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[IMG: Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight screenshot showing Batgirl pointing next ot Nightwing]

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Explore every inch of a cursed island in an adventure that takes inspiration from the greats.
Here is a game that feels like an adventure. And it feels like it was an adventure to make, too. Mina the Hollower took six years to design and build, six years that took it from what sounds like a kind of coding doodle to a panoramic journey across a richly imagined island, taking in platforming and combat, puzzle-solving, and sheer immersion in the world building. It's Zelda and it's Bloodborne. It's smacking bosses and reading the in-game newspaper. All of which is to say that those six years of design work are apparent throughout, in the complexity of the landscapes you travel, in the density of the secrets and the lore.
This should all be overwhelming - and it very often is. But the basics are simple. The tone is one of gothic horror, but cute gothic horror. There are crypts and haunted houses and cursed farms, and at one point you get to fight a really angry ghost who isn't skimping on the spectral spanner throwing. But you're a little mouse with a determined frown, and while you leap canyons and drop-kick vampire bats, you also navigate skirting boards and sneak into new areas by ducking under tables and chairs.
And the set-up is everything a good Zelda-alike needs to be. There are a series of gadgets scattered around the island Mina finds themselves on, and they need to be reactivated. Each gadget takes you towards a different part of the island - eternal autumn, baroque graveyard, etc. etc. - and sees you travelling through different environments and tackling different kinds of enemies and bosses. You radiate outwards towards these targets from a central town that is always revealing new aspects of itself and, with that, new possibilities for launching you off in new directions. The twist is you need to puzzle out the way to reach new places yourself, by utilising your arsenal, talking to passersby and rattling through the daily newspaper in search of clues. Oh yes, and by writing things down.
[IMG: Cover image for YouTube video]
Mina the Hollower - Official Release Date Trailer | Nintendo Indie World 2025

Here's a Mina the Hollower trailer to show it in motion.Watch on YouTube
This is important. Mina's standard weapons come in the forms of whips or bashing shields or vast hammers of doom. These can all be leveled up and upgraded in interesting ways. But the most crucial thing I took along with me was a piece of paper and a pen. This is a game about encountering loose ends, about finding things that you either aren't prepared for at the moment or - more likely - haven't yet worked out how to think about correctly.
There's the book on a high shelf in a library. How to get it down? There's the roadblock that seems to mean you can't cross the only bridge that leads to Septemburg, there's the train station you can't reach, the beach that leaves you able to see the place you want to get to next but with no obvious route to it. All of these things need to be tracked. Just like you'll need to keep track of every residence back at the central town that has rooms you can't yet access, every mirror that seems a bit iffy, every NPC that says something that sounds like it should be important if only it didn't also sound like nonsense.
[IMG: Mina the Hollower screenshot showing, in 8-bit style, you approaching a large character in purple robe, in a fire-themed building]
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[IMG: Mina the Hollower screenshot showing, in 8-bit style, you approaching a large character in purple robe, in a fire-themed building]
[IMG: Mina the Hollower screenshot showing, in 8-bit style, you facing off against a purple boss]
[IMG: Mina the Hollower screenshot showing, in 8-bit style, a drawing on a chalk board of a scary creature in a top hat]
[IMG: Mina the Hollower screenshot showing, in 8-bit style, an autumnal area]
Caption
Attribution
To me, this is the heart of the challenge here, as well as what makes Mina the Hollower so special. Its developers, grown up on the curious, interlocking spaces of Zelda and Bloodborne, are confident enough to confuse you a little bit. They're confident enough to throw at you too much and yet, somehow, not quite enough, and then give you the room and the time to untangle it all. It's confidence in the game design and in the warm embrace of genre - a genre where you're constantly seeing things you can't yet reach as part of a tradition that leads all the way back to a specific lake in the very first Zelda game. But it's also confidence in you, the player. You're a tiny mouse facing off against a whole island of horrors! But you can do this! You can fight the fights, jump the gaps, and untangle all the secrets.
(Years ago, someone explained to me that the most important number in the world - I may be expressing this incorrectly - was 7+/-2. Words to that effect certainly. They explained that this was the scope of human memory, or short-term memory at least. Most people can remember around seven things in any moment. Some people can remember five. Some lucky people can remember nine. But in that muddle we get phone numbers, shopping lists for a quick trip to the small Tesco, beats in a story, items on an itinerary. I have no idea if this is correct, and even as I type it, it starts to sound like the kind of too-easy wisdom of TikTok or Instagram Reels, but the important thing is this: If you're the kind of person who's terrified and overwhelmed by the limitations of your memory, Mina the Hollower should not put you off. Because it gives you too many things to remember, but then you get stuck - wonderfully, creatively stuck. And so you get to work through all of those dead ends in turn until you find you've ticked them off one by one.)

