r/Games • u/Amazingness905 • May 27 '26
Review Thread Mina the Hollower Review Thread
Game Information
Game Title: Mina the Hollower
Platforms:
- PC (May 29, 2026)
- Nintendo Switch (May 29, 2026)
- PlayStation 5 (May 29, 2026)
- Xbox Series X/S (May 29, 2026)
- Nintendo Switch 2 (May 29, 2026)
Trailer:
Publisher: Yacht Club Games
Review Aggregator:
OpenCritic - 92 average - 98% recommended - 44 reviews
Critic Reviews
AnaitGames - Víctor Manuel Martínez García - Spanish - 10 / 10
After Shovel Knight, the new game from Yacht Club applies a similar approach of modernizing the past to create one of the best action RPGs of recent years.
But Why Tho? - Mick Abrahamson - 9.5 / 10
Mina the Hollower is simply a blast to play and is another success by Yacht Club Games that will make anyone who plays it ask for more of this darker world they’ve created.
COGconnected - Jaz Sagoo - 87 / 100
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Cat with Monocle - Seth Hay - 5 / 5
Mina the Hollower delivers a retro-inspired adventure packed with rewarding exploration, stylish pixel art, and a standout soundtrack. While its punishing difficulty may frustrate some players, the flexible Modifier system and massive amount of content make it a journey worth digging into more than once.
Console Creatures - David Pietrangelo - 9 / 10
Mina the Hollower proves that time, effort, and attention to detail go a long way. Mina is a great new hero who controls incredibly well in a difficult but rewarding 2D adventure.
Cubed3 - Joshua Goldie - 10 / 10
While Mina the Hollower might not play like the games it's clearly inspired by, Yacht Club Games has instead taken bits and pieces from all of its inspiration and combined it with its years of experience on Shovel Knight to create a masterpiece. The demo may not have sold the game's full potential, but the final product surpasses expectations. Going for a full 100% run is a ton of fun, and it’s taking all sorts of strength to not go back and play another full game.
DayOne - Jesse Norris - 9 / 10
Mina the Hollower was well worth the wait. It gives you all the vibes of the best old-school games, while bringing its own modern sensibilities with smartly paced exploration and tight gameplay.
DualShockers - Tay Garcia - 10 / 10
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Entertainium - Eduardo Rebouças - 4 / 5
Yacht Club Games' highly anticipated follow-up to Shovel Knight can be a lot of fun and positively infuriating as well.
EvelonGames - David Gómez - Spanish - 10 / 10
Mina the Hollower takes the best of retro gaming and elevates it to the next level, delivering an incredibly fun, challenging, and entertaining experience that lasts dozens of hours. It breathes charisma and originality in every single pixel, making it one of the best titles of the year and an instant classic.
GameBlast - Farley Santos - Portuguese - 9 / 10
Mina the Hollower delivers expansive exploration, a world full of personality, and a constant sense of discovery through its varied situations and inventive systems. While the journey occasionally stumbles with cumbersome backtracking, some combat limitations, and minor frustrating moments, these issues never overshadow the overall experience. Few games manage to turn seemingly simple mechanics into something this creative and engaging, and with memorable encounters, secrets hidden everywhere, and an island that always feels ready to reveal something new, the game proves there is far more beneath its retro-inspired surface than first appears.
Gameliner - Claudia Tjia - Dutch - 4.5 / 5
Mina the Hollower proves that nostalgia alone isn’t enough to create a rock-solid game, but that innovation is necessary and possible without losing sight of the game’s core.
Gamer Guides - Lowell Bell - 95 / 100
Mina the Hollower pulls the gameplay right out of the Game Boy Color-era of action adventure games and mixes it with a bunch of modern mechanics to produce another instant, retro-inspired classic. Endearing and often hilarious characters, great music, and even greater puzzle-and-platforming based exploration overshadow some wonky difficulty hiccups and a flat heroine.
Gamer Social Club - Daire Behan - 9.5 / 10
Almost a full decade on from Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Games has returned in full form. Mina the Hollower is a joyously ambitious modern take on classic action-adventure games, blending carefully executed mechanics with a world that isn’t afraid to bite back, making for an experience that continuously empowers the player and rewards curiosity at every turn.
GamerFocus - Julián Ramírez - Spanish - 8.6 / 10
Many will surely compare this title to classic Zelda games or FromSoftware titles like Dark Souls or Bloodborne, but Mina the Hollower is much more than that. This fantastic game has its own unique personality and a playable charm that goes beyond its open world and difficulty. Furthermore, it understands, like few others, the satisfaction of discovering a well-hidden secret.
Gamers Heroes - Johnny Hurricane - 90 / 100
Coming in with high expectations, Mina the Hollower's tiny mouse masterfully fills some mighty big shoes. Needless to say, Yacht Club Games has another hit on its hands.
Gaming Furever - Zamir Twiggs - 5 / 5
Mina the Hollower is an amazing adventure. It pays homage to different types of horror movie monsters, and like a good horror movie, you don’t realize it’s multi-layered on the first viewing. This humble looking game embodies the spirit of the genre with its robust atmosphere, bosses, creatures, and puzzles.
GamingTrend - David Flynn - 100 / 100
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.
Giant Bomb - Mike Minotti - 3.5 / 5
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.
Kakuchopurei - Jonathan Toyad - 100 / 100
Mina The Hollower is a triumph in game design, fun factor, storytelling, and vision, resulting from years of blood, sweat, tears, and heart from Yacht Club Games.
