Invention is the name of the game in Mina the Hollower. Aside from being a kickass Hollower with the ability to burrow underground and pop out with surprise attacks, Mina’s also an inventor. Having brought light and life to the city of Ossex on Tenebrous Isle, our story begins with Mina being called back to town after her ingenious spark generators start to break down mysteriously.
Mina the Hollower wastes no time in throwing you straight into the action. Once the setup has been set up, it’s off to the races with you. Pick a weapon (I ended up going with the dual daggers because I’m basic), and you’re immediately thrust into the gothic action where seemingly everything is out to get you. I’m talking skeletons, armored knights, and even the environment itself, where pits are cunningly hidden by grass patches and walking over them means losing a large chunk of health.
Right off the bat, I was struck by how well-realized Tenebrous Isle is. Mina the Hollower is, at its core, a 2D action game akin to the likes of the old-school 2D Zelda games, though it also takes some cues from FromSoftware’s Souls games. Each enemy you kill rewards you with Bones, but if you die, you drop them and start from the last checkpoint. You’re then forced to make your way back to your death site to pick them up, or kill the enemy who stole your Bones. Die again, however, and those Bones are lost forever.
It’s not just the harshness of the Bones system that harkens back to From’s Souls games, though; it’s also the level design. Similar to Bloodborne, Tenebrous Isle is heavily inspired by 17th century gothic aesthetics, and it features an intricately crafted, interconnected world that feels overwhelming and sprawling at first, but the level makeup begins to make sense to you once everything comes together and the world loops around itself. The dimly lit, moon-bathed environs and the quirky anthropomorphic citizens bring Ossex to life in a way that made me excited to return to its city center every time I was done with a long expedition in a new level.
I will say I did find myself wishing Mina the Hollower came with a map, as I found it difficult to navigate around the early levels and figuring where to even go. I know that’s probably what the developers intended, as every screen is designed carefully and with purpose, and the levels are structured to make Tenebrous Isle feel daunting. Still, a map would’ve greatly cut down some of my early-game frustrations, allowing me to enjoy the exploration more freely while being able to see where I needed to go next. I did eventually get used to Mina the Hollower‘s design language, as I learned to recognize shortcuts and blocked off areas that I had to make a mental note of, but I could see this being a rather large barrier to entry for some players.
Thankfully, the moment-to-moment action gameplay is largely excellent, if a little brutal for folks who may not be very well-versed with 2D combat. Mina and her enemies move around on a 2D plane, and she’s able to attack, jump, or burrow into the ground. The burrowing, in particular, is a true highlight as it serves as Mina the Hollower‘s innovative contribution to the increasingly oversaturated Souls-like genre. When you burrow into the ground, you’re invulnerable to attacks for just a second, and you’ll be able to pop out of the ground to jump over longer distances, or surprise your foes with an attack.
I’d recommend getting comfortable with burrowing as quickly as possible, as this will make or break your experience with Mina the Hollower. While running around on land, Mina can feel painfully slow, and even trying to deal with basic enemies can be a real challenge. Burrowing isn’t as easy as you might think either, as you need to be careful in directing Mina underground and making sure you don’t pop up into an enemy’s hitbox and end up losing HP. Still, once you’ve mastered this, you’ll be able to use the burrowing mechanic both defensively and offensively, and combat starts to feel drastically more manageable from this point onwards.
This isn’t to say that Mina the Hollower is a cakewalk, as the game is consistently trying to trick and kill you at every turn. Clever enemy placements will have you carefully pondering your next move as you try to decide whether you should take a risky jump to get more Bones or cut your losses, while the boss fights themselves are often a test of endurance and patience. You’ll soon find that even basic attacks from enemies will eat up a huge chunk of Mina’s health, which can make the early going a bit of a slog.
Like most other Souls-like games, however, Mina the Hollower gets easier the more you play. As you rack up Bones, Mina levels up, allowing you to increase her attack power, defense, and even the amount of Bones she can store away safely upon death. You can also buy plenty of power-ups from NPCs in town, as long as you have the Bones for them. The game’s RPG inspirations begin to surface when you unlock Trinkets too, which can be bought, found, or obtained through quest completion. An early game quest, for instance, involved me beating the crap out of a boy for stealing my Bones until he turned into a lump of flesh, then restoring his body using said Bones to get a Trinket that gives you a chance of keeping your Bones upon death.
The Trinkets help to shape your play style and also make the game easier, as they give you myriad abilities, such as walking over spikes or jumping over large distances. Again, with enough Bones, you can also increase the number of Trinkets you can equip at once. Mina the Hollower also offers up plenty of weapons for you to experiment with, some of which coming with both projectile and melee options, which really helps to make combat feel more fun and dynamic. Once you reach the city center (which doesn’t take long at all), you’re able to purchase new weapons from the blacksmith and test them out yourself.
The real heart of Mina the Hollower lies in its world design and the way it encourages you to explore. Again, I wish I had a map to help with navigation, but I can’t deny what a joy it is to just head off in a random direction and see what Tenebrous Isle has in store for me. The world itself is full of examinable statues with flavor text that add so much charm to Tenebrous Isle, and it was always a blast encountering new NPCs and seeing what they had to say. Whether it’s a gravedigger lamenting having to dig up every grave in Queensbury Crypt (which I promptly did for him), or an aristocratic mouse commenting on the spark generators and how she misses the ways of the old world, every character in Mina the Hollower has something meaningful to say that adds to the lore of Tenebrous Isle.
I should also mention that Mina the Hollower comes with a generous number of modifiers for you to play around with, too. They’re not as simple as lowering or increasing damage numbers, and instead to cater to all sorts of accessibility needs that let you tweak the game to your liking. You can increase the amount of Bones you get from all sources, or make things harder on yourself by taking more damage, or make things straight up weird by making Mina bigger, literally. I was deeply impressed with how customizable the gameplay experience is, and I appreciated Yacht Club Games’ attempt at letting players enjoy the game at their own pace.
Mina the Hollower isn’t just a nostalgic throwback to the 2D action games of the Game Boy era; it’s an innovative, ambitious attempt at pushing the genre forward while also celebrating the magic of what made those games so special. While the denizens of Tenebrous Isle may cling to their old ways, Mina hacks them down fearlessly, showing them — and the player — that innovation and ingenue are to be embraced.
A review code for the game was provided by the publisher. You can check out our review policy here. Reviewed on Switch 2.