[IMG: Mina the Hollower screenshot showing, in 8-bit style, an icy area with broken train tracks off a cliff]
Image credit: Eurogamer / Yacht Club Games
I should add: the game is not purely memory and puzzles. That's just the aspect that I feel gives me most access to its world and its imagination and sense of a place conjured from bright pixels. Most of the time you'll be engaged in hectic and often brutal platforming gauntlets. This is a game of gaps and drops and spikes and ledges, some of them slippy-slidey, some of them riddled with lava, many of them ready to crumble underfoot. But it's all viewed from above, so there's an extra challenge to navigating jumps and working out which walls you can hop over and which are just too tall for you. Enemies can either come towards you across the ground or floating above it, so you constantly need to work out how to engage them. (Some are happy to switch, too. And speaking of enemies, my favs are a tie between the screaming turnip and the zombie snowman. This should give you some sense of the range here.)
Then there's the burrowing. As a Hollower, Mina can dig into the ground and then pop up elsewhere. You can only stay underground for so long, so timing's involved. And alongside utilising this as a dodge move, you'll also need to work out how popping back up again impacts your jumps - crucial in environments where there are obstacles to burrow under but also those gaps to cross.
[IMG: Mina the Hollower screenshot showing, in 8-bit style, a ghoulish green area]
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[IMG: Mina the Hollower screenshot showing, in 8-bit style, a ghoulish green area]
[IMG: Mina the Hollower screenshot showing, in 8-bit style, a spider descending from above]
[IMG: Mina the Hollower screenshot showing, in 8-bit style, an icy area with a small house and trees]
[IMG: Mina the Hollower screenshot showing, in 8-bit style, an icy area with train tracks running through]
Caption
Attribution
You can drill under certain objects to destroy them or pick them up, and you can also drill down in certain spots to find some of the game's endless secret rooms. All great stuff, but muddling to the head, particularly when you chuck in combat. I ended up thinking of myself as a needle and thread, dipping in and out of cloth. That's been enough just to help me untangle when I'm above ground and when I'm below it, and the options I have at either moment. And it's given me the forward momentum to just rush through some of the game's most evil challenges without letting my thinking get in the way. You're often encouraged to give into momentum and aggression, too: the health system forces you to attack enemies to gain plasma that can then be converted back into HP. Only forward!
Alongside enemies and bosses and secret bosses and optional bosses, alongside slotting this huge jigsaw world together and working out, From Software-style, where the points are in which seemingly distant landmarks can be made to connect, there's also a world of gadgets and upgrades and perks, or, to use the language of the game, trinkets and sidearms. Sidearms give you extra weapon opportunities but are easy to lose and run out of. Trinkets are more complex, letting you equip modifiers that change your character and allow for builds. Do you want to block the first lightning attack you receive or emit a damaging pulse when burrowing? Synergies and combos await. You can tailor Mina for a surprising array of approaches.
[IMG: Mina the Hollower screenshot showing, in 8-bit style, you approaching a fountain in a courtyard]
[IMG: Mina the Hollower screenshot showing, in 8-bit style, a newspaper clipping]
Image credit: Eurogamer / Yacht Club Games
All of these doodads can be unlocked in the world or bought in shops and then slotted in and out whenever you duck into the game's underground equivalents of From Software bonfires. After a while, you'll have levelled this place up sufficiently to allow you a map, too. But the map only tells you so much, laying out the loose arrangements of areas but not the clever ways they all connect.
And ultimately it's finding the connections for yourself that makes this game so compelling. I like bosses and combat, but I loved a moment early on where one part of the island dropped me into a taster session of another part, or where I unlocked a train. That train gets at the magic of the game quite brilliantly, actually: it's not just that it's a fast travel system. It's that it's also a freakin' train. When you use it to go anywhere, you get to wander up and down the carriages, investigate, talk to people, and ponder a little more of the world you're in. And sometimes...?
All this wrapped up in lovely chiptunes and Game Boy pixel art and all that lovely nostalgia stuff. And it's a complex relationship. This game would not exist were it not for a handful of 8-bit classics. But the reason it's so special, I suspect, is because it doesn't only remember those classics, but it remembers the experience of first encountering them and the sheer wonder of that. And it remembers the imaginative leaps and dreams and what-ifs of their most committed fans.
A copy of Mina the Hollower was provided for this review by Yacht Club Games.

