Mina the Hollower's primary plot twist is integral to contextualizing the game. This and subsequent spoilers will be freely discussed. You have been warned.
Yacht Club Games' formula is to take a genre that arose in the formative years of video games as a medium and inject it with all the lessons learned from video games writ large in the years since. They hit the ground running by giving 2D platformers from the peak years of the NES, with Shovel Kight and aimed to follow that up with a trip to the land of top-down action-adventure games as seen through the lens of the Game Boy Color. Mina the Hollower leverages a laser-focused approach to accomplishing this goal to great effect.
This starts with the basic fundamentals of controlling your character: whatever modern gamepad the game is being played on (I used a DS4) is going to have more buttons than a Game Boy does. With this in mind, maximizing this new real estate was important. One core tenet of this aligns itself with how this game diverges from the 2D Zelda games the nature of small reference pools wants to inevitably compare this game to: an emphasis on movement from jumping, to tunneling, to emerging from the holes you dug. The presence of this movement toolbox means that the game can dial up platforming challenges that make the most of these base system mechanics and how they can be combined both with each other[1] and with the various trinkets and sidearms that alter your loadout. It is very likely that the game's platforming challenges will shred your health bar just like combat will.
Speaking of the game's combat, it is also a multifaceted object that requires going down to layer 0 to fully understand it. Each of the five main weapons has its own core gameplan, with upgrades scattered throughout the game that focus mainly on improving said respective core gameplans; this ensures that each primary weapon remains unique. Given the punishing nature of the boss fights and respective runbacks, I found it best to stick with my original weapon choice (the hammer, naturally) and simply refine my approach with it. The biggest factor to modify to help with these challenges is the sidearms. Good sidearm choice[2] helps clear out enemies to lighten the platforming challenges that form the runback to pick up my spark.
Running back to spark(s) you dropped upon death is part of the game's robust, refreshing approach to resource management. Preventing a "sparkless demise" (and therefore protecting your bones, which serve both as currency AND experience points) can be easily seen as a top priority for players, me included. In turn, the most valuable upgrade to get is increasing your spark count. This is followed shortly thereafter by increasing trinket count to allow for more slots dedicated to picking the trinkets you'd want to swap around for specific scenarios. This is due to the Proto Spark (essentially an extra life) being a non-negotiable addition to the loadout, along with wamting to fit in at least one slot for trinkets that concern the utility and efficacy of plasma vials, our healing mechanic. The filling up and using of your limited supply of plasma vials per spark requires lots of risk calculus to use. Engaging with enemies is required to collect plasma in the first place, and enemies can and will hit you out of using plasma vials when its most inconvenient for you.[3]
The open-ended nature of the game means that even with spark collection runbacks serving as guiderails to get you to constantly tackle the same challenge over and over again, there's always the option to punt and save it for another time. With careful bone routing in addition to other hallmarks of strong play, you can "BONE UP" at the exact time to clutch out whatever jam you're trying to work your way out of. Even if you aren't in the business of perfectly timing "BONE UPS", Bonestone (experience/currency that is stored away for you to collect from and turn into the liquid form you get in most situations) is readily withdrawable, promptly reminding you the exact amount you need to add to your funds to collect your much needed stat boost. Big picture, the game's difficulty curve is such that every level and upgrade can and will count; you will be attempting endgame content enough to get all of it done and head into the final battle as well equipped as possible.[4]
The splash visuals are some of the most impressive spritework of its kind too.
Tenebrous Twist
On it's face in writing, "Thorne was right and Lionel is garbage" doesn't seem all that remarkable of a major plot development. After all, the relevancy of an anti-ruling class, pro-environmentalist message is a shared constant between the time period the game takes place in and our time, where the game was released in. What really makes it remarkable is its execution, ranging from the placement of the converging plot threads to the reveal itself's landing. The three main plot drivers all feel authentic in their actions and stated motivations; so while one can reliably predict that Thorne is right, one can go either way regarding whether they think Lionel would renege on turning the generators off (as Mina says). Even mutating Thorne by throwing him into the last generator didn't break the deceit for me.
The scene in which the citizens of Ossex are turned against Mina works so well because of how it fits in ludonarratively. An oft-lampooned situation that comes up often in "cinematic" "story-driven" AAA games is the player character being railroaded into doing morally reprehensible acts and the game then calling you an asshole for that. In Mina the Hollower the acts that turn the NPCs against you are things that you are instinctually doing during ordinary gameplay: gathering resources, exploring off the beaten path, taking on whatever boss fight or sidequest you come across, stopping to save and heal, and more. In effect, you simply playing the game like you would any other action-adventure game and living Mina's life in-game is something society wants to turn you into a pariah for.[5] We're in the endgame now, and you are further motivated to avenge Thorne and kick Lionel's ass.
You do get to do all of these things, aided by Lionel going full Final Fantasy final boss and the mutated Thorne coming back to go full Baby Metroid. It all builds up to an incredibly satisfying ending cutscene that would make the perfect place to yell TIME during the next GDQ finale run.
