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Mina the Hollower |OT| From the Timeline Where 2D Zelda Kept Going

For people who enjoy chiptune style music this is heaven. Banger after banger.

The game demands a lot from you, not just in terms of execution but understanding how you navigate the map, where you are etc. Combined with the healing and death rules this creates a very tight, rewarding experience.
 
I don't have many complaints, I've been having a great time. I think I'm 3 or 4 generators in.

strengths: level design, secrets, combat difficulty, the minigames
weakness: fiddling with menus to swap out gear (no realtime swaps or loadouts from what I can tell), no map annotation

It scratches that 2D Zelda itch for sure. I'm also enjoying the soundtrack a great deal.
 
Of Zero Punctuation (now Fully Ramblomatic) fame. Not sure what reading comprehension has to do with video game moon logic, but you do you.
I thought he closed down shop.

Anyway, it's because it's literally written in the manual in plain English, you don't have to figure out anything. The game nudges you to read the manual due to the absence of tutorials (aside from the very basic stuff at the beginning).
 
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How does this compare to Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo?
They are both GOTY material and it's a shame that Pipistrello didn't get much traction last year.

Anyway, Pipistrello is more puzzle focused with ability-gated exploration. Even the combat encounters can be seen as a puzzle to solve, it's really creative. You have one weapon but it can be upgraded to do a lot of stuff.

Mina is more open ended, you can tackle regions in any order since exploration is not gated by abilities. The combat is more demanding here, you need to understand the burrowing mechanic well to not get hit. You have multiple weapons to choose from, you can upgrade them two times which add some new damage conditions or moves.

Exploration is great in both, it's one of the highlights for me. Both reward searching every nook and cranny and being smart about how to navigate the environment.

Mina, Pipistrello and UNSIGHTED are the GOATed Zelda-like trifecta. Everyone should play them.
 
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They are both GOTY material and it's a shame that Pipistrello didn't get much traction last year.

Anyway, Pipistrello is more puzzle focused with ability-gated exploration. Even the combat encounters can be seen as a puzzle to solve, it's really creative. You have one weapon but it can be upgraded to do a lot of stuff.

Mina is more open ended, you can tackle regions in any order since exploration is not gated by abilities. The combat is more demanding here, you need to understand the burrowing mechanic well to not get hit. You have multiple weapons to choose from, you can upgrade them two times which add some new damage conditions or moves.

Exploration is great in both, it's one of the highlights for me. Both reward searching every nook and cranny and being smart about how to navigate the environment.

Mina, Pipistrello and UNSIGHTED are the GOATed Zelda-like trifecta. Everyone should play them.

Pipistrello is the better game.
Hmmm might just grab Pipistrello first then because it's only a tenner on the eShop right now. Thanks!
 
They should have just named this 'The Hollower', would have been an immensely better name, but I think it'll be successful off Yacht Club's pedigree; I mean that's why I'm definitely gonna buy it. Glad to see everyone's diggin it.
 
It's currently the 4th slide on the homepage of my eshop.

Top billing is Yoshi, Starfox, Rebirth, and Mina
damn right walter white GIF by Breaking Bad

They should have just named this 'The Hollower', would have been an immensely better name, but I think it'll be successful off Yacht Club's pedigree; I mean that's why I'm definitely gonna buy it. Glad to see everyone's diggin it.
lauren lapkus eating GIF by NailedIt
 
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finished the second area.
It's a good game, although I wish it would give more intuitive and responsive movement options...fighting enemies in close spaces is a nightmare
 
They should have just named this 'The Hollower', would have been an immensely better name, but I think it'll be successful off Yacht Club's pedigree; I mean that's why I'm definitely gonna buy it. Glad to see everyone's diggin it.

They could've gone with "The Hollower's Night" just for lols and confusion.
 
Second generator down, with all the power ups, trinkets and OP sidearms the game is becoming easier for sure. There is a sidearm (the green potion) that makes you dash + if you dash through enemies it restores health. Combine that with the trinket that gives you back Joule on heal and you can spam it, giving you insane mobility with integrated healing.

Finally I figured out the mirrors, hint: go back to the manor and see what happens there...

I'm taking tons of screenshots of places/chests I can't reach currently. Without a map it's the best way to keep track of things. The game world is dense enough that it's easy to remember all the routes and shortcuts, but remembering every item left behind can be quite difficult.
 
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Yeah it starts out very difficult but I'm on my way to the second generator now and having an easier / more enjoyable time. Better items, defense, more restarts. The trinket that gives me an extra life will never leave.

I mean I spent my first hour + not even knowing that you could dive into the checkpoints to recover your health and potions, lol. I know there's an in game manual but there's a few more things they probably should explain in the game itself.
 
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Not bad, it's far higher than any Shovel Knight game. It should easily reach 500k copies sold, which is the target Yatch Club Games would be happy to reach (200k would still be decent from what they said).

Yeah, I know, the CCU should be 10x that number, but it is what it is.
 
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Yahtzee covered this in his review and reading it here doesn't make it any less counterintuitive.

I found it out because the game has multiple instances where it very clearly nudges you to jump into water.

like every mechanic in the game it's explained through level design, and if you're a yellow-paint enjoyer you can always look in the manual lol
 
I'm really glad this game has detailed tuning of different mechanics in assists. Not everyone wants a Zelda 1 meets Bloodborne. It seems tastes in gaming go one way or the other and it is best to just allow for it across all audiences. Let the "feats" be the testament of your "creative intention" not the sole path of access to content or development of mastery. It is a wise decision. If your goal is to get people to experience that specific vision, many who would have been quickly turned off will likely come around to the default over time. If it is simply to let people have fun with your product, more people now can. It is especially good for those with actual motor disabilities, whether the condition they experience is developmental, degenerative, or from injury.
 
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