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If you thought Shovel Knight's 8-bit aesthetic was retro, you might not be ready for its long-awaited successor. But Yacht Club has built up such a reputation for throwback excellence over the years that I didn't hesitate to download Mina the Hollower, only to find that it might be an even more-perfect retro experience than its predecessor.
Wearing its Game Boy vibes very clearly on its sleeve, Mina the Hollower puts you in the shoes of the mousy Mina. A Hollower and inventor by trade, Mina's dual specialties are perfect for the quest she finds herself drawn into - the technology she created for the city of Ossex is playing up, and the city's mayor thinks there might be something more than planned obsolescence at play.
That's almost instantly confirmed when the ship that's ferrying Mina to Ossex is wrecked. Grabbing her choice of three weapons in another, Pokemon-shaped, Game Boy homage, Mina battles her way through the slightly stunted sprites that stand between her and her goal. While her squat opponents are a deeply effective throwback to the limited file space of the games that inspired Mina the Hollower, Mine herself has an entire bag of tricks at her disposal.
As well as your choice of weapon - I went for a mace that Mina throws forth with some real vigor - I was throwing knives and axes with deadly precision within a few moments of the game's beginning. And as a Hollower, Mina also has the ability to duck underground, using her tunnelling abilities to escape under obstacles and even turn them into weapons to use against her foes. The Hollowers are a well-established force within Ossex, as you discover when you come across your first hideout, where you can swap weapons and currencies before leaping back into the action.
Very clearly riffing of Link Awakening's presentation, Mina the Hollower follows up with a story and setting that's steeped in the grand, theatrical aesthetic of the Castlevania games. It's a blend that might not work, especially within the faux-retro setup that Yacht Club established with Shovel Knight. But it's almost perfect here, such an authentic mashup of ideas from this era of gaming that I honestly wish I had an actual Game Boy to play it on, rather than stretching it over my entire PC screen. It's an intensely vivid, genuine reincarnation, and while I never truly believed that Yacht Club would make anything else, I'm still shocked by just how effective a pastiche Mina the Hollower immediately proves to be.
Want a different flavor of Zleda homage? My dream The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time successor is finally playable in Steam Next Fest, and I'm pleased to report it nails the Nintendo 64 vibes.
