Mina the Hollower review

Shipwrecked and alone, I soon find myself stumbling through cobbled streets and blazing fires. Energy-sapping gaps in the floor must be avoided, and violent bats fought off. My reward for successfully navigating all of this stress and hardship is a one-on-one battle against the oversized mace-swinging brute standing between me and safety. By the time I finally make it through this opening gauntlet my healing vials are empty, I clearly need to work on my attack-avoiding burrowing technique, and I’m exhausted.

Exhilarated too. I need more. More do-or-die battles against foes quick to punish every wrong move. More panicked dashes through danger as embers float in the air. And Mina the Hollower is more than happy to provide.

Almost every screen forces me into a vicious fight for survival against alert and eager enemies, the land itself, or more often than not both together. The weapons I fight back with are a small but varied bunch, encompassing twin daggers, large hammers and parry-focussed coffins. These items can be enhanced in town if I have the currency to do so, but the cost and type of their limited upgrades—favouring expanded abilities over raw damage—ensure the emphasis is always on fighting smarter rather than simply hitting harder.

Versatile subweapons I find while out and about require their own unique energy reserve to use. These range from straightforward offensive weapons, such as knives and axes, to floaty projectile-blocking parasols and even speedy bikes. Combat feels brilliantly scrappy and improvised. There is never one perfect choice for any area or enemy, the game always encouraging me to find my own style or adapt whatever I happen to have on me to the situation at hand.

Pixel perfect

Improvisation comes easily in Mina the Hollower, even when the difficulty is unforgiving. The retro-inspired style, clear design and strong colours cause every deadly hazard and key feature to stand out. It only takes a glance to see how close a fragile ice tile is to shattering underfoot, or whether a gap needs a burrow-jump or a standard leap to clear. No matter how big a boss is—and some of them are huge—or how many tentacles/teeth/eyeballs it’s got, if there’s a particular body part I need to aim for, I can always quickly pick it out from everything else in the arena.

Every area leading up to these horrors has a unique style—and unique challenges to go with it. The wooden boats and deep water of the bayou have to be handled in a completely different way to the almost Celeste-like ice blocks and Mina-flinging platforms in the mountains, which are again different from the conveyor belts and explosions in the desert.

Puzzles are always of the “How do I get over there?” or “How do I survive this?” variety, keen observation and intelligent use of Mina’s abilities and whatever’s in the area my only path to success. Keys are never for anything more than optional extras, sparing me from scouring the map for some missed chest or trinket. It gives these trials an incredible freeform feeling I desperately need to see in future action RPGs like this—I don’t want to find gems for gem slots or to push another damned block into the right place, I want to boing over deadly farm machinery and hop across lilypads with a perfectly timed tap.

This is a rich, layered world where a hole in the ground often leads to a true below, with alternative entrances and exits logically linked to the area around me, rather than a simple dirt-themed room. Every bush and wall seems to hide a secret, and every strange little gap in a semi-hidden corner leads to some new area.

There’s always some weird statue or odd NPC to find while I’m exploring, or some unusual feature to take note of for later. Just being here and paying attention can lead to some incredible discoveries.

I may be gently guided along one path, but I’m actually free to go wherever my skill and curiosity are able to take me, and tackle the game’s areas in any order I like. I will never encounter a locked door that must be opened using a special key guarded by a boss lurking elsewhere, nor find myself standing in front of a contrived blockage without my Blockage Removing Mitts of Legend. It’s gratifying that Mina trusts me enough for skill and enthusiasm to serve as the driving force behind my progress. Getting between these points of interest is not as difficult or time-consuming as it could be either, thanks to a huge selection of unlockable shortcuts. What was once an arduous trek is only ever a single switch, dropped rope, or even a train ride away from becoming a quick journey from the nearest checkpoint.

My way

Or I could just decide to turn on the modifier that allows me to instantly warp back to the central hub, one of a whole host of optional tweaks allowing me to adjust everything from the weather to basic rules. Burning desire to test myself? I can decide Mina will take triple damage. Tired of screwing up a jump? I can make my mouse a little floatier either temporarily or for forever. NG+ unlocks even more options: Everyone dying in a single hit, Sonic the Hedgehog-inspired movement, even the stomach-churning screen tilting of the accurately named “Max Barf” mode. There is virtually no challenge I can imagine—not even “What if I played with reversed controls and the colour palette changed every time I jump?”—Mina doesn’t allow me to create.

Just having these options changes my relationship with the whole game; if I’m struggling with a particular section or running back to a boss for the sixth time it’s always by choice, as my only “punishment” for using easier modifiers is losing the chance to unlock achievements.

These changes only work so well because Mina’s confident—rightly so—that it can offer a great version of any experience I’m looking for. This is a demanding game filled with bosses eager to pummel players down to size. Even regular enemies demand nothing less than my full attention. But if I’m not interested in that side of things it is also a beautiful, atmospheric game with an intriguing narrative, stuffed full of secrets and quirky characters. It can even be a weird toy if I want, a giant Mina speeding around a constantly spinning screen whilst gudde peoples doth converse inn a faux-Victorian styyle. Reaching the credits only makes me realise how much there’s still left to uncover, and how many ways I have to go about it. Which weapon will I specialise in next time? Which hidden treasures will I pursue first? Which sidearm will I practise with? Which area checklist will I complete? Should I turn on the ninja-ish modifiers, creating a swift, lethal kind of game?

One thing I’m sure of is that with Mina, it’s always up to me.