn't all it looks like, and Ossex is the perfect example.
Shopkeepers, often a beacon of relaxation for players, hide grimy secrets; they're intimidating and often condescending. Walking around town and talking to NPCs won't give you that sense of relief you often feel when coming back to a safe zone after wandering around the perilous places you'll have to visit. If you don't tread carefully, you might even run into a few unsavory characters.
Interacting with all these peculiar characters is something you should do, however. You'll find weaponsmiths, trinket vendors, and more. NPCs have a lot to say as well, as they can hint at what you should do next or have a few challenges to reap decent rewards.
The moment I realized I stepped into a truly special game happened during my visit to one of the aforementioned six major regions. There is an entire sub-quest in which you need to find a hidden vendor, find a way to steal his ladder, and use it around various points in the area to earn Bones, trinkets stashed in areas that would otherwise be impossible to reach, and entire optional challenges. It was all so unnecessary but so, so fun to figure out. The moment you start connecting the dots, seeing how all the little systems interact with each other, it's such a joyful feeling that I dearly missed from the barrage of modern hand-holdy games.
Mina the Hollower is filled with moments like this, coming at you when you least expect it. I'd be pressed to find a game that so consistently keeps players on their toes and rewards outside-the-box thinking. Mina's main way of interacting with the world is burrowing. Going underground can help you reposition during enemy encounters, solve puzzles, or find secret paths. You'll even use them to play mini-games you can find across Tenebrous Isle.
The downside is that the open-endedness of things might turn players off. There's no real sense of direction, and frustration might ensue if they end up in treacherous paths that weren't designed to be explored first. Combat might not also be what players, who are now accustomed to having parries and dodges to alleviate bad positioning, are used to. As a fighting game player, I realized Mina the Hollower wanted me to play footsies or stay neutral more than to press buttons without thinking. It might not be for all, and although I do love me a good parry mechanic, I don't think this game needed it.
The game has accessibility options that can be tweaked to your liking. You can choose to earn more Bones, do more damage, or receive less damage. There are other, goofier options, like making Mina bigger, removing the HUD entirely, or offering dozens of palette swaps and ways to change them during gameplay (like swapping between them when Mina jumps).
Ultimately, Mina the Hollower is so much more than a simple nostalgia pop; it is a gorgeous reminder of why so many people adore the top-down retro adventures and why working within certain limitations can push creatives to find innovative, fresh ways of coming up with gameplay solutions. It's not for the faint of heart and will definitely cause some frustration with its early hours' friction, but the sheer joy of overcoming its threats and unearthing its secrets is entirely unmatched. An easy personal Game of the Year candidate.
A code was provided by the developer for the purpose of this review.
And that's it. Stick with us at StealthOptional.com: your go-to source for all things Mina the Hollower.