Mina the Hollower (2026)

This very anticipated title is a remarkable action-adventure game that successfully blends old-school design philosophies with modern gameplay sensibilities. Developed by Yacht Club Games, the studio best known for Shovel Knight, it demonstrates a clear understanding of what made classic top-down adventures memorable while introducing enough new ideas to stand on its own. Rather than feeling like a simple nostalgia project, the game uses its retro inspirations as a foundation for a rich and engaging experience that feels surprisingly fresh. And one of the reasons why I say this was very anticipated, is because the team decided to delay its release in order to add new and fun features, like the built-in cheats which also serves as accessibility options. And this alone is more than enough to display how passionate the developers behind this project were while creating this.

One of the most distinctive features is the ability to burrow underground. What initially seems like a clever movement mechanic quickly becomes the core of the entire experience, influencing exploration, combat, puzzle-solving, and even boss encounters. It is an easy skill to learn, but a hard one to master, especially because you are quickly introduced to several different ways to enhance the game's mechanics, in the form of trinkets. Particularly, when it comes to the burrow ability, I like to use a trinket that can make you invincible after burrowing, for a brief period of time. Traversing the world feels consistently engaging because the burrowing mechanic is integrated into nearly every aspect of the design. It allows the developers to create obstacles, secrets, and combat scenarios that would not be possible in a traditional top-down adventure game, giving this game its own identity despite obvious influences from classic titles.

The exploration is surprisingly organic, at first you feel overwhelmed with options, and I got lost more often than not, especially in the beginning. But you'll quickly notice how nicely integrated the world is, similar to something like the modern Souls-like titles, which the map actually feels real, and not just places put together. One thing that made me notice this the most was a side-quest which you need to participate on a race to the very middle of the map, on several different areas. And since you have very limited time to perform this, you'll naturally start to notice the high level quality of the level design. In my opinion this is very incredible, because this is not something that is easy to achieve, and the developers made it feel very easy and simple, this is just one of the several displays of their level of creativity.

As for the visuals, the game is stunning, even if you are not particularly drawn by its style, it is undeniable how polished it looks. The pixel art embraces a Game Boy Color-inspired aesthetic while pushing far beyond the technical limitations of that hardware. Character animations are expressive, environments are filled with detail, and the dark gothic atmosphere remains compelling from beginning to end. There are several subtle little animations that makes all the difference, for example, whenever Mina attacks, she wrinkle's her eyebrows, and these little details happen everywhere. The OST complements the visuals perfectly, the quality of the songs are to the same level as classics such as both Zelda and Castlevania franchises, and this says a lot since these franchises have the best OSTs in gaming history. My favorites are the ones from the last levels: Theory of Everything (Mirror's End) and The Brilliant Truth (Radiant Manor).

The combat is another major strength, encounters are fast, demanding, and often require careful timing and positioning. Some may compare it to Souls-like titles, but particularly I don't really agree, it is actually the other way around. Souls-like titles were inspired by old exploration, level-design (especially from early Zelda titles) and a more harsh progression, with fewer checkpoints in general. But while the game borrows elements from these oldschool game designs, it never loses sight of its adventure game roots. I can't think of another game that comes this close to replicating the feeling of first implementations of the open-world mechanics in gaming. The main reason why I say this is because it does not have any Metroidvania elements to it, you can explore and go about your journey in any particular way feel like it. You also have a big arsenal to choose from, with at least five different weapons, and each of them having at least 2 upgrades, those being not just for more damage, but also introducing new movesets and mechanics.

Even the regular enemies can be dangerous, bosses are challenging and memorable, and progression feels rewarding as you organically and gradually master Mina's abilities. The difficulty may surprise those expecting a more relaxed retro adventure, but the challenge generally feels fair and encourages learning rather than frustration. You have several different resources at your disposal, even Castlevania-style sub-weapons which you can use. And compared to other similar titles, this one really makes you use them, it is not just a gimmick, but a must. This encourages experimentation, and you'll have a frustrating time if you don't put some time on creating some strategies. They can make or break your experience, so don't sleep on them, even more so when you start to think about creating builds with your trinkets to enhance this even further.

