Mina the Hollower Reviews
No mere Link's Awakening homage.
Having moved from 2D platformer to top-down adventure game, Yacht Club Games has gone from strength to strength to deliver a game that has completely taken over my spare time, and keeps dragging me back to explore more of The Tenebrous Isle. Make no mistake, Mina The Hollower is no hollow victory, it's something truly special.
Mina the Hollower is a good game for people who love the idea of mixing Zelda with Dark Souls. Unfortunately, if you don't fully love what that entails, I don't think it will win you over as much as others. For some, they will find the combat challenging in a good way, with a world you can get lost in. Others will see a series of roadblocks thrown in the player's face as they try to navigate those problems. Regardless of if you think the sum of its parts makes a masterpiece or not, Mina the Hollower was clearly crafted with a lot of passion and care.
Mina the Hollower has the charm of video games that aren't afraid to demand something from the player: attention, memory, curiosity, and a certain tolerance for defeat.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Mina the Hollower is a truly magnificent adventure. Burrowing isn’t just a gimmick; it’s embedded into the experience, creating a synergy between movement, combat and puzzling.
Overall, Mina the Hollower is a well-designed, retro-inspired game. It demonstrates that Yacht Club Games is about more than just Shovel Knight. It looks more like Zelda than it actually plays, making it a tough outing. Plus, there's no map (by default). However, the exploration, lore, graphics, and soundtrack make this a fun journey nonetheless. It'll be interesting to see what's next for the team, though I imagine that's a long way off.
What appears at first to be a return to game design from eras past evolves into something truly special.
Mina the Hollower is another masterpiece from Yacht Club Games, a Zelda style game that manages not only to equal the series that inspired it, but in some ways surpasses it. The world is detailed, gorgeous, and overflowing with secrets. The writing is sharp and often hilarious while maintaining a gothic horror vibe. Best of all, it feels amazing to play, with tons of ways to customize Mina and the game itself to fit your playstyle. It’s filled with freedom and challenge in equal measure, but as a Hollower you are more than up to the task.
Mina the Hollower is a triumphant return for Yacht Club Games, creating one of the greatest retro throwbacks of all time. With its unique burrowing mechanic and challenging combat, this is nothing short of a grand adventure. Its most glaring flaw is that it ends, but at least I can continue playing with plenty of post-game content.
It's been thirty-three years since The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening came out on the Game Boy. It was a shock, then, to see the world of Ze...
Mina the Hollower is one of the best and most challenging games to come out in 2026. It brings great level design, balanced backend gameplay, and delivers plenty of ways to enjoy it.
Mina the Hollower isn't perfect or even close to it, and given expectations following Shovel Knight, that's kind of disappointing for me. Nevertheless, it's still a very good old-school action-adventure with strong combat fundamentals and undeniable charm.
With Mina the Hollower, Yacht Club Games captured lightning in a bottle a second time. It's a must play experience.
Mina the Hollower is a brilliant 2D action-adventure game that takes clear inspiration from classic Zelda while building something that feels fresh, challenging, and uniquely its own. Its open-ended exploration, clever combat systems, strong sense of discovery, and flexible modifiers make every part of the adventure feel personal. While its difficulty can spike, Mina the Hollower stands out as an instant classic and one of the best games in its genre.
Yacht Club Games somehow successfully marries old school Zelda and Castlevania...with a Souls-like dynamic. It's a beautiful challenge with great retro appeal.
Yacht Club Games' return bridges the gap between souls-like games and their 2D action-adventure ancestry with enough confidence and energy to instantly become a new indie classic.
Mina the Hollower is a serious adventure that is playful, charming, silly, and brutally challenging.
Mina the Hollower is an amazing title from Yacht Club Games that everyone needs to try.
A retro-styled 8-bit action adventure, there's a lot to like about Mina the Hollower if you don't mind a challenge. But unforgiving combat, accessibility options that lock out achievements, and lack of any guidance makes this a more frustrating experience than it should be.
A gem of an 8-bit-style action adventure that pays homage to The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, and Bloodborne