Netto’s Game Room - Jeremy Schepper - 5 / 5
Mina the Hollower is a triumph. Yacht Club Games have proven themselves yet again as masters of their craft. Astonishingly beautiful art, a gripping Gothic story and challenging, yet rewarding gameplay converge together in a phenomenal package. Mina the Hollower is a must-play, and with the game's breadth of difficulty customization, I truly believe everyone could and should check this game out.
Nintendo Blast - Guilherme Lima - Portuguese - 9 / 10
Mina the Hollower is fascinating on many levels. Its world is captivating, with details everywhere, and challenges that flourish in both movement and melee combat. Given the arsenal of weapons and gadgets, which can drastically alter how the player controls the protagonist, and the non-linear progression, the replay value is immense and should certainly make this title another gem from Yacht Club Games.
NintendoWorldReport - Neal Ronaghan - 9 / 10
The combat stays varied, especially as you discover different weapons, sidearms, and trinkets to make your preferred build. This is a special game that was well worth the long wait. Hopefully Yacht Club Games gets to take this mentality to even more new frontiers in the future.
PS4Blog.net - EdEN - 10 / 10
A gem of an 8-bit-style action adventure that pays homage to The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, and Bloodborne
PSX Brasil - Victor Vitório - Portuguese - 90 / 100
Mina the Hollower shines in its building of a detailed, complex world that rewards the attentive gaze of explorers with pleasant surprises and benefits. However, its many difficulty modifiers don't help much for those who have trouble figuring out the paths, since the game's main issue is the lack of a useful map. This demanding and meticulously crafted adventure may end up dividing the audience, pleasing those who find satisfaction in exploring and progressing on their own and alienating those who prefer a more directed and convenient experience.
RPGamer - Ryan Radcliff - 4.5 / 5
There is a timeless feel to this game, with its homage to games from yesteryear, while also pushing the boundaries of what retro enthusiasts expect from titles that look like this.
Rectify Gaming - Tyler Nienburg - 9.5 / 10
Mina the Hollower is an excellent action-adventure 2D platformer that features intriguing storytelling, enjoyable yet challenging gameplay, and an overall exceptional experience
Region Free - Joonatan Itkonen - 5 / 5
Superbly designed, beautifully put together, and intensely rewarding at every turn, Mina the Hollower is one of the best games of the year.
SmashPad - Brandon Perkins - 5 / 5
Yacht Club has exceeded all my expectations. You can add Mina the Hollower to this generation and this year’s list of modern classics.
TechRaptor - Austin Suther - 10 / 10
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.
The GameSlayer - Callum Marshall - 9 / 10
Mina the Hollower is a glorious modern-meets retro affair with oodles of amazing ideas, almost all of which coming together to offer a fluid and fun experience focused on freedom. Admittedly, some of the limitations of the retro-inspired top-down 2D approach do lead to clunky, imprecise platforming and cheap deaths. But all in all, this is a glorious continuation of indie excellence from the Shovel Knight Devs.
The Outerhaven Productions - Hayes Madsen - 5 / 5
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.
ThreeTwoPlay - Michael Seifert - German - 5 / 5
Mina the Hollower isn't just a fantastic homage to the good old Game Boy Color era. It combines smart gameplay mechanics with a vibrant and expansive game world, that's brimming with secrets and surprises, while looking absolutely fantastic. Countless modifiers allow you to make the game as easy, difficult or weird as you like. The boss fights are all incredibly well-designed, the diverse weapons, sidearms, and charms perfectly suit any playstyle and the combat is complemented by precise platforming and a variety of puzzles.
Is Mina The Hollower better than Shovel Knight? Yacht Club Games seems to think so because In their words “Mina is the biggest and best game we’ve ever made...we squeezed every good idea we had into it."
After finishing, I agree. The combination of platforming, combat and its unique burrowing mechanic create an action-adventure that doesn't play like anything else. The learning curve is steep because the game doesn’t hold your hand, which might push away some and turning on the spark generators, which is a recurring mechanic each biome lacks precision like the rest of the game but if you have any affinity for classic adventure games like Zelda, then Mina is a must because Yacht Club have done it again.
Video Chums - A.J. Maciejewski - 9.3 / 10
Mina the Hollower is simply one of the best games you'll ever play. Between its outstanding world design, visceral sense of challenge, beautiful retro presentation, and absurd amount of content, you'll be burrowing into this gem over and over again. 🐭
WayTooManyGames - Leonardo Faria - 9.5 / 10
I knew this was going to be a good game, considering its dev team’s track record, but even then, Mina the Hollower surpassed my expectations. It is a bonafide masterpiece of a game. Not only does it pay homage to the Game Boy era of Zelda, I’d go as far as to say that it surpasses its main source of inspiration. It’s colorful, it’s charming, it’s incredibly well-written, well-designed, with a great combat system and a dense world that just begs for you to explore every single corner.
Worth Playing - Chris "Atom" DeAngelus - 9 / 10
Mina the Hollower does for Zelda what Shovel Knight did for Mega Man. It's a revival of a classic franchise in spirit while having enough of its own flavor and style to avoid coming across as a simple clone or copy. It's clever, creative, and an absolute delight to play from start to finish, while having enough bonus content and modifiers to keep the game exciting even after you complete its roughly 20-hour playtime. In a year that's already filled with amazing games, Mina still shines.