Not to mention, it has the classic experience points and leveling up, which is so simple it that it really can't be considered an RPG just because of this. I myself never had to grind to be able to progress, it promote a very natural progression. But exploration is where the game truly excels, the world is interconnected, packed with optional content, hidden upgrades, shortcuts, and secrets that reward curiosity. Every new ability expands your options and opens previously inaccessible areas, creating a satisfying sense of discovery throughout the adventure. And even though I said it does not have any Metroidvania mechanics, you can approach this as if it was one, but I guarantee that there are multiple different ways of solving the same problems, it just requires experimentation.

The game trusts you to pay attention to their surroundings, which makes uncovering secrets feel genuinely earned rather than handed out automatically. The only downside I can think of about the exploration, is the lack of a proper map. Some can argue that this is by design, since earlier open-world games also didn't had one. But to be honest, I wouldn't be bothered by this since the game's world is one of the most organic ones that I've experienced. My recommendation is to use a web browser and find a community made map, which I admit that I've used one for some sections in the game. You'll also have an overview map available to check if you missed any collectibles, which I recommend you try and grab all of them, because it is a really satisfying experience.

The game is not without flaws, its difficulty can occasionally spike unexpectedly, particularly during certain boss fights and late-game sections. And for those I recommend you use the accessibility cheats if needed, no shame in that, just keep in mind that this will disable in-game achievements for that particular save slot. And again, you also have several different ways of dealing with problems like this, use and abuse of the overpowered combos you can create, plus the already mentioned five different weapons to chose from. Some people may also find the limited guidance and emphasis on exploration confusing at times, especially when trying to determine where to go next. Those accustomed to modern conveniences such as extensive quest markers or highly detailed maps may need time to adjust to the game's more traditional approach. For me this is a plus though, it is refreshing to have an experience with less sign-posting and hand-holding from time to time, it feels more peaceful.

Even with these shortcomings, this title stands as one of the strongest indie releases of 2026, and to me, this is already the best indie of the year. It successfully captures the spirit of classic adventure games while introducing mechanics and ideas that make it feel contemporary rather than derivative. The combination of excellent level design, rewarding exploration, satisfying combat, and beautiful presentation makes it easily a must-play if you like action-adventure games to any extent. It is both a love letter to gaming's past and a confident statement of how those ideas can still evolve today. This videogame is an exceptional adventure that rewards patience, skill, and curiosity, and it deserves a place among the best modern indie games. Without a doubt, I can safely say that Mina The Hollower sits among big classic indie titles such as Undertale, Shovel Knight and the like. And just a little quick note: it has a secret ending, with a totally crazy approach on how to achieve it, one of the most insane ones I've ever seen, but didn't had enough courage to try out myself.

I think I’m going to be the odd person out, but I’m really not digging this game and it’s mostly down to the platforming, which feels very bad and inconsistent. I’m in a section where I need to use a parasol to float across a gap, but jumping and pressing the secondary weapon button produces two very different reactions even when my timing and button presses are identical, and one result always means plummeting.

I can get behind a lot of games with a challenge, I just beat Saros with as many extra hard modifiers activated as I could have for fun. I just can’t get behind a game that doesn’t behave consistently from moment to moment. When I’m struggling with the game’s UX rather than its challenges, I’m not having a good time.

Mina the Hollower is a top-down Zelda-like/Souls-like action RPG featuring an anthropomorphic mouse (Mina) returning to her home island to fix some broken generators she herself designed and built long ago. Upon her return, she discovers the island is in complete turmoil thanks to the darkness of the broken generators. That's where the journey begins!

