Twelve whole years ago, the world was graced by the release of Shovel Knight. It was the era of Kickstarter, where seasoned developers took to the crowd funding website to make games that publishers just weren’t looking for in the current gaming landscape. Plenty of people wanted a retro style action platformer, so much so that the game continued to update and add stretch goal content for five more years after release. Shovel Knight was a game made for somebody like me, providing an old school challenge for those with pixels running through their blood (which definitely isn’t healthy, see a doctor). For years now the next Yacht Club-developed Mina the Hollower was what I was most desperate to play, and despite ludicrous levels of personal hype I was beyond satisfied with the final product.
In case the title didn’t make it clear enough for you, Mina is a Hollower. From what I can gather this is the fantasy version of an electrician, and with all the towers that help power the land malfunctioning you have an important quest to go on. The one in charge of Tenebrous island is keen for Mina to keep this gothic land ticking along, but his dissenters very much don’t. The story of the game isn’t necessarily why you’ll play it, but there are still more memorable characters and epic moments than most retro style games could ever dream of.
When you first arrive on the island (or more accurately crash land on it) you’ll be given a choice of three weapons. These all function totally differently, and will dictate your playstyle in the opening of this old school Zelda style game. I picked a whip because I sensibly wanted some range, and then I got to fighting various nasty bats and knights. Even at this early stage you can see the magic in the combat, thanks to the ability to burrow which means you can dodge and weave around foes at breakneck speed.
Burrowing has uses outside of battle too. As standard Mina is able to hop across a gap that’s a tile long, which you’ll be doing often to get across little holes. If you burrow and then pop up at the edge of a gap though you’ll leap two spaces, which is often very much required. More than any other similar top down game I’ve played there’s a whole lot of platforming, and it plays out wonderfully.
After an intro that teaches you the basics of being a good hollower (how to hit things and dig) you’re let loose on your quest to restore the towers. If you explore the main town for long enough you’ll get a good idea of the recommended route, but you can tackle the towers in practically whatever order you want. There’s no new gear in Mina that you necessarily need to progress, and instead this experience is freeform and allows you to explore and get brutalised however you want.
The main reason to try and stick to the critical path is the difficulty of the game, which by default is a touch on the brutal side (but can be customised in a ludicrous amount of ways if that’s not your jam). There are a load of ways to make Mina stronger though, often by collecting bones. This currency can be spent on various helpful items, or used to upgrade your stats. You’ll need to gather a lot of it for later level up boosts to attack or defence though, and with the risk of losing it all after a few deaths there’s always plenty of tension when your health and restorative vials start to run dry.
Another way you can improve Mina’s chances against nightmarish bosses and tricky platforming challenges is by finding and equipping trinkets. These have loads of interesting and powerful effects, and will absolutely be used to break the game by clever gamers. Some trinkets are simple, giving you extra healing vials between checkpoints or stronger attack strength, whereas others are more creative. One of my favourites spawned little ghosts that healed me, whereas another granted a little light in dark caves that would be much more challenging with only candlelight to guide you. My favourite of all saved me from a pitfall when I went tumbling to my doom one time, and could essentially be used to move an extra square if you react quickly enough. With dozens of these to collect there’s a lot of scope to create a trinket build that suits you, especially once you unlock more slots to equip them.
None of these clever systems would matter if the world you explore was boring, but thankfully that couldn’t be less true. Each area of Mina the Hollower is creative and throws something new at you. One minute you’ll be using fire to burn through hay bales at a farm full of living scarecrows, the next you’ll be trying to navigate a swamp full of murky water with your standard abilities. Each area is so much more than your standard video game themed biome, and they all offer clever new obstacles you’ll have to use your skillset to overcome.
Playing through the campaign of Mina the Hollower once will take you around fifteen hours if you’re not too thorough, but the game doesn’t have to end there. Completionists can obviously hunt down every little collectible and do every optional challenge race and subtle side quest, but on top of that there’s also New Game Plus. Well that’s a lie, there’s seven new game pluses that get progressively tougher and add new fun elements to contend with. If you want to play Mina forever, you probably can.
There’s so much to love about Mina the Hollower, and one element that would be easy to ignore is the overall charm of the game. The lovely pixel visuals and banging chiptune soundtrack help with this, but the characters ensure it is all brought perfectly to life. Characters like the creepy jump-scare clown, who appears unexpectedly to tell you bad jokes. The horror theme is rather strong, with even the giant shopkeeper grabbing at you with its creepy hand if you ignore new stock for too long. I wasn’t expecting such a fantastic world to accompany this retro style challenge, but it only serves to add to this masterpiece.
There really isn’t much to complain about in Mina, and I devoured it from start to finish. Early on I found the lack of a map a little jarring, but after a couple of hours I understood it was encouragement to explore and I appreciated the world more for it. The difficulty by default will also be a bit tough for some, but when there are so many options to play with that hardly matters either. That’s all I’ve got for negatives really, and neither of them are even legitimate issues for the most part.
Mina the Hollower managed to live up to the hype, and even surpass it. Much like Shovel Knight before it, Mina feels retro but with modern design that ensures it’s the best of both worlds. Every single screen of this game feels masterfully crafted, with not a pixel nor mechanic out of place. Mina the Hollower is quite simply one of the best games I’ve ever played, and if you’re looking for an old school challenge with a creative twist then your new obsession is right here.
