Mina the Hollower is the best old-school action adventure I’ve played in a while

《Mina the Hollower》是我近期玩过最棒的复古动作冒险游戏

Modern Legend of Zelda games like Breath of the Wild are built around Link’s ability to run, climb, and jump with the best of them. In old-school, top-down Zelda titles, though, the ability to increase Link’s sad starting mobility was a banner event. Finding items like the speed-enhancing Pegasus Boots in Link to the Past or the jump-granting Roc’s Feather in Link’s Awakening made the methodical exploration in these games feel that much more kinetic and akin to a top-down platform game.

像《旷野之息》这样的现代《塞尔达传说》游戏，其核心在于林克奔跑、攀爬和跳跃的卓越能力。然而，在老派的俯视角《塞尔达》作品中，提升林克初始那令人捉急的机动性往往是一件里程碑式的大事。在《众神的三角力量》中找到能提升速度的“飞马鞋”，或是在《织梦岛》中获得能跳跃的“洛克鸟羽毛”，让这些游戏中原本按部就班的探索过程变得更具动感，更像是一款俯视角的平台跳跃游戏。

This kind of kinetic feeling is built into Mina the Hollower from the start. As the titular, mouse-like Hollower, you’re armed with the ability to jump up and burrow into soft soil, zipping under obstacles and past enemies with satisfying pep as you do. After a short sojourn underground, you pop out with an extended jump that quickly becomes second nature. The sense of energy and verve built in to this simple movement system makes Mina a joy to control.

这种动感在《Mina the Hollower》中从一开始就融入了游戏机制。作为同名的鼠类“掘地者”（Hollower），你拥有跳跃和钻入松软土壤的能力，可以轻快地穿过障碍物和敌人，过程令人倍感畅快。在地下短暂穿行后，你破土而出时会带有一个长距离跳跃，这很快就会成为你的本能。这种简单移动系统所带来的活力与干劲，让操控 Mina 成为一种享受。

You feel that joy when you burrow away from an enemy attack only to quickly circle back to pop out for a quick counter. You feel it burrowing underneath the scenery through a small hole to uncover a labyrinthine secret corridor. You feel it hopping and bouncing across a series of gaps on inflatable, balloon-like pads. Navigating maze-like rooms like this is sheer joy thanks to the game’s smooth control scheme.

当你钻入地下躲避攻击，随即绕回并破土而出进行反击时，你能感受到这种快乐；当你钻过场景中的小洞，发现一条迷宫般的秘密通道时，你能感受到这种快乐；当你在充气气球般的垫子上跳跃穿梭于各个缺口时，你也能感受到这种快乐。得益于游戏流畅的操控方案，在这些迷宫般的房间中穿行简直是一种纯粹的乐趣。

Add in an intricate upgrade system, a sprawling, well-designed map, compelling combat, and a huge variety of secrets to uncover, and you’ve got one of the best homages to and expansions on the classic Zelda formula that I’ve ever played (with elements of games like Castlevania thrown in for good measure). Mina the Hollower stands out from the crowded field of Zelda clones to be an instant contender for one of the best games of 2026.

再加上复杂的升级系统、广阔且设计精良的地图、引人入胜的战斗，以及海量待发掘的秘密，这绝对是我玩过对经典《塞尔达》公式最棒的致敬与扩展之一（还巧妙地融入了《恶魔城》等游戏的元素）。《Mina the Hollower》在拥挤的“塞尔达类”游戏市场中脱颖而出，瞬间成为 2026 年度最佳游戏的有力竞争者。

Characters and combat / 角色与战斗

The core narrative of Mina the Hollower focuses on Mina’s efforts to restore six broken, towering spark generators across the island that she designed to bring electricity and prosperity to the world of Tenebrous Isle. As the game progresses, Mina slowly becomes aware of some negative side effects from these generators and the sinister actions being taken to cover up those effects. What starts as a relatively straightforward and predictable climate change allegory leads up to a touching and surprisingly (though not entirely) bleak ending that I’m wary to say too much about.

《Mina the Hollower》的核心叙事围绕 Mina 的努力展开：她需要修复岛上六座高耸的破损火花发生器，这些发生器本是她为了给 Tenebrous Isle 带来电力与繁荣而设计的。随着游戏推进，Mina 逐渐意识到这些发生器带来的负面副作用，以及为了掩盖这些影响而采取的邪恶行径。故事起初是一个相对直白且可预测的关于气候变化的寓言，但最终走向了一个感人且出人意料（虽然并非完全）阴郁的结局，我对此不便透露太多。

Plotting aside, Mina the Hollower is full of colorful NPCs that shine through in some efficient and fun writing. While half of the characters simply act as signposts to some objective or other, the other half will pop up with non-sequiturs and turns of phrase that had me grinning all evening. And you never know when an ostensible friend might turn into a pickpocket that you need to chase down, or when that hard luck case you’re rescuing might transform into a terrifying mini-boss.

