I already know Mina the Hollower is going to ruin my life

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is my favorite Zelda, so it should really come as no surprise that I've been eyeballing Mina the Hollower from Shovel Knight developer Yacht Club Games for years at this point. In fact, I've been looking forward to it so much that I've tried to avoid as much about it as possible until release – which means I'd not participated in previous demos. But when I had the opportunity to give it a spin on the Nintendo Switch 2 at GDC 2026, I finally broke the seal to discover: Mina the Hollower is going to ruin my life. That's a compliment.

I only played roughly 20 minutes of the early part of Mina the Hollower, so it's a bit difficult to tell how much I'm going to enjoy the RPG aspect of it. Progression systems, weapon differences, enemy variance, and so on aren't exactly easy to get a handle on in less time than a traditional network TV sitcom. But what I did experience certainly felt like stumbling across an oasis in a desert I didn't know I was experiencing only to suddenly realize I was dying of thirst.

Squeaking my language

From the pixel-art graphics clearly and lovingly inspired by the Game Boy Color to the top-down camera to having to navigate multiple planes a bit like a platformer, my brief affair with Mina the Hollower on the Switch 2 was delightful. The absolute kindest thing I can say about a short hands-on demo is that I want to play more, not just see more for coverage reasons. I'd frankly like to be playing Mina the Hollower right now, if possible.

What's obvious to me, even now, is that this is a chunky game. My experience only scratched the surface of Trinkets and Weapons and Sidearms, and I didn't get to mess around with the levelling system. But just from the empty spots I could see and the variety of what I did pick up, there will be plenty of buildcrafting in my future. For example, the knife you can throw that comes back to you like a boomerang? That's my friend and pal.

Speaking of size, you can apparently pick and choose where you want to go across the map and when for the most part. Exactly how much freedom there really is remains unclear, but I was basically told the reason I couldn't capture footage of my Switch 2 playthrough was because there was a slim possibility that I'd somehow thread the needle, navigationally speaking, and essentially head for the end of the game.

In my line of work, you play a little bit of a lot of games. That's the job! And sometimes the job is playing and covering games you don't particularly care for. Again, a job. But sometimes, you play a little bit of a game and can't stop thinking about it. You wonder what was down the path you didn't take. You wonder if you could have made that jump – "hollowing" around increases distance – or if there was a better weapon to take into a specific fight. You wonder what sort of tactics you would have needed against the boss if your demo hadn't timed out right before it.

I can't speak to Mina the Hollower as a finished product. There's literally no telling what that's like, especially considering how relatively small a piece I experienced, but I can't stop thinking about it. And I'm starting to suspect that when it does eventually release at some point this spring, my Switch 2 will become more of a Mina the Hollower machine than anything else.

Mina the Hollower is set to release for the PS5, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam in Spring 2026. If you're looking for something in a similar style, be sure to check out our ranking of the best retro games of all time.