This game just launched with a 92 on OpenCritic, putting right in the middle of the Game of the Year conversation. But is it any good? And what the hell is it?
Mina the Hollower is the new game from Yacht Club Games, the studio that made Shovel Knight. And they’ve done it again. This is an open world, top-down action-adventure where you play as Mina, a tiny mouse inventor stranded on a cursed island. Armed with a whip, a stack of sidearms, and the ability to burrow underground, you’re here to figure out what went wrong and get out alive.
And that burrowing mechanic? That’s the whole thing. You can dive underground for a second or two to dodge attacks, pop out on the other side of a wall, and just flip the entire combat loop on its head. It’s that one move that makes everything click.
The game draws from classic Zelda, Dark Souls, and old-school Metroid, but it doesn’t feel like a copycat. It earns every comparison. If you love retro-style games with real depth—or you grew up with top-down Zelda and want that feeling back with a modern edge—this is your game.
And for busy gamers? It’s a perfect pickup. It’s definitely challenging, but there plenty of modifiers to adjust the difficulty with specific parts of the game. Sessions are naturally bite-sized and you’re always making progress, and a full playthrough is around 15 to 20 hours — swhich feels like a sweet spot for this style of game. And it’s only $20.
Mina the Hollower is out now on PC, PS5, Xbox, Switch, and Switch 2. This one’s the real deal.