I am going to be perfectly honest - I didn't like it at first. The combat is clunky and somewhat hard to get used to. There's no real dodge mechanic, Mina can't turn while attacking and some enemies are ruthlessly fast. The path forward was sometimes hard to find.

However, as I pushed through the "getting used to" stage, I got really into it. I couldn't wait to come back home from work to continue playing it, and that's the best sign I actually enjoy the game. As you level up, get good at the gameplay and get some useful trinkets (equippable power-ups), the game gets easier and more fun to play. Exploring the world, completing the dungeons, finding secrets and generally enjoying the journey (and the music!) was awesome!

Mina herself is very likeable. Entering a new arena will show an epic, pixelated image of the scene which beautifully captures the atmosphere alongside her determination. These brief moments alone make the game worth playing.

Now, that doesn't mean that the initial flaws go away. There are still some:

• The game has a lot of extremely annoying sections. I'm imagining the designers competed who can make the most annoying one. Difficult platforming, sometimes tight time-wise and always accompanied by the most annoying enemy;
• The "sidearm" system, which is basically a secondary weapon, is horrible. These are not items you have in your inventory, these are items you randomly find in the world that you lose once you die. You can have only one at a time (there are upgrades that let you have two at a time and keep them after death, but it doesn't really make it much better),
• Once you fall into a pit, the game teleports you back to the last safe platform you were on. That's fine, most games do this. However, in this game the "last safe platform" is really loosely defined, to say the least. It seems like it's not updated regularly, which results in you being teleported all the way back to the start of a section, despite landing on technically safe platforms along the way. And believe me, you will fall into pits a lot.

Despite all these flaws, I still enjoyed it thoroughly after the initial push. However, they are noticeable, recurring and annoying enough for me to give this game anything higher than a 3.5/5. Since this site doesn't allow half stars, I will round it up to a 4/5. Definitely check it out.

This game certainly is an open world soulslike GBC Zelda and it mostly lands across the board for me. The combat and mechanics take a lot of adjustment, but even the best of the souls games often will tweak their mechanics enough to make them feel fresh. Think Bloodborne or Sekiro. Both play completely differently from Dark Souls/Demon's Souls yet still rhyme and feel familiar. I would argue that's how Mina feels.

Like with Souls games, puzzles in a Zelda sense aren't really here. There are still puzzles, mind you, but they are more akin to navigational puzzles. There aren't really Metroidvania style power ups that gate keep core progression. You do get sidearms, which do make navigating some obstacles more possible, or trinkets that enhance traversal. But for the most part, often times, the solution to a secret is painfully obvious. Which is honestly good design. Being obfuscated enough to trick you into thinking you need to come back later, but then once you figure it out, many doors open to you, especially for future playthroughs. And some obstacles that require specific sidearms to traverse, or trinkets, are often completely optional. Still worth seeking out, but not gatekeeping progression from you.

It's truly impressive how open this game is. There certainly is a path of least resistance that the game clearly guides you down, via the newspapers which is a fun mechanic. Only the OG Zelda game had this level of freedom, well to be fair so does BOTW/TOTK.

The game is very old school in design, but honestly has tons of modern conveniences. An actual GBC or NES game would never be this complicated or be able to run Mina. Not only because the moves you have as Mina wouldn't have worked with only 2 action buttons, but also the design of the pause screen. That said, the organization of menu UI leaves much to be desired. Mostly in the difficulty options. It's really neat how much customization you have access to, but it is a giant text of boxes you can click and scroll through. It's not a big deal, and I personally kept the game at its intended difficulty the whole time, so I didn't really bother with this menu.