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I will hold my hands up and say I did not expect Lego Batman: The Legacy of the Dark Knight to be this good, or to throw so many references to the Caped Crusader's vast history into your adventure around Gotham.
Even if you're just bashing through the main story or are a casual Batman fan, there are plenty of moments in the game that will make you stop and go 'Hey, wait a moment, I know where that's from!'. So, as someone who's spent her childhood growing up with Batman - and who's spent a great deal of time in the game working on our big Lego Batman walkthrough and other guides - here are my favourite references I've found so far in my time as the Dark Knight.
Please be aware that this page contains spoilers for the story and, of course, the references themselves.
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Here's Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight in action.Watch on YouTube
[H3] After Hours with Conroy - The Voice of Gotham's Knight
This billboard on the side of one of the many buildings across Gotham made me stop the Batmobile, get out, climb up to the nearby roof and simply admire it for a moment. As I've grown up I've seen many different actors lend their talents to Batman, but there are three that remain my favourite - and Kevin Conroy is one of them.
Conroy is arguably the most famous voice of Batman - you think of Batman, you're probably going to hear Conroy's voice. For me, it was growing up with Batman: The Animated Series and watching his Dark Knight face off against Mark Hamill's Joker - a relationship that continued throughout my childhood until Conroy sadly passed away. Also, seeing as Conroy lent his talents to the Rocksteady Arkham Trilogy, it would have been surprising to not see a tribute to this actor somewhere in-game. He was quite literally the voice of Gotham's Knight.

[IMG: Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight screenshot showing an After hour with Conroy poster]
Image credit: Eurogamer / Warner Bros. Games
[H3] Miller and Moore poster
This poster for 'Miller and Moore Accountants' is plastered on the side of a building on Gotham, and the names may not be too familiar if you've not followed the comics or graphic novels. This is referring to Frank Miller, the writer and illustrator of the 1986 Dark Knight series and Batman: Year One (and much more). Moore is referring to Alan Moore, who I know mainly for writing the 1988 graphic novel - Batman: A Killing Joke. This is one of the first Batman graphic novels I have ever owned and it's still my favourite to date. Seeing these two referred to in a Batman game just feels right.

[IMG: Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight screenshot showing two Miller and Moore poster references]
Image credit: Eurogamer / Warner Bros. Games
[H3] Taken… Batman?
'I have a specific set of skills, skills that make me a nightmare to men like Falcone' - Ra's Al Ghul
Now, this is a double-layered reference which made me chuckle. Liam Neeson played the infamous Ra's Al Ghul in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy. His portrayal of the character is one of the most spine-chilling ones I've seen to date, showing how pivotal Bruce's choice to be Batman is, as he could have just as easily become as dark as the League of Shadows wanted him to be. Neeson is also, of course, famous for his role in the Taken movies. This line is a large nod to both!

