Mina the Hollower made it to the biggest show of the season, with its release day being unveiled during Geoff Keighley’s Summer Games Fest presentation. Finally, players can get their hands on the full release later this year — but if you can’t wait, there’s also a demo.
When can you play Mina the Hollower?
The full version of Mina the Hollower comes out on October 31, 2025, the perfect date for the game’s spooky and gothic aesthetic. Meanwhile, a demo is available to play now and during Steam Next Fest, which starts on June 9 and ends on June 16.
This comes after a series of delays in order to improve the quality and widen the scope of Mina the Hollower. Developer Yacht Club Games launched a Kickstarter for Mina the Hollower in 2022 and surpassed its goal quickly. It earned over a million dollars in funding from its campaign and achieved numerous stretch goals in the process.
What’s Mina the Hollower about?
Having gotten a chance to play the game several times during its development, TechRaptor’s very own Austin Suther (that’s me) found it to be an excellent homage to classic Game Boy Color titles. This is in the same vein as Yacht Club Games’ previous title, Shovel Knight, which was a modern interpretation of classic NES games.
The demo on Steam Next Fest takes players through the opening half hour-or-so of Mina the Hollower. Players take the role of the eponymous mouse and inventor, Mina, who, on the way to visit a friend, finds herself shipwrecked on the coast of Tenebrous Isle.
From there, players will fight and dig their way across the isle and arrive at their destination: the town of Ossex. The path forward is fraught with peril as you fight off monsters and get a grasp for Mina the Hollower‘s mechanics. Near the end of the demo, we also get a taste for the narrative, which has a darker tone compared to that of Shovel Knight.
You’ll be able to pick your starter weapon, and from there find others later on in the game. The demo ends with an exciting boss fight against one of Mina the Hollower‘s main antagonists.
If you choose to pick up the full release, progress from this demo will carry over to the final game once Mina the Hollower launches later this year on Halloween, which is, as always, October 31st.