Mina the Hollower Demo Playthrough (Steam Next Fest June 2025)
2Yacht Club games (known for Shovel Knight) is making... a soulsborne?? And I actually had an okay time with it???
Unsurprisingly, I see a lot of mixed reception to this on the Steam forums, and I had my reservations going into this.
Surprisingly...I actually managed to complete the demo, and largely enjoy it? I did have to call a do-over with the whip instead of the hammer. You begin with a choice of 3 weapons which vary in playstyle, but the whip's length seems like the winning factor, not only for combat but due to a few map design details.
There are definitely Soulsborne mechanics, but checkpoints in the demo were reasonably-placed, with a couple of unlockable shortcuts as well. I felt like YCG really tried to implement a gentle learning curve, which is not necessarily something you expect to see in a soulslike.
I do worry how unforgiving the orb mechanic in particular might pan out to be, as you don't seem to recover your bones (which double as currency and exp) until after you defeat the enemy holding it... which I imagine means repeated deaths on bosses translate into unrecoverable losses.
PS: I wasn't terribly pleased at this demo being only available during the week of Next Fest. Demos with tight availability windows come off as shady to me, and a developer as widely-appreciated as YCG shouldn't be stooping to that level.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1875580/Mina_the_Hollower/
00:00 - Intro
07:39 - Game intro and options
13:56 - In-game manual
38:44 - Game start (hammer)
1:02:07 - Game re-start (whip)
1:44:29 - Final thoughts