[IMG: Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight screenshot showing Ra]
Image credit: Eurogamer / Warner Bros. Games
[H3] Missing Cat posters
Around Gotham you can find a variety of Missing Cat Posters. The names of some of the Cats are references to previous Catwomen. 'Julie Mewmar' is one example, with Julie Newmar the first actor to bring Catwoman to life, starting as the feline felon in the 1960s Batman series. 'Meowchelle' is another, this one pointing at Michelle Pfieffer's casting as Catwoman opposite Michael Keaton's Batman. I've also spotted 'Halle Purry' too.
Putting a play on their names onto a missing cat poster? It's purr-fect. (Sorry.)

[IMG: Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight screenshot showing a poster for a missing cat called Julie Mewmar]
Image credit: Eurogamer / Warner Bros. Games
[H3] I simply cannot sanction any more of your buffoonery!
When you're battling Two-Face's men at the Circus, this comment is said very quickly, so quickly you could miss it, and that'd be a shame. This is, according to a story from Jim Carrey (who played the Riddler), a direct quote from Tommy Lee Jones (who played Two-Face). Apparently Jones is not Carrey's biggest fan…
This one was also spotted before launch, as it turns out - along with a nod to a very funny tweet from Michael Caine.

[IMG: Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight screenshot showing Two-Face looking angry]
Image credit: Eurogamer / Warner Bros. Games
[H3] Tricorner Cinema Listings
If you head to the cinema in Tricorner and have a look at the 'now playing' board outside, you may find the movies as amusing as I have. The listings are for 'The Smiling' - which I've taken as a parody of 'The Shining'. This, of course, is another movie where Jack Nicholson (my favourite Joker) shines.
But, it doesn't end there, on the side of the listing is another movie called 'Cop School'. I've taken this as a hint towards one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's movies - Kindergarten Cop. I have opinions about the George Clooney Batman's, I do, but I cannot deny that Schwarzenegger was an iconic Mr. Freeze. Also, later on Mr.Freeze himself drops another hint about his real-world self with 'Is it movie time? Action movies? They are my favourite'.

[IMG: Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight screenshot showing a big cinema listing for a film called THE SMILING]
Image credit: Eurogamer / Warner Bros. Games
[H3] In Shreck's Department Store - Selina's Office
Selina Kyle became Catwoman in Batman Returns after Shreck threw her out of the window in her office, when she then swore on revenge. I mean, if my boss tossed me out a window, I'd be mad too. Anyway, if you look behind the desk in her office during the 'Mimes' Mission when you're in Shreck's Department Store you'll see the broken window with police tape around it. Just a very brief nudge at the brutal origins of this femme fatale.

[IMG: Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight screenshot showing a broken window with yellow tape across it in an office]
Image credit: Eurogamer / Warner Bros. Games
[H3] Man-Bat the Musical
Oddly enough, I had been saying to Eurogamer's Lottie that I was surprised they've not referenced this character yet - and then BAM. There's the poster, right in front of me. Now, this is not a musical I would go to see, mainly because Man-Bat just gives me the creeps. As a quick cover, Dr. Langstrom developed a serum to give a human that Bat's sonar ability. Spoiler alert, he failed and became a feral half-human, half-bat hybrid. I was only a kid when I first saw Man-Bat in the Animated Series and yes, I hid behind my elder sibling, I was not loving it. However, I do think this poster for a musical is a decent nod to one of Batman's more terrifying enemies.

