Mina The Hollower Review: Yacht Club's "Very Friendly" Soulslike Is a 2026 Standout

Some games arrive with a built-in excuse. They look like they were pulled from a Game Boy cartridge, they lean on nostalgia, and reviewers forgive their rough edges because the pixels are pretty. Mina the Hollower is not one of those games.

Yacht Club Games' second attempt at a retro-invoking hit, following Shovel Knight, launched on May 28-29, 2026 across PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Switch and Switch 2, and it has become a critical success. Kotaku's review lands with a verdict that leaves no room for hedging: "I don't really have any asterisks to put on my love for Mina the Hollower."

That is a remarkable statement for a game that its own reviewer keeps calling a soulslike, a label that usually invites caveats about punishment, patience and gatekeeping. At one point he goes further, describing it as a "very friendly" soulslike, one that wants to be your friend.

What Mina The Hollower Actually Is

The setup is pure Yacht Club: a top-down action-adventure rendered in a Game Boy Color-style 8-bit aesthetic, evoking a specific era without cynically milking it. The review argues the game channels that period's spirit rather than simply photocopying its limitations.

Mina is a genius inventor and a member of the Hollower order, a guild whose members can burrow underground. She built the Spark Generators that power Tenebrous Isle using funding from Baron Lionel. She returns to the island because the generators have failed, monsters are flooding the streets, and a fellow Hollower has gone rogue.

Mechanically, the reviewer describes it as a top-down Zelda-like: action, puzzles, currency recovery on death and Zelda 2-style stat upgrades. He insists on calling it a soulslike anyway, and the label sticks because the bones of the design are unmistakably there, just softened at the edges.

The project dates back to a Kickstarter that smashed its funding target within a day, when the game was known by the working title "Gothic." Yacht Club also released a making-of documentary, "24 'Til Launch: The Making of Mina the Hollower," around launch, giving players a look at the long road from crowdfunding campaign to finished product.

Open Structure, Castlevania Combat

Where many soulslikes funnel players down a corridor of escalating pain, Mina the Hollower spreads out. Six Spark Generators sit across six major areas, and the review notes they can be tackled in nearly any order, with only one minor exception the reviewer encountered.

Guidance exists, but it never becomes hand-holding. Newspapers in the main town offer optional hints pointing toward easier areas, letting players self-select their difficulty curve without a quest marker dragging them by the collar.

Combat leans Castlevania. Mina wields a morning star, and tools are equipped one at a time (at first) from an arsenal discovered in candelabras and bushes, the classic hiding spots for genre loot. The toolkit includes an attack dog on a leash, a droppable warp portal, a dash, a throwing axe, a toxic cloud and rock-throwing, giving fights a tactical, loadout-driven flavor.

Bones serve as currency, spent Zelda 2-style to raise attack, tool strength or defense. And in the "very friendly" twist that defines the experience, the review reports that players always get at least one chance to recover their currency after death. The soulslike risk-reward loop is present, but by the reviewer's account the punishment is never absolute.

The Difficulty and Accessibility Suite

This is where Mina the Hollower separates itself from its peers. The game ships with a full suite of difficulty and accessibility adjustments that can be toggled at any time, even mid-fight. Options include a 1.5x increase to Mina's size and a super-high jump.

The design philosophy is clear: difficulty is a dial, not a gate. Players who want the challenge can have it; players who want to see the credits can arrange that too, without shame or a separate "easy mode" screen buried in a menu.

That respect extends to the game's branching choices. The reviewer found nothing collectible to be missable, so decisions carry no real gameplay penalty in his playthrough — though he also notes a consequential action at the end of Queensbury Crypt and a major choice at the end of the game. Players can explore freely, pick a path and change course without worrying that a locked door has permanently cost them a piece of content.

For a game wearing the soulslike label, this is quietly radical. The genre's reputation rests on consequence and commitment, and Mina the Hollower keeps the tension while removing the anxiety.

Presentation

Presentation is a consistent highlight. The pixel art is gorgeous, and the chiptune soundtrack by Jake Kaufman earns specific praise as one of the game's defining features. Kaufman's work gives the island a personality that matches the visual craft beat for beat.

How Long Is It?

Playtime is where the numbers get interesting. The reviewer played roughly 30 hours on PC, splitting time between Steam Big Picture on a TV and Steam Deck, finished the main story, and still reported "SO much left to do." Yacht Club Games has suggested a completion time of somewhere between 20 and 30 hours, factoring in optional bosses and exploration.

Those figures are not a contradiction so much as two views of the same generous game. The developer's estimate describes a thorough run; the reviewer's 30 hours with content remaining suggests the ceiling is higher than advertised for players who linger.

The broader reception backs up the enthusiasm. According to Metacritic's first-half 2026 rankings, Mina the Hollower posted a Metascore of 90, tying Forza Horizon 6 for the top spot before later being surpassed. That places it firmly in 2026's Indie Game of the Year Race, and it has kept the conversation going well beyond launch.

The Soulslike That Respects Your Time

Return to that "no asterisks" line, because it is the review's thesis in miniature. Mina the Hollower earns its soulslike label through currency recovery, stat upgrades and deliberate combat, then refuses to punish players for choosing their own pace. It looks like a relic and behaves like a modern design document written by people who trust their audience.

For Yacht Club, the takeaway is about range. Shovel Knight proved the studio could revive a specific retro formula with precision; Mina the Hollower proves it can do so while folding in an entirely different genre lineage and a philosophy of accessibility that most soulslikes would never attempt.

A retro-styled adventure that respects your time, your choices and your difficulty preferences is a rare thing. According to this review, that is exactly what Yacht Club has delivered.