Yacht Club Games might have just delivered the biggest surprise of 2026, and in a dominating fashion. When everyone thought we had already got the best game of this year with Forza Horizon 6, Mina the Hollower came out of nowhere.

This top-down action-adventure RPG has exploded across review aggregators with a 92-93 Metacritic average and a 92 OpenCritic score. This has instantly overtaken heavyweights like Forza Horizon 6, Resident Evil Requiem, Pokémon Pokopia, and 007 First Light in the yearly rankings. Multiple outlets are even calling it a serious Game of the Year contender.

What makes this feat even more impressive is the fact that Mina the Hollower is not a AAA blockbuster. It is a retro-inspired indie title from the creators of Shovel Knight. The game is built around Game Boy Color-style visuals, gothic horror themes, Zelda-inspired exploration, and Soulslike combat systems.

Despite all of these, the game does not merely imitate its inspirations, as per the critics. Instead, it comes with a modern approach with deeper combat, non-linear exploration, replayability systems, and accessibility modifiers.

There is a common thread across nearly every review. And that is how the developers have blended aspects from The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, Bloodborne, and even modern FromSoftware titles into Mina the Hollower. The borrowing mechanic, dense level design, atmospheric soundtrack, and extensive New Game+ customization systems have also received heavy praise.

Metacritic currently shows 100% positive critic reviews for the PC version of the game. This is extremely rare, and even acclaimed releases haven't managed to get that.

There are a few downsides to the game as well. For example, the difficulty spikes, backtracking, and pacing issues seemed to be some of the problems in the game. But they are not the dealbreakers.

Mina the Hollower Proves Indie Games Can Still Dominate AAA Releases

The most interesting part of Mina the Hollower’s success is what it shows about today's gaming industry. The indie title has been released in a year where massive AAA projects have already made their mark.

And Mina the Hollower didn't go along with the AAA trends. Yacht Club Games intentionally embraced retro visuals and old-school design philosophies.

Another reason behind this game's success is that it didn't want to copy today's modern aesthetics. Instead, the game managed to understand how older games succeeded in their time. It explores Zelda's structure, Soulslike combat, and highly flexible accessibility systems into a package, which critics repeatedly described as "modern" despite its 8-bit appearance.

There is a far road ahead of Mina the Hollower to win the GOTY, keeping in mind more heavyweights coming the way, especially, potentially, GTA 6. Even if it doesn't happen, the game will surely stay in the minds of the fans longer than most of the titles this year.

What are your thoughts on this?

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Written by

Nilendu Brahma

Edited by

Zaid Quraishi