[IMG: Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight screenshot showing a billboard for Man-Bat the Musical]
Image credit: Eurogamer / Warner Bros. Games
[H3] Ledger's Legacy as the Joker
These posters do not appear until the late game but they really are worth it. Ledger is one of my top three Jokers (alongside Jack Nicholson and Mark Hamill), and his legendary portrayal of Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime is worth all the praise it gets. The 'Why so serious' posters found strewn across the walls is an ode to the thing that most people remember from his iteration.
Also, Ledger gave Joker one of his most memorable habits from a costume issue. Licking his lips while speaking adds to the Joker's fear-factor, for some reason, but this little habit is said to have come from Ledger finding it difficult to keep the prosthetic scars around his mouth in place. If you watch closely when Batman confronts Joker later in the story, you should notice that this Joker mimics this.

[IMG: Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight screenshot showing Batman looking up at a poster that reads WHY SO SERIOUS, ominously]
Image credit: Eurogamer / Warner Bros. Games
[H3] Flugelheim Partyman
When Catwoman and Batman track the Joker Cards to the Flugelheim Art Gallery, there's a scene where Joker is dancing through the Museum causing, well, Joker-esque fun. If this feels very familiar to you, then there's a good reason for that. This is a homage to the museum scene in the 1989 Batman movie where Joker, played this time by the icon that is Jack Nicholson, takes over Gotham Museum to the Prince's 'Partyman' - which plays throughout the scene and via the boomboxes in the following mission. Yes it's a very obvious take-on of that scene and can very loosely be called a reference but I don't care, it made me happy!
[H2] Honourable Mentions
I couldn't fit all of my choices into a top 10, but in some effort to wrangle my thoughts I've been allowed to spill over into an 'Honourable Mentions' category.
[H3] Catwoman and the Mannequins
When you first meet Catwoman at Shreck's Department store, she uses her whip to knock the head off a mannequin that Batman is hiding behind. This is a callback to Michelle Pfeiffer's infamous scene from Batman Returns. Also, it's well-known that she did this stunt herself in a single take, whipping the heads off four mannequins in succession, surprising both cast and crew.

[IMG: Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight screenshot showing Batman using Shark Repellent Spray on a shark]
Image credit: Eurogamer / Warner Bros. Games
[H3] Trusty Shark Repellent Spray
There's a moment where Batman has to use a Shark Repellent Spray to stop a Lego Shark munching on him, in a callback to one of the Adam West Batman episodes where Batman is hanging from a ladder above a hungry shark and, lo and behold, he then uses a 'Shark Spray', from an array of animal-repelling mists he conveniently has on him, to get away from the angry jaws. All of the 1960s Batman episodes had quirky moments that have almost become a meme of themselves, and the shark is one of the more memorable ones.

[IMG: Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight screenshot showing Batman looking stern, the night sky and the Bat Signal showing behind him]
Image credit: Eurogamer / Warner Bros. Games
[H3] The Evolving Bat-Signal
I'll admit it, this is something that it took me until starting Chapter Five to realise. The Bat-Signal evolves Chapter by Chapter, keeping in-line with your progression in the story. Not only does it evolve, but the Bat-Signal is used to reflect the era of Batman that specific Chapter has taken inspiration from. For example, Chapter Five's one is from the Nolan era Batman. It's small details like this that keep my interest in fighting crime around Gotham.

[IMG: Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight screenshot showing the bat signal in the sky]
Image credit: Eurogamer / Warner Bros. Games
There are so many more moments I could put in here - but doing so would ruin the fun for you. If you're playing over the weekend and do want to read much more on the game though, our Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight walkthrough will keep you very well covered.

