I can imagine the disappointment that Yacht Club Games felt when they couldn’t release this in October 2025, because Mina the Hollower is rife with Halloween spirit! The colors, music, creatures, and environment embody the month of ghosts and ghouls. When entering a major province, a beautifully animated still showcasing the region, with our titular rodent heroine grimacing at the distant tower, became the cue to tighten my belt and get ready for the real journey. It gives the locales an episodic quality. Sean Velasco of Yacht Club Games admitted that where Shovel Knight was their Mario, Mina the Hollower is their Zelda. I think it lives well beyond the visage of Zelda, because Mina’s adventure feels like a top-down Castlevania with creatures and mundane and supernatural weapons, and twists that culminate in a world of monsters and a civilization that’s both familiar with the danger but unprepared for it. There are larger species on Tenebrous Isle, so being the smallest species leads to harrowing encounters with monsters and denizens.
