The indie developer behind the hugely successful Shovel Knight franchise has unveiled Mina the Hollower, a new top-down action game with 8-bit looks and fast-paced modern gameplay. Yacht Club Games gained worldwide acclaim with its first game, Shovel Knight, a 2D side-scrolling action-adventure game with clear inspirations from some of the best classic Nintendo Entertainment System games. Since the original game launched in 2014, Shovel Knight has received a few substantial DLC packs, including a couch co-op multiplayer mode and several additional story campaigns. Thanks to the original game's successful crowd-funding efforts, fans received loads of quality content.
Around the beginning of Shovel Knight's development, Yacht Club Games posted the project on the crowd-funding website Kickstarter. When the project began, the small indie developer had a goal of $75,000, and by the end of its campaign, it had raised over #310,000, which allowed for such a tremendous amount of post-launch content. While Yacht Club Games has teased new projects for some time, the indie developer has only now unveiled its newest IP.
The new game from the makers of Shovel Knight promises a bone-chilling, 8-bit Game Boy Color style experience with its next title Mina the Hollower. Yacht Club Games' announcement, reported via IGN, showed the game in action with a trailer that can be seen below. In the gothic horror-inspired game, players control Mina, a whip-wielding inventor. She must investigate why the Tenebrous Isles have lost power as darkness overtakes the retro-styled world. Fans interested in helping fund the adventure may contribute to Yacht Club Games' Kickstarter Campaign, which is a method that has successfully funded many indie game projects, including the first Game Boy Advance game in over a decade. While the campaign began with a goal of $310,000, the project reached its funding goal in a matter of hours. As of this writing, Mina the Hollower's campaign has earned $445,000.
The trailer above highlights Mina the Hollower's 8-bit soundtrack, gothic world, and 60fps top-down gameplay, which should interest fans of Castlevania and old-school Zelda titles. Players will be able to use a variety of weapons, gadgets, and abilities in order to battle foes blocking Mina's progress while she solves the mystery of why her power sources are failing and discovers the cursed Isle's darkest secrets. The game is set to release on PC, and news of a release date will be announced in the near future.
In a world filled with AAA titles and massive free to play shooters, games like Mina the Hollower are a refreshing take on classic gameplay tropes and creative fun that contribute to a proud legacy of culturally significant indie games. Yacht Club Games have previously proven its talents in creating fun new games with an old style with Shovel Knight, and after quickly hitting its next crowd-funding goal, the studio looks to do it all over again with Mina The Hollower.
Sources: IGN, IGN/Youtube, Yacht Club Games/Kickstarter