Mina the Hollower is an upcoming action RPG by the creators of Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Games. Much like how Shovel Knight pays homage to platformers of the 8-bit era, the game pays homage to handheld action-adventure games and action RPGs from the late 80s and 90s, incorporating an Gothic Horror aesthetic that can be best summed up as a unique blend between The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and Castlevania.
The game stars a mouse named Mina, a famed hollower and inventor whose advances in spark technology had revolutionized Tenebrous Isle by giving power to the land. One night though, when she receives a troubling note from the overseerer of the isle, Baron Lionel, that the Spark Generators have gone out, with Thorn and his Shock Troopers suspected to be involved in the crisis, she must use her skills as a hollower to the test and traverse through a gothic world in order find out the cause of the outrages and stop whoever threat is causing them.
It was announced during the Feburary 1st, 2022 Yacht Games Presents livestream. The game has a Kickstarter page here
, with the final amount raised being $1,239,584. The release date has not yet been announced.note
Previews: Reveal Trailer, Gameplay Demo, complete playthrough (including optional side content) of Kickstarter campaign demo by ProtonJon (from timestamp to 1:40:19)
Mina the Hollower contains the following bone-chilling tropes:
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Baron Lionel, as of the Kickstarter campaign, is a purple colored lion with a white mane.
- Badass Adorable: Mina herself, as depicted in the initial Kickstarter campaign and demo, is an adorable little mouse who is a skilled inventor, on top of being a whip-wielding hollower who is capable of using a variety of moves against enemies.
- Badass Longcoat: Mina sports a red longcoat with coattails going down to her ankles. The intro plays this up, featuring a few shots of her jumping around with the coattails billowing dynamically behind her.
- Blob Monster: Goopers are tiny clumps of aggressive purple sludge that act as The Goomba for the Kickstarter campaign demo.
- Epic Flail: Mina's main weapon, named Nightstar in the Kickstarter campaign demo, is a whip with a spiked ball at the end of it.
- Fast Tunnelling: As shown in the annoucement trailer, one of Mina's main methods to getting around is by quickly digging through underground. She can also use her quick digging to quickly dodge enemy attacks.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Mina is described on the Kickstarter page to be a crafty inventor whose advances in spark technology have ushered in a prosperous era for Tenebrous Isle by giving it power.
- Gothic Horror: The game's art direction in the announcement trailer and gameplay demo takes clear inspiration from the genre, with many of the environments and enemies being dark and horror-based. The devs have explicitly stated as such during the gameplay demo.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Mina's a mouse with a fancy vest and longcoat, as depicted in the Kickstarter campaign and demo, but that is the entirety of her outfit - everything from her waist down is uncovered save for her fur.
- Healing Potion: Mina can heal using vials of Plasma. She has a limited stock of them, but they automatically refill inside Underlabs or on death, and spares can be found hidden about the levels. Their effectiveness is based on the size of an orange section of her depleted health bar, which gradually grows from "barely anything" up to "complete health bar refill" whenever Mina lands attacks on enemies and destructible scenery.
- Healing Spring: The Hollower's Underlabs, various small underground caves that act as checkpoints where Mina will respawn on death, all feature small hot springs directly underneath their entrances that instantly heal Mina to full HP when she lands in them, as depicted in the Kickstarter campaign demo. Idling in them also has a unique sprite where Mina settles down and gets comfortable in their water.
- Invincible Minor Minion: Wraithers, floating heads of statues depicted in the Kickstarter campaign and demo. Aside from briefly dematerializing when struck, they're dead ringers for Phantos.
- Mutually Exclusive Power-Ups: Picking up a new subweapon plops the old one on the ground, as depicted in the Kickstarter campaign demo.
- Precision-Guided Boomerang: The "Gyro Dagger", as depicted in the Kickstarter campaign trailer and demo, is Mina's take on a certain throwable cross. Unlike its inspiration, it can be juggled with your main weapon, but shatters against walls.
- Retraux: Much like the devs' previous project, Shovel Knight, the game is an homage to retro games from the 80s and 90s. This time being an homage to retro handheld action-adventure and action RPG games (most notably The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening). In particular the aesthetic screams Game Boy Color, and the devs have openly acknowledged in their Kickstarter campaign that the GBC was their main point of reference for the visuals. Unlike the GBC, however, the game's music is being composed using the Konami SCC expansion chip for the MSX, resulting in more detailed sound than the GBC was capable of.
- Species Surname: Baron Lionel, as named in the Kickstarter campaign, is a lion.
- Tentacled Terror: The boss of the Kickstarter campaign demo, The Duchess, devolves into one of these after taking sufficient damage, suddenly sporting tentacles for legs, arms, and at least three for her head. The stone head she had sported in her previous form even gains little tentacle legs of its own, and wanders around the arena as you fight the main body.
- This Is a Drill: One of Mina's subweapons in the announcement trailer and Kickstarter demo is a drill that briefly propels her forward, inflicting severe knockback on any enemies it hits.
- Weapon Specialization: Mina's main method of attack, as shown in the trailer and gameplay demo, is a whip.
