Mina the Hollower Burrow, lash, survive the curse

Mina's signature move is the burrow: jump, hold, and she dives under the dirt, scooting along at speed beneath hazards and monsters before popping back up with extra momentum. It works as a dodge, a shortcut and a way to cross ground that would otherwise eat you alive. Enemies guard doors, spikes line the floor, and the answer is often simply to go under all of it. The move takes a little practice, and early on it can feel odd coming from other action games, but once it clicks you will spend half your time underground. Above ground, you leap and dodge through tight, deliberately placed encounters where a single mistake costs real health.

Your starting pick is Mina's trusty whip, Nightstar, and from there the arsenal opens up: weapons with completely different move sets, plus a reliquary of unusual sidearms for when the situation calls for something stranger. On top of that sit trinkets, equippable charms with exotic effects, and a leveling system that lets you shape Mina toward your own playstyle. The combinations matter. Some builds make Mina fast and slippery, others hit like a landslide, and a few trinkets together can carry you through stretches that once felt impossible. Experimenting with loadouts is half the fun, especially once the world starts throwing harder fights at you.

This is a difficult game, and it says so early: the opening hours are the hardest, throwing strong enemies and bosses at you while you are still at your weakest. Combat is deliberate. You learn what each enemy does, when to burrow, when to jump, when to strike, and death costs you your bones, the currency you spend on weapons and upgrades. Bosses take real attempts, and beating one after a string of losses lands hard. The trade-off: as trinkets and levels stack up, the later game turns far more forgiving than the start. If you enjoy earning your progress the hard way, the early grind is the point.