Mina is hard. You can't approach it as either a Souls game nor a 2D Zelda. If you do, you will have a bad time. You do have i-frames like in souls games, but the way it works takes a while to grapple with. And sometimes burrowing won't protect you anyways. You need to jump into the air and burrow under ground, meaning you need to be far more anticipatory when reacting to enemies. You can't dodge last minute or you will just get hit. There are some trinkets that do give you a dodge roll, but you are meant to use burrowing both offensively and defensively. Once it clicks, it feels really good! Especially when you stack lots of trinkets that makes your burrowing stronger and last longer. I had one trinket that allowed me to just hold down the A button to endlessly burrow. Meaning I could fight an entire boss by effectively burrowing the whole time. Creating poison trails that hurt the boss and explosions each time I need to pop up briefly. Silly but fun!

In some ways, the generators (this games dungeons) often times as a Majora's Mask vibe to them in design. Each area is effectively multiple gauntlets. There's the initial gauntlet to get to a dungeon and then the dungeon itself. I like this! Each zone and dungeon are visually distinct and while I can empathize with people wanting a map, the game isn't designed in a way that feels homogeneous. There are clear distinct landmarks and you always know when you enter a new zone. There is a map, it's just in your underlab. I don't mind this as a compromise because the game is clearly designed with this in mind. This places the emphasis clearly on exploration and engaging with the world. And the game rewards you abundantly for doing this. There are just so many secrets in this game.

There's also a lot of bosses. I found some to be frustrating due to them being effective bullet hells while the boss felt too spongey. But overall I liked these. Each felt unique, had their own mechanics and fit the theme of a given area. One of the more interesting and unique bosses was the one for the Halloween themed town. It starts as a Mr. X style pursuer enemy you can't beat, but then culminates into a very satisfying battle. Each boss feels memorable, but this really stood out for how unique it was and how it made the dungeon as a whole feel unique. Having these set pieces of pressure where you are running for dear life from the pursuer enemy. It truly is impressive how each zone and dungeon really do have their own unique vibe.

Combat is a little of a mixed bag for me. Most attacks you have are only 4 directional, with a few exceptions. Such as the twin dagger lunge attack (which is awesome) or the gun. This is mostly fine, but man those few enemies, such as the crows, who love to fly around and attack at angles are more annoying than they really should be. Especially when they assault you during a platforming challenge which is frequent...

There's also a ton of platforming challenges that require a frustrating degree of precision. I'm fine with a precise platforming, but Mina's controls don't feel tight enough for the later gauntlets. Especially when you need to burrow jump (you go further) while on moving platforms. Man the game throws a decent amount of these at you towards the end and they are SO frustrating. The main issue is Mina uses OG Mario/NES physics when it comes to moving platforms... meaning if you jump, you don't move with the object you are on, which completely defies the laws of physics. This isn't a problem for Mario because you don't need to jump, land on the same platform, then move forward to burrow jump... if the moving platforming physics worked like they do in reality, it actually wouldn't be bad. Just needing to jump straight up to burrow then move to jump would feel good. Instead, you need to awkwardly jump, while moving the joystick in a way to keep you in line with the platform, but then don't move too fast or you'll keep moving when you land and just jump off the platform... man this is so janky...

But as a big plus, it's awesome how distinct and varied each weapon is to use. It really does completely transform how you play. I started with the whip, but then encountered a game breaking bug 7 hours in... when navigating the Overgrowth (the first area leading to the Halloween town zone), I someone clipped out of the geometry and moved to the next screen in an unintended way. This completely broke the game and made progression impossible. Essentially there are these brambles that block your way and force you north to reach the first bonfire, because I accidentally clipped into that screen, the bramble blocking one path shifted and blocked the way I needed to go... making all progression impossible. To not make resetting after 7 hours not a slog, I switched to the daggers. Loved them too! If I ever play Mina again I will certainly commit to the hammer. It's neat that all weapons are viable and drastically shift gameplay.

I think the general plot and world are interesting, but this isn't going to blow you away narratively. The final boss is painfully obvious right out the gate. It's still a fun journey though and while it has jank, it's easy to overlook it given the sheer amount of passion on display here. If you love Souls games with a firm challenge Mina is an easy recommend. If you like GBC/2D Zeldas... Mina is a bit harder to recommend. This is WAY harder than any of those. That said, the game does give you an overwhelming way to modify the challenge of the game. So you can definitely still beat it even if hard games aren't your thing. Just don't feel guilty for making yourself invincible.

