PAX East 2023: Mina the Hollower

PAX East 2023 is here, the Lords from the Iron Lords Podcast and LOGNET are live on the show floor. One of the many games being previewed on the show floor this year is Mina the Hollower.

Mina the Hollower is a Castlevania-inspired take on a modern Game Boy Color game. It comes from Yacht Club Games the beloved creators of Shovel Knight. If you are not familiar with the team, they create brand new games with heavy retro inspirations. Plus their music is insanely good, like some of the best in the industry. 

That does not change here with Mina the Hollower, the tracks slap hard. The demo we played was delivered to Kickstarter backers last year. It covers an area of the game about two or three levels in. You play as Mina, an adorable mouse who is a Hollower. 

“The Hollowers are a guild dedicated to studying the earth and its latent resources. By using their special technique, Hollowing, they can move faster underground than above it! Hollowers have worked for ages to analyze and amplify secrets buried beneath the surface. Mina’s Spark technology is her latest contribution to the Hollowing arts.”

While Mina the Hollower is an adorable game, it has a gothic setting from the 1700s. It is a perfect blend of Castlevania and something from a mascot platformer like Crash or Gex. The setting lore and characters are fully developed and come together to play a part in a big story. 

Mina the Hollower will release on most platforms with a target date of the end of this year. While there is no guarantee it will make 2023 there is optimism that this could be one of the best indie games of the year