A Kick for Kickstarters: Mina the Hollower

When Yacht Club Games teased a “hair-raisingly exciting MEGA ANNOUNCEMENT!” as part of their third “Yacht Club Games Presents” stream full of “a boatload of new updates,” it was bound to have something worth paying attention to. Indie developers don’t tend to overhype titles they have in development as often as their larger counterparts, and the tease directly pointed to this being something new from Yacht Club’s internal development studio. The studio hasn’t developed anything brand-new since releasing the original Shovel Knight in 2014 and updating it for more than five years afterward, with other titles like Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon and Cyber Shadow being from development partners.

In a surprise, it’s not Super Shovel Knight (my prediction) or any kind of new Shovel Knight game (outside the one they’re currently promoting), but something entirely new: Mina the Hollower. In a bigger surprise: It’s starting off in the form of a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.

Mina the Hollower is an isometric action-adventure title that represents a fusion between two classic titles. It combines the exploration of older (and older-style) The Legend of Zelda games with the setting, whip, and sub-weapon usage of the Castlevania games. (I know the Zelda games let you use weapons other than a sword too, but the whip usage and axe throwing are deliberate Castlevania inspirations.) The main character, Mina, is a visionary inventor whose quest begins when she receives a troubling notice that claims the Spark Generators she invented using Spark Technology to liven up the lives of the citizenry have gone out. With foul play suspected as the reason for their extinguishment, she ventures out to discover exactly what happened.

It’s evident that Yacht Club didn’t want to make another game like Shovel Knight after working on nothing but that game for around seven to eight years, shown not only through this game’s genre and gameplay features, but its story. Unlike their previous game, which included a mixture of tongue-in-cheek characters and twists throughout the largely lighthearted 2D platforming adventure, Mina the Hollower promises to be a darker tale. It’s inspired by classic Gothic Horror stories about descending into an unknown world, with examples listed on the Kickstarter page including Bram Stoker’s Dracula (note: The name “Mina” is derived from this story’s “Mina Harker”) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The promised theme appears to contrast with the main character being a cute rodent, but it is possible for cuteness to be surrounded by darkness.

The largest ostensible similarity to the developers’ previous game is the classic-style aesthetics, which take inspiration from 8-bit styles. “Ostensible” because there’s a notable change even here; the style is more similar to Game Boy Color games rather than NES titles. This is why the color use is a bit more limited, with the combination of the look and Mina’s movement and techniques invoking Link’s Awakening DX. But it will still include modern polishing to make the experience palatable for those who remember what GBC games resembled but don’t want all the limitations those games came with. The color use is likely more than what a GBC title could have handled, and it’s being presented in widescreen (there are comparisons to what it would resemble in 4:3 on the page), but it looks the part well enough to invoke nostalgia.

Remarkably, Jake Kaufman is composing the soundtrack. Kaufman’s been shrouded in mystery for the last few years, which culminated in him not being part of Shantae and the Seven Sirens’ soundtrack and killing his social media accounts. He remains a talented composer, so hopefully he sticks around for more video games.

Yacht Club is asking for $311,503 to help fund Mina the Hollower’s development, an amount it took little effort to raise within less than 12 hours of the campaign going live. The high-priced physical tiers certainly helped, with at least a $100 pledge required for a physical copy and at least $225 for the physical artbook. The team explains on the page that most of this game’s development is being funded in house, thanks to Yacht Club being an established name following Shovel Knight’s success. This is simply a way to get the community involved in assisting with the development process; it’s a good way to promote a small project.

That said, it’s a bit more of a surprise to see this on Kickstarter thanks to how the platform has been in the news for dubious reasons, with their bonkers plan to place the whole website on the blockchain. Indie developers concerned with crypto technology’s assistance in irrevocably warming the planet aren’t impressed, and have been searching for or attempting to create alternatives. For now, though, Kickstarter remains the best way for indie developers to get quick exposure for a project, and it still attracts a higher number of users. It’s easy to see why Yacht Club went this route, but I’d still like to see them address it.

Mina the Hollower is a long way off, with Yacht Club aiming to release the title in December 2023 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. Given how often crowdfunded games can be delayed, don’t be surprised if it slips into 2024. No one should ever think that 8-bit-style games don’t take plenty of time and money to make. The team is promising to provide looks at more areas throughout the campaign’s duration, and perhaps stretch goals that won’t require them to work on post-release content for half a decade. In the meantime, the Nitrome-developed Shovel Night Dig is in the final stages of development, for anyone who needed another platforming fix with the studio’s most identifiable character in the near future.