Mina the Hollower.

The Gavler Review.

Mina the Hollower Review: 2026's Best-Reviewed Game So Far

Mina the Hollower sits at number one on our Best PS5 Games of 2026 list with a 9.3, and it holds a distinction none of its 2026 rivals can claim yet: it's the highest-rated release of the year so far, with a 93 critic aggregate on Metacritic. That's a remarkable outcome for a game built around a deliberately retro premise — a Game Boy-style action-adventure from Yacht Club Games, the studio behind Shovel Knight. Buy it if you have any nostalgia for handheld action-adventures or just want the best-reviewed game of 2026 to date; the only real caveat is that its monochrome-plus aesthetic and old-school structure are a specific taste, not a mass-market one. For that audience, it's an easy top pick.

What it actually is

Mina the Hollower stars a burrowing hollow named Mina, navigating interconnected, Game Boy-inspired dungeons with a whip as her primary weapon and swappable sub-weapons and trinkets rounding out her kit. It launched May 29, 2026, developed and published by Yacht Club Games — the studio's first major release since establishing itself with Shovel Knight — and it arrived on nearly every platform that matters: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Switch 2, and PC.

At $34.99, it's priced well below most 2026 AAA releases, and that pricing matches its scope: this is a dense, tightly-built action-adventure rather than an open-world epic. It's built to reward exploration and mastery within a bounded, carefully-designed space, in the tradition of the handheld action-adventures it's explicitly channeling.

In use

The two mechanics that define how Mina the Hollower actually plays are its whip-based combat and its burrowing traversal. The whip handles most of the moment-to-moment fighting, with sub-weapons and trinkets giving players ways to adapt their loadout to different enemies and rooms rather than relying on one solution for everything. Burrowing is the more distinctive idea — Mina can dive underground to dodge incoming attacks, reach areas that are otherwise inaccessible, and thread through the interconnected map in ways a purely above-ground action-adventure couldn't support. It's a traversal mechanic that also doubles as a defensive tool, which is the kind of dual-purpose design that separates a good action-adventure from a merely competent one.

Visually, the high-contrast pixel art is a direct, unapologetic homage to classic Game Boy action-adventure titles — not a vague retro gesture, but a specific, disciplined aesthetic choice that Yacht Club commits to fully rather than softening for modern screens. Combined with the interconnected dungeon design, the whole package reads as a love letter to a very particular era of handheld gaming, executed with the same obsessive craft Yacht Club brought to Shovel Knight. Push Square's assessment of the early reviews put it plainly: it's the best-rated game of 2026 in first reviews — a claim the 93 Metacritic aggregate backs up directly.

Where it shines

• The highest critic aggregate of 2026 so far. A 93 on Metacritic isn't a marketing number — it's the actual consensus across the outlets that reviewed it, and as of this writing nothing released in 2026 has topped it.
• Whip-and-burrow combat that solves two problems at once. The burrowing mechanic works as both a dodge and a traversal tool, which keeps combat and exploration tied together rather than feeling like two separate systems bolted onto the same character.
• Genuinely broad platform support. Shipping day-one on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Switch 2, and PC is rare for a game this polished — most studios of Yacht Club's size pick one or two platforms and expand later.
• A committed, specific art style. The high-contrast, Game Boy-inspired pixel art isn't a generic retro filter; it's a disciplined visual language that gives the whole game a distinct identity on a list full of hyper-realistic AAA competitors.

The trade-offs — who should skip it

This is the best-reviewed game of the year so far, not a universal fit, and the honest reasons to look elsewhere are specific:

• You want a modern, high-fidelity presentation. The whole point of Mina the Hollower is its commitment to a retro, high-contrast pixel-art look. If you want the photorealistic spectacle of something like Resident Evil Requiem, this is intentionally the opposite of that.
• You're looking for a sprawling, hundred-hour epic. This is a dense, focused action-adventure, not an open-world time sink. Players who measure a game's value purely in hours logged may find it comparatively compact.
• The community score, while strong, trails the critics slightly. At a 90 community rating against a 93 critic aggregate, the gap is small but real — a reminder that even a near-consensus critical darling can land a notch cooler with some players, likely tied to the genre's inherent old-school difficulty and pacing.

How it compares

On its own list, Mina the Hollower's closest 2026 rivals sit directly behind it. Resident Evil Requiem at number two is the tonal opposite — Capcom's ninth mainline survival-horror entry, built on the RE Engine's oppressive, high-fidelity visuals rather than pixel art, with an 88 critic aggregate and one of the highest Metacritic user scores ever recorded. 007 First Light at number three is IO Interactive's stylish Bond origin story, also at 88, and the pick for players who want cinematic action-stealth over Mina's retro action-adventure loop.

All three are genuine 2026 highlights, but Mina the Hollower's case is the strongest on pure critical consensus — nothing else on the list has matched its 93.

The Gavler verdict

A 9.3, and the number reflects a genuinely rare outcome: the best-reviewed game of the year, from a studio that earned that trust with Shovel Knight and then delivered again with a completely different kind of game. Mina the Hollower isn't chasing AAA spectacle — it's a dense, disciplined, whip-and-burrow action-adventure that knows exactly what it wants to be and executes it with total confidence. If you have any affection for classic handheld action-adventures, this is the 2026 release to start with.

Common Questions

Is Mina the Hollower worth it in 2026?

Yes. It ranks first on Gavler's Best PS5 Games of 2026 list with a 9.3, backed by a 93 critic aggregate — the highest of any game released in 2026 so far. At $34.99 it also undercuts most full-price 2026 releases while offering a complete, tightly-designed single-player campaign.

What platforms is Mina the Hollower on?

It's genuinely cross-generational: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, and PC. That breadth is unusual for a game this polished — most studios pick a lane, but Yacht Club shipped it nearly everywhere at once.

Is Mina the Hollower like Shovel Knight?

It's the same studio, Yacht Club Games, and shares that team's obsessive craft and retro-inspired presentation, but it's a different game — a Game Boy-style action-adventure built around burrowing traversal and whip combat, closer in spirit to classic handheld action-adventures than to Shovel Knight's platformer roots.

How long does it take to beat Mina the Hollower?

It's built as a dense, secret-stuffed action-adventure rather than a sprawling epic — expect a focused campaign you can finish in a shorter window than most 2026 releases, with plenty of hidden content for players who want to dig further into its interconnected dungeons.