Aside from jank around controls, the only real issue with the game is around the mirrors... I'm not even going to mark this as a spoiler. The game does a poor job of communicating how important the mirrors are. You are meant to walk into it for a few seconds, then you enter it... This isn't remotely intuitively and entering mirrors are required to beat the game... This should have been better tutorialized... That said, I can overlook this flaw (which is a problem).

While I have never played Shovel Knight, I'm going to fix that soon! Mina was great, even if it has it's flaws.

I thought Mina was going to be an easy 10 for me. Shovel knight was a game I very much appreciated, despite linear level-based platformers always losing my interest after a couple hours (I need non linearity after the novelty wears off). So I mistakenly believed Mina would be Shovel Knight: the metroidvania… and it almost is. But unfortunately, the game has some design choices that kept it quite dull for me, and many steps from greatness.

1. it is NOT a metroidvania. It is a hub and spoke design. You can tackle any of the 6 paths in any order you’d like, but there is no true ability gating, mobility upgrades, and the backtracking is rare and almost always optional.

2. There is no real map. This is the death knell for me. You get a world map, which functions more as a pretty picture than something you can use. And it took me a while to realize (and accept) - the game doesn’t even necessitate a map. You can pretty much finish each “biome” on the first visit, and they are all pretty much linear.

I sort of shot myself in the foot as I attempted to play it like the game I wanted it to be anyways. I used a fan-made map to track optional items in the hopes of getting 100%… but this made the game all the more boring to me. It doesn’t really want to be played like a metroidvania, but more as a linear platformer with a bit more choose-your-own-adventure flavor to it (as well as some optional challenges for completionists).

This design just isn’t enough for me to see through to the end. It is polished as you’d expect, but it just doesn’t push the right buttons in my brain for me to continued slogging it out… luckily, a number of true metroidvanias have recently dropped (Alruna 2, Xanthiom 2) and I am itching to jump over to those. Yacht Club, for the foreseeable future, is not a developer I will be keeping an eye on anymore.

If you’re like me and want a top-down metroidvania, I way more recommend Pipistrello and the Cursed Yo-yo, Bloody Hell, and Kharon’s Crypt - Even Death May Die.

5/10

Started a second save file where I picked the big hammer as my weapon, and once you get over the initial hump (specifically, learning that you can start your attack charge during a burrow jump for better range and speed) it becomes so clearly superior to the whip that it's absurd. The giant AOE of its blast means you can play way faster and looser with your positioning, its range and speed are just as good as the whip, and it does like twice as much damage.

Running around destroying every enemy in one hit moves a lot of focus off the combat and lets exploration take the spotlight, which I think is to Mina's benefit.

Rolled credits in Mina the Hollower yesterday, I think it was a mistake by Yacht Club to make this into a kinda Metroidbraina, kinda Tears of the Kingdom, play as you want game.

Very early on, I leveled up and got “game breaking” trinkets that sort of made the game too easy and less interesting. It's a good game in many ways, and lovingly made, but I wish it was something else.

It's extremely influenced by top-down Zelda, yet it doesn't really follow the rules that makes those games great (ability gaited progression among one of them, puzzles). It's extremely influenced by Souls Games but doesn't balance the upgrade and trinket system to keep the combat challenging. After the first area, I leveled up a bunch and got some pretty "broken" trinkets and stayed in auto-pilot for the rest of the game, just tanking bosses and pressing attack. Not to compare everything to Silksong, but that game does have many tools and upgrades that make the game easier, however the bosses remain difficult for the most part and you need to learn the fight before you can move on. That's the kind of balance that I think is necessary for this kind of game.

