Mina The Hollower

Mina never got on my radar, but the positive reviews and word of mouth got me intrigued. Buckle up while we burrow in.

For the first two days of playing this game, I hated it. I almost gave up, but with near-universal critical acclaim, I had to stick with it. There's no real map, the controls lack diagonal attacks (but enemies totally can come at you in diagonals), there's no real explanation of what to do or where to go. I have a job, a kid, responsibilities. I can't wander for half an hour and accomplish nothing.

But once you figure out the cardinal direction system to get to the towers, things get better. Then you start understanding the checkpoint system and it starts to click. See, you can burrow. And if you burrow on one of the checkpoints you'll restore your health and vials. That little revelation makes a world of difference. You can try, try, try and reload right before you die. Now we're cooking.

The game rewards exploration and failing, almost too aggressively. Once you get to Ossex there are no guides, no hints, nothing. Or at least it's not obvious. You have to explore to find out where to explore. Once you start taking down towers things start to feel great. The one caveat is the previously mentioned diagonal attack. Enemies can attack you from any angle but you can't return the favor.

With trinkets getting added to your arsenal, you can get upgrades to health, resurrection, burrowing, pretty much any combination you'd like. Almost to a fault. I never tried several of my trinkets because I liked my loadout after the first tower. I dabbled with others when the time called for it but immediately switched back.

Many games nowadays I feel like I'm playing just to get through them. Mina started that way. Pick it up, progress (or don't), put it down, repeat. But after a few days I found myself thinking about it, wondering what comes between the next checkpoints, what challenges await. Every section is its own unique biome, the environment and enemies changing based on where you go. It makes things fresh and fun while creeping up on you with a feeling of excitement to hop back in that is getting rarer and rarer these days. It's not a slog. It's an exploration. No matter how frustrating it could be at times.

Things go smoothly enough until the ice biome. It's frustrating, all ice levels are. But I don't think I've been so frustrated since playing Madden in jr high as I was against the train boss. I had to put the controller down and walk away three separate times. It was here that I discovered if you use a vial but don't finish it, not only does it not heal you but you also lose that vial.

Once that's dealt with and all the main towers are taken care of, I was lost. After a day of wandering I finally gave in and went online. Turns out you have to find a set number of mirrors, walk into them for three seconds, enter the mirror world, flip a switch, return to the main mirror and go under it. How anyone figured that out without a guide is beyond me. I'm sure there's a newspaper or NPC somewhere that told you, but I missed it.

When finally finding my way and taking on the Congealed, it was frustrating to start, but each attempt taught me its moves and tendencies. Then it all clicked and it was actually pretty easy to dispatch. But then there's phase two. Repeat that learning curve. Then there's phase three. That one was actually easy.

But that's not the end of the game despite feeling like it. You then fight Leon in multiple phases, which is extremely difficult, but with the right loadout, patience, and maybe some backtracking to upgrade or unlock new trinkets, you should be good to go. The final tower is relatively easy, leading to a tower-top final battle with a little surprising backup. Again, not nearly as difficult as earlier phases, but when you finally win it feels genuinely good. A sense of accomplishment as EA might say.

Overall, Mina was great. There's almost too much to explore, but that's sort of the point. It rewards those who dig in with an almost overpowered style of play. The longer you take to progress, in theory, the easier the game gets. I still feel the beginning needs more hand-holding, but it's a minor gripe, and it might cause some people to give up early. The story is a little weak if I'm being honest, but the gameplay is more than enough to hook you. If you like exploration games, the original Zelda, and games with a difficulty that's hard but not punishing, Mina the Hollower is for you.