Mina the Hollower is a smash hit, with heaps of players flocking to Yacht Club’s retro-inspired action adventure. However, a section of the playerbase have asked the bold question: is it too hard?
The debate has kicked off on various social media platforms, where arguments for both sides have been levied. It first emerged as players faced the game’s challenge head-on.
“Am I just bad, or is this game pretty hard?” asked user Immediate_Ad_8139 on the Mina the Hollower subreddit. They shared their experience getting rocked during the game’s initial hours, and were flocked with helpful advice by other players.
Another user – JJMcGee83 – admitted the game just wasn’t for them after struggling with the game’s difficulty, saying they were on the “struggle bus” due to the challenge in-game movement and certain enemies presented. Their sentiments were echoed one by RedKryptnyt, who wrote: “the difficulty of this early game to be borderline asinine.”
It’s not just Reddit either. One positive review by Steam user Obo warned the game could be “incredibly frustrating”. They point to design choices that “just outright confuse me”, pointing to different attacks that must be jumped over, burrowed under, or deflected, and the lack of indication on which answer is correct. In addition, to Obo flying enemies were irksome due to the game’s grid-based movement system, especially when flying over pitfalls.
They too were not alone. Cyber Akuma on Steam described the game as “frustrating and unfair”. Claiming to have history with the NES era of gaming (a time Mina takes inspiration from), they point to the healing system as one of their major complaints, but note the temporary loss of items of death is another sore point.
But what of the counter arguments? Well, it’s worth noting (and many have) that Mina the Hollower has adjustable difficulty/accessibility settings that can soothe such frustrations. As pointed out in Eurogamer’s review, the scope of options here is astonishing, and allows you to lessen enemy difficulty, change the game speed, add boss checkpoints, and alter how healing works.
Indeed, this is the crux of many arguments opposing the “too hard” label on Mina the Hollower. Reddit user Benoxxxx pointed to the many trinkets and the overall character progression bonuses as powerful aids to the game’s thorns. They also pointed to the accessibility options as a solution to players who couldn’t proceed even with the tools at their disposal.
Another user, preterintenzionato, pointed to these accessibility options firmly, wishing they had been advertised more, arguing that they aren’t “highlighted enough nor in the marketing nor on steam page nor, and especially, in game”.
Then, of course, there’s the tried and true argument for the game’s challenge, stated plainly from one Dennis-strife. They believe Mina the Hollower isn’t that difficult, writing: “I see many people talking about how hard Mina is, but I don’t feel it. There are many upgrades, weapons, and sub-weapons. So, everyone who complains should git gud. Maybe I’m used to soulslikes.”
Debate surrounding video game difficulty is far from fresh, and Mina the Hollower is absolutely not the first game to merit such discussion. But, perhaps it stands as a fantastic case study for the inclusion of adjustable difficulty options in such games. While many players have used sliders and settings to help them through a game they otherwise may have bounced off, there is a humorous element here, that even with the inclusion of such features people still clash against the game’s sharper points.