On a positive note, I love the art style, the charming world and NPCs, the humor, Mina herself and the music. The game controls well for the most part, and it's very satisfying to burrow. I liked exploring and finding secrets and early on had a great time, however the more I played, the more I "broke" the game and I wasn't trying to. It's really too bad, because with some of the game design tweaked here, I could see it being a fantastic, challenging and compelling game. As it stands, it is as a flawed game that tries too many things and doesn't really commit enough to having its own identity.

Crossed a big chasm and randomly stumbled into a super tough, seemingly totally optional boss fight that I had to rework my entire trinket loadout to beat! Stacking the Brisk Brew, the Uranium Bracelet, and the Chain Capacitor all on top of each other makes for a Mina who is positively zooming around the screen dealing 4x damage, but gets 2-hit KO'd by everything and needs to land every single attack. Seeing how wildly each trinket can change up your playstyle is a real strength of the game, and feeds back incredibly smoothly into the exploration to make each new discovery feel worthwhile and exciting.

(Also the boss dropped 7000 bones when I won and I'm filthy rich now woooo)

Playing this in an odd way, where I'm trying to find the entrance to (and beat the entryway boss of) all six of the main dungeons before setting foot into any of them. Really loving how much stuff there is to find just in the overworld!

Like, last night I found the air dash and the chain hollowing trinkets basically back to back, and everything about how Mina moves feels 100% better now. It's rad to have such meaningful upgrades hidden away, though I do sorta feel bad for players who might wind up stuck with the less-fun base moveset for hours and hours.

I like so many things about Mina the Hollower but there's so much that just isn't vibing with me. The combat was sooo frustrating prior to finding the Battery Buster, and the Plasma Vial system makes recovering health so annoying. That combined with the Soulslike mechanics made me want to quit this game until I tried messing with some of the difficulty modifiers to make healing less frustrating.

Also, I really don't get Yacht Club's crusade against having a detailed map. Like, there are 50 different modifiers to make the game easier but having a map showing what places you have visited and what POIs you've uncovered in this huge world is where they drew the line? It's not a game breaker but wandering around trying to remember if you've visited an area before or not isn't very fun.

This is one of my favorite games of 2026. Not only is it supremely fun and offered me an interesting challenge, but it also offers one of the things I enjoy most in video games: a world full of surprises and secrets to discover where something interesting can be hidden around any corner.

Read my full review in spanish in GamerFocus.

Article: Digging For Gems - Weeks before launch, Yacht Club Games’ founder shares new details about Mina the Hollower by Marcus Stewart

As Yacht Club focuses 100 percent of its energy on completing the game, the staff is feeling the full brunt of the stress, fear, and anxiety the final development stretch often brings. “If before there was an air of hope, now there’s an air of desperation,” Velasco says, laughing. “Like, ‘Oh god, we just want it to be done. Please let it be done.’”

It’s an understandable sentiment. Mina the Hollower is Yacht Club’s first new IP in a decade, but Velasco isn’t necessarily concerned about whether players will enjoy it. He’s confident the team has crafted a fun game. His primary worry is if it sells well, and the existential fear of what could happen if Mina doesn’t make enough money.

“But who knows if that fear is founded or not”, says Velasco. “With Shovel Knight, it was like ‘Oh god, if the game doesn’t come out, we’re going to go out of business.’ And now it’s like ‘Well, I guess if Mina didn’t sell, then we would be in pretty big trouble. We’d have to figure something out. So yeah, it is existential. You’re always only as good as the last thing you did.”

Mina has been delayed out of the month and I say good. I will never complain about a game delay again. There are too many good games all the time. Persona 3 Reload will be on Switch 2 any day now but I still haven't finished Hades 2 but I really should get back to Silksong before my muscle memory for its combat goes away but what I really wish I was playing is UFO 50 but what about the rest of my backlog but...

Everybody just take a minute. Unless you're the Mario Kart World DLC devs then get a freaking move on!