von From the first hit of the chiptune soundtrack to the classic Game Boy aesthetic, you would be forgiven for needing to remind yourself that it is 2025. However, anyone who played Yacht Club Games’ excellent — and appropriately difficult — Shovel Knight should immediately have an idea of the quality of the game they are diving into. And for those who haven’t, please let me explain.
Mina the Hollower is an isometric action game that takes inspiration from the handheld Legend of Zelda games, while adding some modern twists. The story seems to be more of a vehicle for the gameplay and aesthetics. You play as Mina, a bipedal mouse who is part of a group called the Hollowers, who travel the world. She is also the inventor of spark generators and is travelling to the Tenebrous Isle to figure out why these generators have stopped working. Will there be twists, turns and memorable characters? Possibly. But as it stands right now, the story is merely an okay vehicle to get to the gameplay. And that is where the game shines.
After a relatively short introduction, the game truly begins with you selecting one of three weapons: a pair of daggers, a whip or a hammer. The daggers attack quickly but have a very short range. The whip, on the other hand, has better range but attacks much more slowly. The hammer has a quick attack while also offering a charged attack that can stun enemies. The only problem during this selection is that there are no enemies or dummies to test the weapons on, so you have to go mainly on gut feeling and your general preference for weapons in games. However, even if you do not like your chosen weapon, there are a variety of sidearms to use, such as throwing knives and a hatchet, as ranged options.
After attaining a weapon, the game kicks you into the deep end against a boss. This demo does not hold back or hold your hand. There is no explanation of the controls and no step-by-step tutorial. You either know what to do or die trying. However, once you beat the boss and get to the mainland, the game truly begins to take shape. This is where you are forced to utilize the burrowing ability. Again, unless I missed some sort of tutorial, you simply learn by pressing buttons and seeing what happens. By holding the jump button, Mina dives underground instead of just landing, allowing her to burrow. This is used to navigate past fences, avoid enemies and get under rocks, which Mina can then lift and throw at enemies.
Much like Shovel Knight was a high-quality homage to 2D platformers of old, Mina the Hollower manages to accomplish the same feat with action games. However, while Shovel Knight was difficult — to some extent even unforgiving — Mina the Hollower has the potential to be slightly more forgiving. This is due to two more modern additions to the genre. The first is a flask-like system, where the player has a healing item that refills as they damage enemies. The second is a leveling system using the currency “bones”. However, because bones do not seem to be reproducible — enemies and the environment appear to drop them only once, and if they despawn, they do not return on subsequent visits — this may frustrate perfectionists or players who are just shy of a level-up, particularly if there is no way to get more in the full game.
Ultimately, the demo for Mina the Hollower suggests that Yacht Club Games may have another hit on its hands when the full game releases. Because the game has such a strong aesthetic and sound, it can take risks with the gameplay — and those risks seem to pay off. While it may not be the best game for beginners due to its difficulty and lack of instruction, it makes for an engaging and enjoyable experience. Only time will tell whether the gameplay mechanics and story will be rewarding in the long run, but from what the demo shows, it is shaping up to be another classic.
Demo Deep Dive is a series looking at upcoming games through available demos, giving impressions on everything from aesthetics and sound to, most importantly, how they play. Hopefully, you find this series enjoyable, informative and ultimately helpful — both to inform you about games and to promote titles that you may otherwise not have heard of.
This demo for Mina the Hollower is available until September 30 via the ID@Xbox Xbox Selects Demo Fest.
Image: Pixabay