抛开剧情不谈，《Mina the Hollower》中充满了性格鲜明的 NPC，高效且风趣的文案让这些角色熠熠生辉。虽然有一半角色只是充当指引目标的“路标”，但另一半角色会冷不丁冒出一些风马牛不相及的俏皮话，让我整晚都乐不可支。你永远不知道表面上的朋友何时会变成需要你追赶的扒手，或者你正在营救的倒霉蛋何时会变身为恐怖的小头目。

While the imposing, varied bosses are a highlight, even basic enemies rarely feel perfunctory in Mina the Hollower. They seem to take pains to stay just out of range of your weapons before darting in for their own attacks. This is a game that rewards careful positioning and patience in waiting for your own counterattack openings, and it is quick to punish players who get too mindlessly aggressive.

虽然气势磅礴、种类繁多的 Boss 是一大亮点，但《Mina the Hollower》中的基础敌人也绝非敷衍了事。它们似乎总是费尽心思保持在你的武器攻击范围之外，然后再猛冲过来发动攻击。这是一款奖励谨慎走位和耐心等待反击时机的游戏，对于那些盲目激进的玩家，它会毫不留情地给予惩罚。

But it’s also a forgiving game, offering a pack full of refillable potions to restore your health (and which require landing your own attacks to get the most out of). Using those potions leaves you immobile and vulnerable for a couple of crucial seconds, though, adding a sense of risk even to a simple health restore. If you do run into trouble with the more reflex-oriented portions of the game, Mina the Hollower is conducive to grinding through weaker enemies to earn enough in-game bones to buy a bevy of offensive and defensive upgrades. If that’s too much work, though, the options menu includes a ton of inventive modifiers to tweak the difficulty in easier, harder, or simply weirder ways.

但它同时也是一款宽容的游戏，提供了一包可补充的药水来恢复生命值（需要通过命中敌人来最大化药水效果）。不过，使用药水会让你在关键的几秒钟内无法移动且处于脆弱状态，这让简单的回血过程也增加了一丝风险。如果你在考验反应力的关卡中遇到困难，可以通过刷弱小敌人来赚取足够的骨头，购买各种攻防升级。如果觉得太麻烦，选项菜单中还包含大量极具创意的修改器，可以让你以更简单、更困难或更古怪的方式调整难度。

Mapping it out / 地图探索

From a vibrant central town hub, Mina the Hollower’s sprawling map splits off to six highly varied dungeons, each culminating in a thrilling climb up a generator tower. Just getting to these dungeons feels like half the challenge at points, with each route requiring some intricate positional puzzle-solving to clear a path. You might find yourself escorting bombs across a swampy marsh, intentionally falling between floors, or digging under transparent, impermeable panels to find the right way through these mazes.

从充满活力的中心城镇出发，《Mina the Hollower》广阔的地图延伸出六个风格迥异的地下城，每个地下城的终点都是一场惊心动魄的登塔之旅。有时，仅仅是到达这些地下城就已是一半的挑战，每条路线都需要复杂的走位解谜才能开辟道路。你可能需要护送炸弹穿过沼泽，故意在楼层间坠落，或者在透明且不可穿透的面板下挖掘，才能找到穿过这些迷宫的正确路径。

Unlike a lot of other Zelda-inspired action-adventure games, though, there’s no set order to the dungeons you take on. While the game will gently nudge you toward the challenges it thinks you’re ready for, nothing is gated behind an item or ability you have to earn from an earlier challenge.

与许多其他受《塞尔达》启发的动作冒险游戏不同，你挑战地下城的顺序并没有强制规定。虽然游戏会温和地引导你前往它认为你已准备好挑战的区域，但没有任何内容是被锁在必须从早期挑战中获得的道具或能力之后的。

That said, there are dozens of helpful trinkets hidden throughout the landscape that can make certain challenges much simpler, such as improving your movement, aiding your attacks, or increasing your resilience. I felt like I was constantly getting sidetracked from the main path to find a hidden challenge room or platform pathway behind some random bush that inevitably led to one of these helpful items.

话虽如此，地图各处隐藏着数十种有用的饰品，可以让某些挑战变得简单得多，例如提升你的移动速度、辅助攻击或增强防御力。我感觉自己总是偏离主线，去寻找隐藏的挑战房间或灌木丛后的平台路径，而这些地方总能让我找到这些有用的道具。