No matter how good it’s going, you are only ever one existential crisis away from questioning your entire existence on some random day.

It is on these deeply existential days we all feel like the “+ Nat Geo” of the human race

Though I am looking forward to 100%ing Super Meat Boy 3D, I feel as if I’ve reached the end of my road of relevant value propositions to extrapolate upon involving the experience. While the game is certainly imperfect, there yet remains a delightfully challenging 3D platformer amidst the flaws, so rest assured, I will be dedicating myself where I can to further my masochistic enjoyment of said title.

Truth be told, I’d love to have taken even more time to myself before rushing off to start my next title, as processing experiences is just as important as having them, but today ended up being one of those giddy up and go moments, as I watched a slew of trailers for recently released games to see which lucky pic would catch me eye. Funny enough, after about a dozen or so trailers that did little for me, it was a game that wasn’t even present on my list of options I ended up going with, having completely forgotten it had already come out, and that game ended up being Mina The Hollower.

Definitely one of those “too good to be true” moments, as Mina is almost like a game custom built to my exact preferences, so the whole thing almost comes off as what should be a total wind up punchline: a Link’s Awakening-like with souls elements from the makers of Shovel Knight? Be still my waking heart, the gaming gods have smiled upon us this day! Certainly one of those kinds of games that seems to obvious, you stop to ask yourself “No one had done something like this yet?” Yet here we are, with Mina at the ready for some definite face rocking.

While some people may frown upon using so many other games as reference points to describe and explain another title, some old phrase involving ducks comes to mind….if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…I mean, its just kind of hard not to describe quacking without using the god damn word to describe what it is for fucks sake. Within that regard, Mina really, truly just feels like a 1:1 conversion of How The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening plays, which means if you’re a fan of that game, you’ll feel right at home, and if you haven’t played it. I’m guessing I know which game you might immediately play following the finishing of Mina the Hollower.

I’m guessing the developer, Yacht Club games, who are known for developing another celebrated retro-stylized send up game in the form of Shovel Knight, more or less used the aforementioned Link’s Awakening as heavy reference material, as being a top down adventure RPG, in the vein of an 8-bit Gameboy Color game, through and through, from sound design to graphical stylization, it follows the formula exactly to a T. The one big addendum to this is the incorporation of the Souls-like element, which takes the form of more intimidating bosses that hit like a truck, and a limited healing checkpoint system with a soul retrieval system intact. So if you die, all of your experience points gained since your last checkpoint, will fall to the enemy who claimed your life, and whom which you will have to journey back to in order to reclaim them. Of course, getting back in one piece and killing the bastard is always easier said than done, so as always, it pays to be careful, lest your sloppiness cost you dearly.

The Hollower bit comes in the form of Mina being able to burrow underground, which not only helps lets her explore the area, but uncover treasure, launch herself over holes, even use it as a combat evasion method, as you can dodge enemy attacks and circumnavigate around them, in order to utilize your burrowing techniques to add some well needed flair and panache to your combat repertoire. Honestly, for as much as I love old school Zelda games, their combat has always been almost too simplistic at times, and something like the burrowing technique really opens up what’s possible in combat, and is again one of those moments you’re surprised no one had thought of it before.

While I didn’t get a chance to play too much in my first session, it is one of those games that almost challenges my own sense of objectivity and empirical fairness within the realm of writing, as I know I have to actually play, see, and experience the game to be able to report on its quality, to see where the uneven portions end up being, and how the quality will maintain throughout…but I already know that I’m going to absolutely adore the title, based on all obvious factors present and accounted for, and unless the developers are playing the long game, by making some cruel joke of a rug pull, that halfway through the game, it turns into some kind of luck based card battling strategy game, it is hard to fathom what this game could do short of that to really shit the bed and change my opinion of what it has to offer before the credits roll.

Truth be told, I was trying to balance out my gaming schedule with a go to game I had confidence in, to one that would perhaps challenge my better sense of preference, so that I wasn’t always playing what I would assume would be ace in the hole experiences, as writing positively about games that were always something I liked, and therefore wrote positively about, would likely get a bit derivative and disinterested after awhile. Today, however, the mood was a grim one, and I didn’t have much in the way of motivation, and needed a good pick me up to lift my spirits. Once I remembered Mina the Hollower came out, I realized it might, be worth my while to have a bit of a change of plans, and with it, I was in a much better place metaphysically thereafter.

Looking forward to unearth whatever Mina the Hollower has hidden away for me to find in the coming days.

-Pashford