Mina the Hollower Reviews
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.
Don’t let frustration throw you off. Mina the Hollower delivers everything it sets out to in spades. The combat is basic enough, but mix in quick traversal and a world that never stays stagnant, and it is equally frustrating and addictive.
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.
If modern-day AAAs have left a hole in your life that’s longing to be filled by a retro-revival, Mina The Hollower is for you. It’s also for those who are craving their next gruelling gaming challenge.
Mina the Hollower always does an amazing job where it matters. The game is fun to explore, hard to fight, features interesting enemies, and the whole adventure is made special by the burrowing concept. Gorgeous retro graphics, wonderful soundtrack, a ton of material, and a ton of ways to play it again and again; this is one of the best independent action adventures in years.
Mina the Hollower will make you reconsider your old methods of traversing the game world. In the end, this cursed island trek is a carefully crafted mixture of old and new design philosophies. It's a classic Zelda-style adventure structure, with the risk systems of Soulslike games, wrapped in a Castlevania-inspired atmosphere that never feels like a simple collage.
I feel slightly conflicted writing this review because there is so much about Mina the Hollower that I absolutely adore. The world design is excellent. The atmosphere is superb. Combat is satisfying. The soundtrack is phenomenal. The burrowing mechanic is genuinely clever. And the sheer passion behind the project shines constantly. At the same time, the heavy emphasis on Soulslike difficulty stopped me from loving it quite as much as I expected to. I personally would have preferred something a little closer to classic Zelda adventure design and slightly less punishing overall. Still, even with those frustrations, this is a fantastic game. Yacht Club Games once again proves they are masters of modern retro design. Mina the Hollower may not fully dethrone Shovel Knight for me personally, but it absolutely deserves to stand proudly beside it.
Mina the Hollower beautifully merges classic Game Boy Color aesthetics with punishing, Soulsborne-inspired action. While a steep difficulty curve, deliberate pacing, and vague Metroidvania progression may alienate casual players, its brilliant burrowing mechanics, rich build customization, and nostalgic atmosphere deliver a deeply rewarding top-down adventure.
Mina the Hollower is another practically perfect experience from Yacht Club Games, with retro challenge and a whole lot of creativity to show off.
Mina the Hollower is a testament to the importance and beauty of iterative game design. While it wouldn’t exist in its current form without each of its individual inspirations, it’s able to use those familiar reference points as a launching pad into something far greater and more dense than any game that it’s inherited DNA from. Between a world stuffed to the absolute brim with discoveries to make, the absurd level of player expression, and the ways in which the game surprises (and how it’s constantly able to do so), this is a new gold standard for not just overhead Zelda-likes but action-adventure games in general.
Mina the Hollower is one of those rare games that I didn’t expect much and ended up falling in love with. It’s funny, charming, challenging and incredible to play. It is Yacht Club’s masterpiece and by far one of the best games I played in 2026.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Mina the Hollower is one of those titles that warms the heart, especially for showing that, in such a crazy and unpredictable industry, there are still people working to deliver an experience crafted with so much love and care.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
"Mina the Hollower" is incredibly self-assured and knows exactly what it wants to be.
Review in German | Read full review
After a challenging start, Mina the Hollower burrows its way into my all-time indie favorites. Despite its fairly lengthy 25–30 hour runtime, the adventure never feels dragged out, as the game stays fresh from beginning to end thanks to its variety. Practically every aspect of the game reflects the developers’ passion and care for their magnum opus, and above all, Yacht Club Games has avoided gimmickry for gimmickry’s sake – instead, the inventive mechanics and skillfully crafted world complement each other brilliantly. Comparisons to older Zelda titles and Souls games are justified, but a bit tiresome, because Mina the Hollower absolutely has an identity and style of its own despite its influences.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Overall, Mina the Hollower is a delightful and charming blend of different genres that will keep you entertained for many hours. If, like me, you've been longing for a truly outstanding retro-inspired game, I highly recommend giving this one a try.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Mina the Hollower turns burrowing, weapons, Sidearms and hidden paths into a tough top-down adventure built around careful observation. The no-map structure can frustrate when clues don’t connect, but Spark recovery, and build choices keep Tenebrous Isle moving. It’s an excellent choice if you enjoy challenging exploration and don’t mind working out the path forward.
A masterpiece that transcends homage and forges its own identity. Despite the constraints of its Game Boy-inspired art, a single burrowing mechanic weaves combat and exploration into one cohesive whole. Dense shortcuts and 60+ difficulty options offset its unwelcoming design. A game that grows deeper the more you play.
Review in Korean | Read full review
Yacht Club Games have once again hit it out of the park. While Mina the Hollower’s influences are readily apparent, its gameplay features enough flourishes to stand out from the crowd of nostalgia-driven games that have emerged in the years since their splendid maiden voyage with Shovel Knight. Though the game’s story doesn’t quite live up to everything else in the game, the sense of adventure the experience provides makes up for it, leaving you to handle Tenebrous Isle as you see fit. It manages to capture what made the 8 and 16 bit eras of gaming so captivating, willingly pushing forward with its inventive and distinct ideas for dungeons and areas even with the occasional jaggedness that sometimes accompanies sticking with a particular idea or gimmick. All the while, it doesn’t feel like it depends on nostalgia to succeed, as it still feels fresh, taking the right lessons we’ve learned in the past few decades of game design, to combine the best of old and new into something absolutely worth playing for itself.
Mina the Hollower is yet another testament to the talent of Yacht Club Games. By skillfully blending the 8-bit aesthetics of the 1990s with the ruthless action and management mechanics typical of Souls-like games, the team has crafted a punishing, captivating, and deep adventure. Despite a difficulty curve that spares no one, the rock-solid combat system, excellent technical fluidity, and masterful art direction make Mina’s journey a memorable experience that comes highly recommended for lovers of challenges or classics.
Review in Italian | Read full review
If you're a Zelda fan and want a classic adventure, play Mina the Hollower! If you're a Castlevania fan and miss the "unique" atmosphere of the classic games, play Mina the Hollower! If you are... OH, YOU GET IT, PLAY MINA THE HOLLOWER!
Review in Portuguese | Read full review