Mina the Hollower Review

Every so often, a game comes along that completely reinvigorates one’s love for the medium. It’s a special, hard-to-describe kind of excellence, one that you must think about for a while before shouting loud praise from the rooftops. I think Yacht Club Games might have the exact breed of winner in its hands with Mina the Hollower.

This new action-adventure from the makers of Shovel Knight has been in the works for more than a few years, so it’s easy to notice and underline every bit of modern influence as you play through it unless you’ve been gaming under a rock. It’s far more than a mix of games we know though.

Mina, a plucky mouse and “renowned Hollower”, is on a dangerous mission to save a cursed island from what’s essentially a widespread power outage. Even though almost every NPC is chatty in this game, it’s light on exposition. What’s a “hollower”? Is Mina a tech wizard and an adventurer? Why is she legally allowed to go around whipping and whacking all sorts of monsters on her own? Such matters don’t take up much time even when they’re explained, as the developers clearly stuck to the old-fashioned school of design and storytelling beyond its top-down 2D adventure structure and looks.

I don’t know how other reviewers will handle their articles or videos, but Mina the Hollower is a game so delightful and jam-packed with surprises – both narrative and pertaining content – that it’d be a disservice to reveal much about its areas, enemies, or funniest bits (which is why most of the screenshots here are from the early sections). Its balance of colourful whimsy and gloominess is a thing of beauty that covers all corners of Tenebrous Isle and allowed Yacht Club to go off with enemies and friendly NPCs.

One moment, you’ll find yourself kicking a can with some kids. Minutes later, you’ll be running away from a slasher killer in a maze-like forest. Mina the Hollower never stays still for too long, and even its basic structure (go to distinct main areas to reactivate the towers you’re here to fix) and souls-like influences can’t contain the barrage of amazing little ideas per minute the game has. It’s the exact opposite of “design by committee”, a triumph of creativity built on top of robust and familiar foundations.

For example, staying on offense is highly encouraged, as hitting enemies with primary weapons wins back “temporary” health that can be fully regained with plasma vials. It works exactly like in Bloodborne on paper, yet the game’s 2D nature rewrites its rhythm as the D-pad-oriented controls have their limitations. There were times when I felt like a more precise control scheme and hitbox refinement would’ve helped the harshest fights shine, but Mina the Hollower’s fights largely impress where many others have failed.

The game sticks to its initial pitch with conviction, but is always interested in throwing curveballs at the player, many of which are linked to Mina’s signature ability to burrow, which allows her to reach specific parts of the screen, scurry away from danger, or even jump further. It’s very simple on paper, as you burrow with only a long button press, but intelligent design makes it a fun centrepiece of the game.

Traversing its dense open world – which is far less “gated” than the classics it honours – is also a delight, as almost every screen outside the main town presents a new challenge to figure out or daunting enemy encounter. At times, you’ll also get a glimpse of paths that can only be explored with the right trinkets. Some of them you can buy or will just come across while completing the critical path; some you’ll have to look for.

Since most can transform builds and open up new possibilities, the game does a great job of making the hunt for tangible upgrades engaging. Beyond the obvious references, that’s the side of Mina the Hollower that feels like 2D The Legend of Zelda the most to me. The Dark Souls-y tradition shapes its approach to shortcuts and checkpoints, with an underground refuge that you “dig into” from specific bonfire-like tiles, though some players might be annoyed by the dreaded runbacks on the default difficulty settings (it can be altered with modifiers… which disable feats).

After you think you’ve “figured out” a zone’s gimmick, Yacht Club comes up with a new one on the spot or presents a new area layer with new rules and enemies. Surprise is at the centre of Mina the Hollower, and this sense of true wonder and discovery never vanishes before the credits roll. It’s why going straight into New Game Plus (there are good reasons to do so) feels right or why going for 100% completion might entice the genre veterans. Bosses are fun to master; the map-less approach to exploration coupled with the perfect world size and layout will (no doubt) spawn all sorts of speedruns; and abundant accessibility options and modifiers can completely reshape the experience.

Even the audiovisual presentation – squarely influenced by the Game Boy Color era but not to a fault – elevates not just the vibes, but also how the level design works. Certain tiles will reveal secrets, but it’ll be a while before your eyes are trained to spot them; the subtle “shadows” applied to certain sprites will add height as needed. Yacht Club never “cheats” with 3D effects and smartly plays with its 2D presentation to keep things fresh and readable. The masterful use of retro graphics shapes the game and not the other way around, which might sound logical… but isn’t always the case in retro-inspired indies. It all runs smoothly across the board, too. (Why wouldn’t it?)

Mina herself – a classic 2D hero by all accounts – also gets some sort of character development beyond becoming stronger by collecting bones (this game’s version of souls) or grabbing new weapons like a spooky shield. Yacht Club never slows things down to make you read for too long, but I liked this wasn’t a straightforward mission with no twists and turns. Again, expect no deconstruction or a deep text, but there’s an attempt to slightly shake things up on the narrative front, which is nice.

Jake Kaufman (Shovel Knight) and Yuzo Koshiro’s (Streets of Rage) soundtrack is also deserving on its own paragraph. Catchy tunes seamlessly meet sombre pieces, and when coupled with sound effects that never feel overdone or strident, the soundscape becomes as magical as the gorgeous scenarios Mina goes through. Beyond the expected DNA, here are hints of Pokémon in there, which I found particularly cool, especially when trying to find my way through a loopy route where monsters are actively trying to murder me.

I could go on and on, detailing every little mechanic or system gluing this adventure together, or providing specific examples of wacky little (and) big guys I came across during my joyful odyssey. I strongly believe doing so would be a disservice to you, the reader, and take me straight into “product review” territory, a format that benefits only the games that can be easily summed up. Mina the Hollower is above that; a game that delivers exactly what I wanted and then some with amazing skill and attention to detail, but is also the most surprising and inspiring 2D romp I’ve played in a rather long time. You deserve to experience all that for yourself, trust me.

Mina the Hollower launches on May 29, 2026, on PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch 1/2, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. A Switch 2 review code was provided by the developer.