Shovel

Mina the Hollower, the next game from Shovel Knight developer Yacht Club Games, has been delayed but is “so close to being done”.

The Zelda-like adventure was intended for release on 31st October, but has been pushed back without a new release date, though the developer has stated it “isn’t a major delay” but just “a stretch of time to apply some final polish and balancing to make the game truly shine”.

“Our goal is to make sure our development team has the time and resources to deliver an incredible adventure and we will be giving you just that. That’s no hollow promise!” the studio stated.

Mina the Hollower: Release Date Announcement TrailerWatch on YouTube

“We don’t want to announce another release date until it’s submitted to platforms, so please hang tight as we reach the finish line.”

Yacht Club Games made its name with celebrated platformer Shovel Knight, which spawned a number of spin-offs.

Mina the Hollower is a change of pace, featuring a top-down adventure style reminiscent of Game Boy Zelda game Link’s Awakening in a gothic, Castlevania-esque world.

It continues the studio’s penchant for retro aesthetics, then. Victoria checked out the demo on Switch 2 a couple of months back and loved it.

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I did not expect to meet Mozart in Shovel Game, nor did I expect him to ask me to mine a pyramid of shit, with the helpful advice that I start at the top to avoid any floating shitbricks. Mozart is probably the least interesting thing about Shovel Game, actually.

It’s a shortform first-person oddity with Minecraft-style destructible voxels (yes I know Minecraft doesn’t really use voxels) and a touch of AHL_5am. The idea is to tunnel through “a sequence of strange and unfamiliar spaces”. Here’s a trailer.

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Only certain blocks can be mined, and you’ll want to dig with caution, because the catacombs are full of groaning, wailing sprites that look like Zordon from Power Rangers. It’s as if somebody had cracked the glass on his energy tube, freeing the galactic wizard’s blobby visage to wander the Earth in pain. Enemies kill you on contact and I’ve yet to discover any weapons, just my trusty shovel and an 8-ball – purpose unknown.

It’s coming to Steam, but you can find a demo on Itch.io. Expect plenty of aggravation: there’s a labyrinth full of oozy blue phantoms that requires fast footwork. Also a kind of cosmic chapel full of what appear to be flattened babies. The developer is Luke Vincent, who created it for a “shovelware horror” gamejam, ho ho.

Bonus game mention: leafing through the submissions page for that jam, I discover a new work from Mike Klubnika, architect of Buckshot Roulette and the recent S.p.l.i.t., which Nic had eloquent emotions about. Co-developed with James Dornan, Klubnika’s jam game is called Crank It and is about being stuck behind a set of gadgets in a cavernous hallway, trying to spot horrible creatures. Got to say, this sounds far worse than shit pyramid Mozart.

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Shovel Knight developer’s Zelda-like game Mina the Hollower delayed

Shovel Game combines Minecraft, Mozart and hell