Mina the Hollower
Developed by Yacht Club Games · Yacht Club Games
Action-Adventure · Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC · 2026-05-29
“A six year Game Boy Color throwback just became the highest rated game of 2026 by out Nintendo-ing Nintendo.”
The Shovel Knight studio spent six years and a 2020 Kickstarter making a deliberately retro, Game Boy Color flavored, Zelda inspired action adventure, and the result is a 93 on Metacritic, the highest rated game of 2026 by a comfortable margin. Perfect scores from IGN, RPG Site and Screen Rant, 98 percent of critics recommending it on OpenCritic, 500,000 copies sold. The throwback won.
The only thing roastable here is the success itself. A game that wears its Nintendo influences on its pixelated sleeve beat everything modern and expensive at its own genre, which is either a triumph of craft or a quiet indictment of every bloated open world that cost a hundred times as much.
If there is a knock, it is that near universal praise can curdle into hype, and a few players will bounce off the intentional difficulty and the retro presentation expecting modern softness. But that is the cost of conviction. You set out to make a hard, beautiful, old fashioned thing, and you nailed it so completely the only complaint left is that it is too good to argue with.
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Tight, challenging action adventure gameplay that respects the player.
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A presentation that turns Game Boy Color nostalgia into something genuinely fresh.
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A story and world that earn the six year development time.
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Difficulty that feels fair and rewarding rather than cheap.
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Intentional difficulty that will turn off players wanting a gentle ride.
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Retro styling that some newcomers will dismiss before they play it.
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Universal acclaim so loud it sets expectations no game can fully meet.
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A niche aesthetic that quietly limits how big its audience can get.
Players who love sharp, challenging retro action adventures and anyone who thinks the best ideas in games did not all arrive after 2010.
Anyone who needs modern graphics, generous difficulty, and a game that apologizes when it gets hard.
Your website, CV, or whatever you made. I'll roast that too.
A full teardown from €2,99. No mercy.