Mina the Hollower Reviews
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.
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.
An almost perfect retro adventure with a compelling story, cute characters, and incredibly captivating gameplay.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Mina the Hollower is a sharp, stylish adventure that blends retro charm with modern precision, delivering a journey that feels both familiar and fresh. Its tight combat, clever progression and gothic atmosphere kept me hooked from start to finish, and even with a few navigation frustrations, the overall experience shines far brighter than its 8‑bit roots suggest.
Mina the Hollower blends gothic atmosphere, expressive movement, clever customisation, and meaningful player freedom into one of the most rewarding indie adventures in years. Its minor frictions are easily outweighed by its charm, craft, and replayable design, ingredients that make for a modern masterpiece.
Mina the Hollower delivers a standout indie experience, blending classic Zelda-style exploration with challenging Souls-inspired combat. Packed with secrets and striking retro-inspired visuals, it marks another strong release from Yacht Club Games and a serious contender in this year's awards.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Mina the Hollower brings together a comprehensive collection of mechanical influences and visual styles to craft an engrossing, singular 8-bit adventure that delights as much as it innovates.
Mina the Hollower is an absolute triumph, with the brilliant world design, exciting combat, and fun burrowing mechanic ensuring it stands out as a distinct, old-school treat. It can be tough (and the lack of a map and a restrictive fast-travel can be a pain), but it really is as another astounding success for the team at Yacht Club Games. It might have taken a while to launch, but Mina the Hollower was absolutely worth the wait.
Explore every inch of a cursed island in an adventure that takes inspiration from the greats.
Mina is a gloriously gothic combination of ferocious combat and beautiful scenery, with enough secrets and modifiers to keep the game fresh and fun for a very long time.
Mina the Hollower's retro world is crammed with mysteries worth finding and lively, clever combat I couldn’t get enough of – it’s a big game in a small package, and an absolute masterpiece of an adventure.
Mina the Hollower is an almost faultless game that combines elements of nostalgic classics we know and love with a healthy dose of Yacht Club’s flair and expertise to make it something that truly stands out as a retro-inspired masterpiece.
Mina the Hollower looks like a nostalgic throwback, and it undeniably is, but its thoughtful design and larger sensibilities make it play and feel like a contemporary video game – one that has taken the right lessons from the medium’s history.
Shovel Knight was a well-deserved successful debut for Yacht Club. Mina the Hollower may be its masterpiece.
Somehow, the Dark Souls influences keep Mina from being the best Zelda-style game it could be, while the Zelda mechanics prevent it from reaching the heights of the best Soulslikes.
Mina the Hollower is an incredible action adventure game that manages to offer a lot to explore and significant depth in its combat and exploration mechanics. Every single time you try to see just a little more, and you can open up many new possibilities with new items and game-changing features. The end result is a fantastically crafted experience that should be on the top of the lists of new indie titles to give a try in 2026.
Yacht Club Games has successfully made the leap from Mario-inspired side-on platforming to Zelda-style adventure, delivering another retro-styled masterpiece. Mina the Hollower is an intricate, challenging yet accessible adventure packed with content, set against a gorgeous 8-bit gothic backdrop.
With Mina the Hollower, Yacht Club Games managed to beautifully pay homage to some of the absolute greatest classics in gaming history, all while carving out their own entirely fresh identity with an irresistible experience.
The Game Boy Color lives again, via an inventive top-down adventure that’s filled with clever design decisions and surprisingly nuanced combat and gameplay.
Mina the Hollower has the weight of expectation upon it, and it's a game that meets many of them. The retro aesthetic is lovely, the world is well made, the boss fights are varied, and there is a lot to find, but it also has its frustrations. Poor navigation is the main factor that sucked some of the enjoyment out, with the game really wanting a better map to aid you. Still, Yacht Club Games has made a good game overall with Mina the Hollower.