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[H2] 30th May
Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little about the games we've been playing. This week, Marie pootles around Japan in whatever season it happens to be; Victoria suspects her husband of breaking their TV; Chris walks the one-way street of Warhammer 40K miniature addiction; and Bertie enjoys being a secret agent.
What have you been playing this week?
Here's another question: do you remember what you were playing last week? You don't have to! The What We've Been Playing archive has you covered.
[H2] Warhammer 40K Kill Team, Tabletop
Right, this one's technically cheating as it's a tabletop game but Bertie has definitely cheated like this before [guilty -Bertie] so I'm stealing his lovely idea and sneaking in a bit of tabletop action myself.
I tried Kill Team for the first time last weekend, borrowing a friend's set of half-painted miniatures so I could scrounge my way into the action. For the unfamiliar, it's basically a small-sided Warhammer 40K tabletop game that plays very similarly to XCOM. Except if you say that near any actual 40K and/or Kill Team fans they will get very angry and inform you that it's not like that at all.
Well, it is - sorry! It's the exact same 40K miniatures but with a different ruleset, that ruleset being a turn-based tactical game (XCOM!) where you move your little people around between bits of cover and expend your limited action points to do so. And after an unbelievable amount of time learning how to do the most simple of actions, thanks to a ruleset with more inscrutable proper nouns in it than a 70s Ikea catalogue, I am pleased to inform you it's actually brilliant. The variety of tactical options, teams you can use, and objectives the game allows is pretty phenomenal; including, I gather, the ability to play 2v2, or 2v1, or all of you against a kind of 'CPU' enemy faction, or 1v1 but with a big monster causing problems for both of you.
It's ace. And it's probably going to cost me a fortune.
-Taps
[H2] Forza Horizon 6
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Forza Horizon 6. A game about cars and being casual. I think.Watch on YouTube
I keep pivoting between this and Lego Batman: The Legacy of the Dark Knight - these two are my go-to's at the moment. There's something deeply relaxing about choosing a car from my garage and having a pootle around Japan in, well, whatever season it currently happens to be. When I want a bit more excitement, I can then take part in various races around the map, my personal favourite being street races. I've got goals, too, mainly cars I want to own and visions of how I want to customise them. Yes, I am going to make the Dodge Charger look like Dom's car from Fast and Furious.
But I think the thing I'm enjoying most about Forza Horizon 6 right now is that it's so incredibly easy to drop in and out of. There's no need for it to be a solid block of commitment or a day-after-day pursuit, so you stay current with how it works. You can do that if you want to, but if you want to keep it casual that's absolutely fine: you can do that too.
-Marie
[H2] Split Fiction, Xbox Series X
[IMG: Cover image for YouTube video]
Split Fiction Review

Split Fiction. And now: a split TV.Watch on YouTube
My husband and I restarted Split Fiction the other night because our earlier save file corrupted somehow and we lost all our progress. "How much better would this game be if we were playing it on a bigger screen?" my husband asked as we made our way through one of the earlier sci-fi levels. "We don't need a new TV," I replied, deploying my laser whip to throw an enemy off the side of a truck. I knew exactly where he was going with this line of questioning. "This one is just fine," I said, saving him again, this time from corrupt cyber police.
The following day, I kid you not, our TV broke. It just doesn't turn on any more. It whimpers, pathetically, before completely shutting down any time we try. What happened here then? Curious, isn't it?
I'm not suggesting foul play on my husband's part, but I'm not not suggesting that either. Regardless, our predicament is the same: we need a new TV. And would you believe it, my husband has his eye on one that's quite a bit bigger than our last TV. Well played, husband. Well played.
-Victoria
[H2] 007 First Light, PS5
[IMG: Cover image for YouTube video]
007 First Light - Official 4K DLSS 4.5 Gameplay

The name's Tracing. Ray Tracing. Watch on YouTube
What a charmer. There's definitely something to be said for bringing back a straight-line linear action that gets straight to the point. It feels so refreshing in a sea of expansive adventures.
The best thing? The pacing. This is all forward momentum, and it's so breezy it at times feels like it's pulling you along. When I compare that to something like Saros, a roguelite, which has to have you fail and repeat and slowly get better because that's part of design: it feels like a holiday. I'm loving it.
I'm not very far through yet but early highlights include possibly the best tutorial section I've played in a game. This one is long and luxurious and serves, effectively, as a way to embed you in the game but also embed you in the relationships with the other 00 recruits you're training with. The months roll by, the tutorial sections roll by; there's always change, always something interesting to do. For a company that's used to making ponderous sandbox levels, it's a really impressive change of tack.
-Bertie

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