longer.blue

I give Mina the Hollower an 8.5/10. If you just want to know whether it's worth playing, you can stop reading and go play it. It's very good. Go in blind if you can. The gameplay is a ton of fun and has an incredible amount of depth. There are countless ways to fight enemies and traverse the world. There are probably 15+ ways to cross large gaps alone. The game gives you so many options that it almost feels open-world in that sense. Mina has far more tools at her disposal than Link ever does in a Zelda game. There are five major weapons, each with two upgrades, and they all play quite differently. On top of that, there are numerous sidearms and around 40 trinkets that can dramatically alter your build and playstyle. The game is much larger than I expected and absolutely massive compared to Link's Awakening or the Oracle games. The game also does a great job rewarding exploration. Secrets are everywhere, and I was constantly finding things that surprised me. It even managed to get a few genuine laughs and jump scares out of me. Yacht Club Games really has its own charm and does its best to express its personality here. The biomes are all unique and exciting to explore, and there are over 20 bosses with fantastic designs. Many of them have a very Souls-like aesthetic. The sprite work is absolutely gorgeous. I could gush about the details in every pixel. It's some of the best 2D pixel art I've seen. The music is excellent. It's not quite a 10/10 soundtrack, but several tracks were stuck in my head when I went to bed. Jake Kaufman and Yuzo Koshiro do not disappoint. I need a vinyl. Most of my gameplay complaints disappeared as I explored more and found additional upgrades and items. My biggest criticism is the story. It's told primarily through newspapers, environmental storytelling, and NPC dialogue. While there's plenty of lore to uncover, the narrative never fully hooked me. I respect the developers for prioritizing gameplay, but if you're looking for a story-driven experience, this probably isn't the game for you. The difficulty feels fair overall, though most of the challenge for me was at the beginning and the very end. I finished the game with roughly 40–50 deaths. Thank you, Yacht Club, for delivering my favorite game so far this year. It was well worth the wait. You all did a fantastic job.